How do you know reality?

Question

I have bipolar disorder, some times I hear whispers and some times I hear voices and sometimes they shout. For the longest time I thought they were deamons. Since I have been taking anti-psychotics they have stopped. I remeber them as being so real. People tell me that they were but how do you really know?

Answer 1

you must try and find reason try and rationalize the events. I too am completely insane and my mind makes many suggestions i could do without, but with madness there are gifts. I feel the best thing you could do is learn more about the art of meditation. it is valuable especially to people with a case suchs as yours.

Answer 2

Reality is a very personal experience. I'm not talking about what is tangable and/or visible, etc. People want to make you believe that a "common" reality is what is real. If you see something, and your neighbour agrees with you, and the majority of the world agrees with you, then it's classified as real.

It's hard, though. When you have an experience that, to you, is as real as anything else, but the person next to you can't or won't experience, it's a shock to your belief system. Is there something wrong with me?

Ideas, though, are a different story. Two people may see the same thing, but have two completely different views of it. If you ask them to explain what they saw, you may get two completely different answers. So, that makes you wonder.. If that's the case with ideas and concepts, why not with things people see?

I'll give you an example. A couple of years ago, me and my wife went travelling to Bryce Canyon. There is a small cave on the bottom side of the park with dripping water and moss. We went there and sat for a bit and enjoyed the peacefulness. After a little while, a family came with a little girl. The little girl pointed to the cave and told to her dad, "Look dad, fairies!". Her dad simply said "that's so nice. Let's go now". Obviously he didn't see anything. After the family left, my wife told me "so, did you see them?". She had. I felt something there, too, but I was not "tuned" sufficiently to see them. What a pity, what a loss.

Real is your experiences. Real is what you think is real. Nobody else has the right to tell you otherwise. Your feelings are real. Nobody can tell you they are wrong. Your thoughts are real. Nobody can tell you they are wrong. Your life is real. Nobody has the right to doubt it.

Answer 3

You don't. You just have the tough luck to have a disease that makes it impossible.
I am lucky enough to know reality so well and without doubt, that I'll jump out of windows without hesitation in my dreams when trying to escape some threat, yet have never even considered doing that while awake.

Answer 4

When it slaps you in the face, you know. Reality is pain, knowledge is the way back from pain. If you base your judgement on the pain of fear, then you're screwed, because it does not give a crap about your feelings.

Answer 5

Ask someone who you feel has been there with you since the earliest times u can remember. Your early childhood friend or relative