FFF: Reality

Like most other things, it seemed so much simpler as a child.

"Reality" was something concrete. Tangible. Non-negotiable.
"Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away."
--Philip K. Dick




Now that I'm so much older, I see that it is, in fact, something quite relative. It's pliable. It comes apart and reshapes when subject to enough force or sufficient will. One might see it as a blob of Play Doh.


It also depends on one's point of view. All manner of Law of Attraction/pop psychology will tell someone that. "You choose to be happy." "You choose your point of view." "Always look on the bright side of life." Philosophical relativism, I suppose.




"Nothing is more real than nothing."
--Samuel Beckett

That might be tough for a few of us. Depression, which I have discussed on these pages at length, has a habit of clouding your optical lens. You see the same things as everyone else, but imagine seeing them through a windshield splattered with mud. It clouds and distorts "reality." What is in actuality neutral is replaced by the hellish in an action of cognitive dysphemism.





If your disposition is such, then little setbacks can really ruin your day. I'm talking about even the little things that you shouldn't bother you, but do. Prowling around inside your haunted head. A Sisyphus-like incessant cycle of steps forward and then slight ones back.




I've yet to meet anyone who entirely understands the mysteries of reality or its ways of working. Why not then, a la existentialism, create your own? This is a big reason why I do not bemoan social media or mobile technology. Want to sit on your couch and have all manner of entertainments delivered to you via fiber optic cable or wireless device? Go for it. Why leave? If that's a safer or more beneficial reality for you, then do it. Contrary to the opinions of Luddites, I don't see that as any less "real" than what the naturalists argue for.

"Reality leaves a lot to the imagination."
--John Lennon

Ever been too worn out to think?



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