Why is everybody's reality different?

Question

I ask this question because everyone seems to have their own version of reality which is not common to all. For every religion, there is a different or alternate reality. Reality should be defined as non-supernatural, realistic, physical, proven, and true(kind of what science represents), yet truth could be defined as an opinion when expressed individually. Reality should be something common to all or it cant be considered the true reality everyone can share. My question to you is, how do you define reality and try to explain it without an individual opinion.

Answer 1

Reality is simply what is...whether is is proven or not, whether it is physical nor not, etc, etc.

"What is" is reality.

Reality is more than what we can observe...for there are things in the universe never before observed by humans that still...never-the-less...exist.

'Everybody's reality is different' is because we all see through colored glasses and blinders that alter what is perceived.

There is a story of several blind men trying to identify an elephant. One has the tail and says to the others "an elephant is like a rope". Another says "no, it is like a fan" while grabbing an ear. Another says, "no, it is like a tree" while hugging a leg. Each touched the same elephant but how it is perceived is different. Only one with clear sight (no colored lenses or blinders), able to take in the whole picture, could accurately convey reality.

~ Eric Putkonen

Answer 2

I think you must divide the concept of reality into two categories.

1) The Big Picture.

Meaning, those things that all of us can agree upon as in, we all live on the Third Rock from the Sun. We all need food, water, clothing and shelter in order to survive. We are either male, female or a hermaphrodite. These are things that fall under the greater reality that is common to all.

2) Personal Reality.

This is equally real to the Big Picture but it functions on a different level. Our reality is, becomes, that which we focus upon. It is this personal focus that changes reality for the individual along with our emotional reaction to the specific stimulus of our focus. Consequently...

Two people can view the exact same thing and come up with entirely different opinions due to how they apply their focus and how they react emotionally to what is being viewed. This is the difficulty faced by all police forces. 20 different people can witness a car accident and can communicate 20 different reasons behind why the accident occurred. Finding the common truth in this kind of scenario is extremely difficult. Further...

Emotion is paramount to personal reality. It can skew an event to either a positive or negative response. It is because of this factor, that individuals can either be happy with their lives or miserable. Both are equally real.

The ultimate truth in all of this is that each of us is responsible for creating our reality. Fundamentally, we choose to move forward in joy or in misery. Proof of that fact is that each of us knows someone who will find a flaw in everything they experience. They are pessimists who if they won the lottery, would be complaining about how everyone is going to be bugging them for money. The optimist, on the other hand, would be overjoyed by how much they can share with the ones they love and how this lottery win will positively impact their life.

Ultimately, how you choose to experience and create the events in your life is entirely up to you. This is your reality within the Big Picture.

Answer 3

Hebrews 11:1- 3 "Faith is the assured expectation of things hoped for, the evident demonstration of realities though not beheld. For by means of this the men of old times had witness borne to them. By faith we perceive that the systems of things were put in order by God's word, so that what is beheld has come to be out of things that do not appear." 7- "By faith Noah, after being given divine warning of things not yet beheld, showed godly fear and constructed an ark for the saving of his household; and through this [faith] he condemned the world, and he became an heir of the righteousness that is according to faith." Throughout this whole chapter in the Bible, many of the verses begin with "By faith". The example of Noah speaks of the faith he had when he listened to Jehovah God and constructed the ark, in the expectation of the reality to come (the flood). So here we see that faith and reality are intermixed. Above you have stated that reality SHOULD be defined as non-supernatural, realistic, physical, proven, and true. That however is not the definition of reality.

The following was taken from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reality

Reality, worldviews, and theories of reality
A common colloquial usage would have "reality" mean "perceptions, beliefs, and attitudes toward reality," as in "My reality is not your reality." This is often used just as a colloquialism indicating that the parties to a conversation agree, or should agree, not to quibble over deeply different conceptions of what is real. For example, in a religious discussion between friends, one might say (attempting humor), "You might disagree, but in my reality, everyone goes to heaven."

But occasionally — and particularly in the case of those who have been exposed to certain ideas from philosophy, sociology, literary criticism, and other fields — it is thought that there simply and literally is no reality beyond the perceptions or beliefs we each have about reality. Such attitudes are summarized in the popular statement, "Perception is reality" or "Life is how you perceive reality" and they indicate anti-realism, that is, the view that there is no objective reality, whether acknowledged explicitly or not.

Reality cannot be explained without an individual opinion. There isn't a clear, agreed upon definition for the word reality so the word reality in itself is defined by the user. It's all so gray and evasive. That being said, my opinion is that there is only one truth. The world was either created by God or as a result of creation. In my opinion both beliefs require faith. The big bang theory to me makes no sense where to others it makes perfect sense. In my own personal realistic :) reasoning I ask myself if I could put the pieces of say a phone into a box and shake it and shake and bang it around for a period of time and then one day take off the lid and oh low and behold I have a perfect working phone. Let alone that in order for creation to be true an inorganic material suddenly came to life. All this happened by accident? To me personally the idea is preposterous and it is much more believeable that the earth with its perfect distance from the sun and it's complicated laws of gravity, water cycle, etc had a creator. I also have to ask why mankind was born with a spiritual need, much like the instincts of animals from birth. My opinion is that confusion, environment, and experiences are what turn people away from spirituality.

As far as your statement to a true reality I believe this will happen in time. John 5:19-20 says "We know we originate with God, but the whole world is lying in the [power of the] wicked one. But we know that the Son of God had come, and he has given us intellectual capacity that we may gain knowledge of teh true one." In other words we have the intellectual capacity to seek out the truth. Revelation 12:9 says "So down the great dragon was hurled, the original serpent, the one called Devil and Satan, who is misleading the entire inhabited earth." What better way to mislead than with confusion and false truths?

Must say very good question, it had me doing a lot of thinking and reasoning, so I must say thanks!

Answer 4

Luke 12:3
What you have said in the dark will be heard in the daylight, and what you have whispered in the ear in the inner rooms will be proclaimed from the roofs.

1 Corinthians 4:5
Therefore judge nothing before the appointed time; wait till the Lord comes. He will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will expose the motives of men's hearts. At that time each will receive his praise from God.

Answer 5

the best answer i have ever found is from the toltec spiritual teachings of mexico. They simply accept the idea that we are all living in our own separate reality, or our own dream. And they say that the only absolute truth you can be sure of is what you experience.

Answer 6

Well we are all living souls in human bodies...I guess...