Perception Equels Reality

Recently i spoke with a friend, we have a playful argument and the topic is irrelevant, but he said to mean " it doesn't matter what facts you give me because i can always win in my mind". While this may be chuckled off it stayed with me.

I realised that because we cant cross check our perception with an other's then no fact can be know as a truth. A hallucination seems just as real as anything else. For all i know ATS is simply a figment of my imagination, and all this talk about aliens is just my minds way of helping me cope and that aliens not only are real but i may very well be sounded by many aliens in some sort of space marketplace. The fact is there is no possible way to know be cause you cant check if something is broke by using something broken to check.

In this way anything we can wish for can be ours, our perception is in fact our reality. Want to be a zombie hunter? With the power of our mind we can in fact be it. wish for world peace? With in your own world all can be safe. everything is possible because you cant know its not impossible without it becoming possible, and as such its not impossible.

I wished to share this because i feel it allows one a great deal of mental freedom, and there can be no greater freedom.

I apologise if this topic has already been discussed but as i couldn't find it ether it was an old one and as such fresh minds and perception can benefit from it, it hasn't and I'm glad i can contribute this to the community, or i failed to noticed it and as i said i apologise

I agree with you 100% on this. Reality as we see it is different for everyone. Since you can't get into other people's thought process (yet), then you can't really see how they see things. What I like to do is actually explore people's different opinions about various subjects. It's actually a really easy experiment to try now since there's so many different websites and videos with people's own perception of truth. I don't think there is only one version of real truth and that each person decides themselves what that truth is. Take for instance all the different theories on 2012 going on right now. Everyone who has an idea claims that their version is the main truth and every other version is a well placed lie. I try to follow all of them because to really get behind someone's idea and take it as your own, you start to use the same thought process that they do. Usually after a while, I start to get bored with whatever idea that another has and I move on to find others that suit what my own thought process is coming up with itself. It's really fascinating stuff.

reply to post by swolleneyeball


Perception; witches needed to be burned.

Reality; we know now that this is silly, but what if. . . .

Perception; the earth is flat

Reality; it's round, but who's to say it wasn't flat when most people thought it was.

Perception; Light is photons. No mass.

Reality; Light is energy and and if it had no mass, why does gravity affect it?

Nice thread, these above, just some random thoughts.

reply to post by swolleneyeball


Welcome to the realm of expanded consciousness. All things really are possible. Change the rules and all is possible.

"Faith without action is dead"

I only partly agree with the OP because while it works, you might also need to get up your lazy ass and do something about it.

Many great men changed our reality to their goals and did it with their mind(a lot of it) and also significant quantifiable effort that would be impossible for some, maybe most, but they did it anyway, right?! Nothing is impossible, correct?

Take it from me, I also wanted to change my life, change my world. Intense concentration alone didn't made it happen, I actually had to smile from time to time so people would be nicer to me!

Sounds Buddhism-e to me.

It just makes so much 'sense'... whatever 'sense' is..

and that may have just been a buddhist joke but I'm not sure, then again I'm kind of confused like every time when I think about what I like to call 'Matrix-Border' thoughts.

They are hard to grasp at sometimes because they are so on the edge of comprehension. It's kind of like if thoughts were a bowl, and our perception or focus was a marble, it is hard to stay on that edge. Ah and that reminds me of Hunter S. Thompson:

"The edge...there is no honest way to explain it, because the only people who really know where it is, are the ones who have gone over." - Hunter



What thought comes after: 'Is this real?' 'What if this is only there because I think it's there...' etc. etc.

We will never know, for when we do we won't be here to pass on the information...

reply to post by beebs


Excellent thoughts and that is exactly it. All these people that scream the government is after them, is that real? Absolutely it is real for that person, all the logic lines up. However, change your focus and you alter your reality. What I am feeling more and more lately is that (and I've thought this superficially for a while) we are all the same. I mean we all interpret things different. That makes us the same. Through that understanding of interpreting things different we need to all recognize that and do what jesus said..."Be Still" There is no need to argue with someone, we are all right. Now, like your quote above says something about only the ones that have been over the line understand whats over the line, those that have not reached this understanding won't get where you we come from when we don't respond to the external world. We recognize each individual as independent and don't force a mindset on others. Hard to explain, I don't have the words.

Now the OP says perception is reality and I've heard my boss at work state this. I say who's reality? Each reality is different. My boss says the reality everyone recognizes. I say but I don't recognize that reality as mine, so why would you force me to view it that way? The boss says, "Because it is the way it is, whether right or wrong."

Interesting post. It is always intellectually stimulating to read another individual's take on reality.

The relationship between mind and reality has been a hotly debated subject in the past and will likely remain as such in the future. One of the strongest arguments supporting the idea that reality is a construct of the mind is the idea that all data, both objective and subjective, must ultimately be processed by the mind in order to be meaningful. If this is the case, all data, either proof positive or negative, is a construction of the mind's reality and is not an accurate source of completely objective information.

Sorry to ramble but the topic is infinitely intriguing.
Thanks for the post. Maybe your friend was right after all.

I'm am glad i was able to stimulate others minds.
But i feel we are attempting to "understand gymnastics with out a footing in walking."
Anything from what constitutes what a color is. not only would it change from person to person but from micro second to microsecond because of degradation of the viewing apparatus (eyes)

sensory perception is a particualy difficult to imagine

And after visiting another site i realised this isnt buddist-y but it is a pillar of view of active nihilism

Hmm nihilist without knowing it.


just another reminder to ignore socially conceived connotations

*edit for spelling*

[edit on 15-8-2009 by swolleneyeball]