Reality is created through belief. How do you disprove this?

Question

A couple of things to note. One, I am not asking for why the statement is true, or untrue, or asking anyone to prove to me that it is, or isn't.

Two, we are speaking of "belief" here, not thought. Many people "say" they believe in something, only to go on and prove that they do not through their actions.

My question is: "IF" the manifestation of reality was based on individual and collective belief(s), how could someone go about proving, or disproving this "fact", since in this case, it would require one to know and alter their intrinsic beliefs, in order to become aware of this? In addition, if this were true, how could you "prove" to someone else it was, since their own beliefs would be involved in the manifestation of whatever "evidence" was offered?

Have fun.

Answer 1

I don't think it's possible to prove that reality is anything other than subjective. Personally I believe that it's a combination of the subjective and the objective, but I can't prove it.

Answer 2

First, it is EXTREMELY improbable that reality is defined by collective beliefs. So while it is still rather unlikely that it is defined by individual beliefs either, that is the scenario I will attempt to treat. And how do you disprove it? Well, you find logical facts and conclusions that don't very well fit the scenario.

One thing that deals a big blow to the idea of reality being defined by individual beliefs is that people do change their beliefs. There have been a number of things that I have believed which turned out not to be true, and which I no longer believe. If my universe was defined by what I believe, then that should never have happened because I should not have found out any information contradicting my beliefs because it shouldn't have existed.

The same argument can be applied to society as a whole in order to treat the other scenario, although it is less powerful there. Also, you might think that this argument as a whole might become less effective if you assume that time doesn't actually exist, but I believe that time DOES exist, which renders the scenario such that it runs into either one problem or the other but not neither.

Answer 3

I think this question, and your other question about "Does what ones says they believe..." are good points.

For this question, I'm not sure if you're referring to beliefs as in religious/philosophical beliefs, or the fact that there are some theories that it is our collective thoughts and consciousness that create reality, which wouldn't otherwise exist. I'm leaning toward the latter, because of the line in your question that starts "IF" the manifestation of reality was based on individual and collective belief..."

When I think of that, I immediately think of what we're doing right now. Computers, especially personal computers, and the Internet. All three are a reality that was created due to the thoughts or dreams or beliefs of a group of people. It started out with sci-fi writers having fanciful thoughts about future inventions. Then, someone believed in those fanciful sci-fi ideas and actually made them happen.

For me, the Internet is pretty good evidence that we create our own reality. Of course, definition of terms will determine whether or not others agree.

To answer your two questions:

1) I think to prove your manifestation statement is easier than disproving it. Simply provide an example that proves this to be true. To disprove is almost impossible, because people can always say, "Yeah, but we just haven't seen the proof yet." (Like with Superstring Theory)

2) To prove it to someone else--especially someone who was locked into their own way of thinking--you would have to agree on terminology, find common beliefs that you both agreed on, and go from there. If you couldn't get that far, then it is unlikely that you could ever prove or disprove anything.

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I'm adding this comment to respond to two other people.

1) It doesn't seem relative to talk about physics or science, because those are rules upon which reality is based. Those aren't reality. In fact, science is basically creating a model to describe reality. And the "truth" of science changes all the time. Within the last 150 years, we have had three major paradigm shifts. Newton, then Einstein, then Quantum Mechanics. We may see a fourth or even fifth within our lifetimes.

2) I don't agree that it is unlikely that we create our own reality. This of course depends on terms and wording, and perspective. To see my point of view, look at it this way. A computer and a network are the framework for Virtual Reality. There are specific rules that said reality must follow. But Virtual Reality is not the network. It is not the computer. In fact, it isn't even the program that the computer is running. It is a creation that depends on those things for existence and must follow certain rules. But even those rules can be bent. My explanation above is looking at "reality" as a mirror to the "Virtual Reality" in my example. It isn't the laws of physics, nor is it the Universe. It is the reality that is created by our perception and our actions that evolve from our perceptions.

Answer 4

Reality is not based on beliefs but rather on the common agreement that something is or isn't true. That is to say, reality is intrinsically true in that what is real must by definition be so.

Beliefs are subjective thought processes that suggest a reality but cannot be proven. If a belief is proven that it is a fact, not a belief.

For example, it is a reality that human beings breathe oxygen. Whether someone chooses to believe this or not has no relevance on the fact that people breathe oxygen.

It is a belief that the oxygen is provided by God. No matter how much someone believes this is so (this is their reality) it is simply not a fact. It may be so, or it may be not, but the strength of someone's convictions on the subject is irrelevant to the fact that it may or may not be true.

Therefore reality is not based on belief of an individual or a collective group of individuals. It is based on empirically provable facts that are not subject to opinion or belief.

Answer 5

Micro: children who wholeheartedly believe that they are able to fly or be invisible with a special cape still fall to the earth or are scoped out by their disingenuous friends. Macro: humankind has had an inherent belief in their ability to obtain (or even work towards) mastery of the physical world but the harder we engineer this change, the more unstable the situation becomes.

One of the more profound experiences of my life was when I awoke from a persistent coma to face a group of strangers.

I entered the coma after not breathing for about 20min and had severe brain damage; front left lobe, back left, and center top of my brain were completely dark on the CAT scan. I had complete amnesia, very limited speech capabilities, and no coordination.

The neat thing was, while I had no knowledge or belief as to who these people where, I knew simply that I loved them and that they loved me. The love was something beyond belief or cognition.

Now yeah, the emotional and rational parts of the brain are separate so it very well could be that the operant area was able to recognize the ties I had with them... but then I had no beliefs at all at that time, so then why would I even be experiencing anything of reality for that matter?

Answer 6

There are beliefs and there is physics. While beliefs may motivate us to propose questions that can be investigated with science, the discovery of predictable consistent laws of nature prove reality is not based upon belief. Our beliefs inform our interpretation of these laws, in terms of how they are significant to us. But they are set rules, based on interactions of matter, energy, force, and so on. You may believe that you will survive crashing into a brick wall at 120 mph, but physics has already predicted you won't. But this is an extreme example.

What we believe informs our interpretation of events that occur beyond our control. After experiencing a series of failures in a profession, your perspective on them will influence what you will do afterwards. If you see these failures as learning experiences, and go on to do better, you see the glass as half full. If you see these failures as a "sign" that you yourself are a failure, and that you have an innate inability to succeed, then you're not likely to get up and try again.

You stated that assuming the manifestation of reality is based on beliefs, how would you prove or disprove that it is. Haven't you already stated something that cannot be disproven? I hope I succeeded in giving you something of what you wanted here.

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Answer 7

Reality is not created through belief.

Proof:

The 'Punked' show would be a perfect example where they believe the situation is real, but which changes to 'reality' afterwards. If reality was created through belief, it would have never changed contrary to what one believes about the experience.

Answer 8

Radhsoami is not a faith. They just use gurbani >95% and tell to their followers, there can not be anything above gurbani. Guru Nanak has a similar status to Jesus in Sikhs along with Ten gurus and Bhagats. Guru Granth is guru of humanity. Any one who ever wish to achieve spiritual enlightenment need to follow Guru Granth in daily life. There is no need to follow any one else as more than 99% of these so called Gurus are false. Jesus was great but in Sikhism Guru Granth is original and intact.

Answer 9

I don't think so!

Many mathematicians believed that Fermat's Last Theorem could be solved using elementary algebraic constructions - but their collective beliefs keep on defying them! Would they wait for eternity to realize these beliefs?

Answer 10

i guess it would take someone with no beleifs (seems unlikely that this person will ever be found).

the person will have to be free from desires
he will have to be free from the self and the will
he will have to be free from fear, hope etc., reward

only such a person can "prove" to another the source of their beleifs.

i agree with you totally belief does create reality.