Reality had been something that we never really questioned. It just was.
But day by day there are a growing number of scientists who challenge the very nature of what we term "reality".
Even within popular culture, movies such as "The Matrix" and "Inception", they have offered up insight into the make up of world we believe that we inhabit.
You might be familiar with the poetry of Ted Hughes and his partner Sylvia Plath. In 1956 they honeymooned in Paris. During their stay there, they produced a number of poems which provide a clear picture of the inconsistency of what we might term "reality".
Ted Hughes saw Paris, through the eyes of an Englishman, as a city badly torn by war. He noticed the vacant blocks of houses as a result of bombings, the tangled barbed wire, which lay there and the stains of blood which marked the footpaths.
American born Sylvia Plath saw something totally different however, when she walked the streets. She saw the romantic city, a city of artists with their easels by the "Seine". She saw the "Eiffel Tower" and the many couples seated in outdoor cafes, sipping coffee and smoking "Gauloises" cigarettes.
Effectively they inhabited different worlds, as they walked hand in hand.
I too have experienced such disconnection. I grew up in a fairly typical Anglo-Saxon family in Australia, while my wife was raised in South Korea.
I remember on one particular day, a few years back, my wife and I visited a friends house. It was built in the style known as Federation architecture. These houses were built between 1900 and 1914, around the time when the separate Australian states joined together to form a nation. For me this house was historic, warm and very beautiful. I loved the high ceilings, the stained glass windows and the pastel walls. But I was surprised to find that my wife seemed to experience a very different reaction to this house. She later described the house to me as being old, with high ceilings which would make the home very cold and uncomfortable. She also found the colours of the walls as being uninviting. In effect she felt very negative about the style of the house. We were standing together inside the same house but we were in vastly different worlds.
The reason for this strange phenomenon is that none of us actually share the same reality with each other.
What we understand to be "reality" is in fact a veil of superficiality which our senses interpret within our mind.
We live within a "False World". What we understand as reality is the product of our past experiences. Our memories retain these as pictures in our minds and all of these have emotions and judgments attached to them. Our perspective is also impacted by the teachings of our families and our cultures, and are subject to biases which our many habits have accumulated. Then to top this off, our biology and Karma also play havoc with our ability to recognise the "Truth".
Meditation is the solution to this dilemma. It is through Meditation that we can begin to see the world which we we actually inhabit.
Meditation destroys our delusional false world and by doing this we can break free of our pain and suffering.
See the world as it is. Start Your Meditation journey today.