For you, is perception equal to reality?

Question

That is, do you believe the information that you take in through sensory perception,[ i.e: what you see, hear, and feel] to be reality or could it all be a massive deception, much like what is portrayed in "The Matrix" for example.

Ok some of you say you BLIEVE perception to be reality but the whole point is we have no way of knowingg. How do we know that 'seeing' or 'hearing' isn't merely a computer program or something like that. Afterall why is it so hard to find a meaning to life? Maybe because our purpose is so dull and pathetic that we are not supposed to know its meaning...

Ok some of you say you BLIEVE perception to be reality but the whole point is we have no way of knowingg. How do we know that 'seeing' or 'hearing' isn't merely a computer program or something like that. Afterall why is it so hard to find a meaning to life? Maybe because our purpose is so dull and pathetic that we are not supposed to know its meaning... someone or something just doesn't WANT us to know.

To the very clever answerer 'Private P': I don't have a 'movie fantasy' or believe The Matrix to be true. I was just using it to illustrate my point. FU.

To the very clever answerer 'Private P': I don't have a 'movie fantasy' or believe The Matrix to be true. I was just using it to illustrate my point.

Ok some of you say you BELIEVE perception to be reality but the whole point is we have no way of knowingg. How do we know that 'seeing' or 'hearing' isn't merely a computer program or something like that. Afterall why is it so hard to find a meaning to life? Maybe because our purpose is so dull and pathetic that we are not supposed to know its meaning... someone or something just doesn't WANT us to know.

Answer 1

Most people live in a type of Virtual Reality because they live in thoughts of what's happening, often thinking of events that never happened... this is where they are 99% of the time.
Perception is by definition a subjective (personal) view. When we say "tree" do we perceive more, or less? It's obvious a veil has been put over reality... and we do this with people!
So who knows who? Is it just as I will say, thought forms interacting with thought forms? Many know what reality is, but knowing is a veil over the truth.
Anyone can recognize reality if they would just recognize who they are. Most never question their perception of themselves... a story they tell about who they are is not who they are! It's a story, fictional, totally UNREAL.

OK, I think I've said enough.

Answer 2

There is a simple and logical way to prove that what you are seeing is indeed real. When you describe something does not another person generally describe it the same way. What does a football look like. It is brown, lemon shaped about a pound in weight made from some type of animal skin. How can something fake be the same for everyone else? I seriously doubt that the same form of reality in a true matrix would exhibit itself and more importantly you may be the only one in "your" matrix with no other real people but merely programs.

Answer 3

No. The Matrix has it exactly backwards. In fact the physical world is largely as we perceive it. It is the social world - our choices of relations and filters and ways to talk about things that is illusory and dependent on our selves.

In the Matrix notice that while physical reality is not what it is here, they still have wars, romance, grudges, fights, fear, hope, desperation, etc. Those are the things that are mere constructions, and that could be changed if we chose to see things differently. The physical world is as it is.

Answer 4

What is real is what we see in the form of matter. That matter takes many shapes and forms and is constantly changing. Today I am a person. After I die I may be a flower or a star. But matter alone is not all that is real. There is a consciousness, a spiritual reality, that transcends matter. This is the creative power that holds all life together and provides the mysterious context of creation that we call time.

Answer 5

Absolutely not. Well, ok, that may be a little harsh. I trust our human senses. We know by now what's real, what's an illusion and how to tell the difference. But if you're talking about, like, "issues"... problems between people and how people "perceive" situations and tones of voice and actions, etc etc... then no, I think "perception" screws up a lot of human relations.

Answer 6

I am a skeptic. I think that perception is not equal to reality. Science has shown us that our perceptions are faulty. I wear glasses because my vision is blurred, affecting my perceptions.

As to the "brain in the vat" aspect (i.e. the Matrix), we very well could be in that scenario. However, we have no data supporting that theory currently. Right now, all I have is my sensory data. I can challenge it, interpret it, theorize about it, and test it...

Occam's Razor leads us to the simpler theory... that we are not brains in vats.

Answer 7

Great question, I have found many flaws in sensory perception. Realizing the play of light and shadow, space and time. All is light, all is dark, all are deceived by the shadow of the body that veil the light within.

Answer 8

The universe is all in the mind that perceives it, and perspective is the first and only reality. If a tree falls in the forest and nobody is around to hear it, then there is no tree.

Answer 9

There is no reality just ones perception of it. I tend to believe more of what I can see rather then what I hear.

Answer 10

I would say that perception is reality...in most things. I don't believe that our world is like the matrix or anything...what's real is real, but sometimes we misperceive things, so then it would not be reality.