Archive for May 13th, 2009
.An Apple Never Falls Far From The Tree
We are born into a world of ready-made information. The moment we first open our eyes – from black to white, reds and yellows, to the wide array of colours, shades and tones – we are treated through our senses with so much information. But can we really call this information?
Let’s consider them as merely sensory details, just raw data entering our eyes, ears, nostrils, tongue and nerve-endings. There is so much we could do with all these sensations. There are so many combinations of sight and sound, taste and smell, and touch etc. And yet, how do we interpret these?
Children are shown pictures of an apple with the wording “Apple”, then pointed at and read aloud:
“This is an apple”.
Then they are shown the same for a tree:
“This is a tree”.
These two are then put together and they are told:
“Apples come from trees”.
Over 2 million years of human existence we have developed our intelligence and made sure it is carried on through the process of learning. However, it seems as though there is more teaching (and preaching) going on than actual seeking of knowledge.
No one challenges the fact that apples come from trees – it is readily accepted, no salt or sugar added, just straight off the rocks, undiluted “truth”. But what if it isn’t so?
What if someone screwed up somewhere in their perception of apples and trees, and sent it down from generation to generation. No one bothered correcting them because either no one knew better, or it was simply too stupid to even need to correct. And as it went on down the line, the others forgot, and soon it became accepted. How could that happen? Think about it.
What if enough people believe in an absurdity?
Then it HAS to be true, right?
What is the probability of a mass delusion?
Is it even a delusion when a majority have accepted it to be a reality?
What is real?
There is no one reality.
There is no “the Reality”.
There is only my reality, and your reality, and his and hers and their reality.
None of these have to be the same, and they usually are not, as much as you may think they are.
What we perceive to be reality is simply the way in which we choose to understand the world around us.
It is merely a construct, based on the inputs of our senses, forged by the process of our minds.
Every individual has their own reality, and thus, every individual has their own delusion.
So, collectively, does it all add up to one big reality? Where it all balances out, opposites cancelling out and similarities adding up? Or just one big delusion?
Apples come from trees, don’t they?
