"We live in a fantasy world, a world of illusion. The great task in life is to find reality." This is a quote by Iris Murdoch. Iris was a British author best known for her books about, philosophy, good and evil, sexual relationships and morality. She considered herself a follower of Plato, and that's likely where her thoughts on illusion and reality stemmed from.
So do we live in a world of illusion? In more ways than one, the answer would seem to be yes. Scientists will be the first to tell you that there is more to this world than we can perceive. There are light waves that the human eye cannot perceive and tones that the human ear cannot hear. These facts alone tell us that we are living in a world where we can see only part of the total picture. In fact, tests were done during the 1950's that showed that there can be a microwaved transmission of speech directly into the auditory cortex. It is called the Frey effect (named after the scientist who discovered it), and it allowed the scientist to beam a message to an individual, who would hear the message in his head while no one else around them could hear it! Have you ever thought you heard a voice but no one else heard it? Perhaps you did. The point is, how do we know reality? If people can beam thoughts into your head with microwaves, and the media willingly and easily changes photographs or only writes the news they want you to see. How can we really know what is reality and what is only an illusion. Should we assume that everything around us really is an illusion? Can we believe our eyes? Our thoughts? Our emotions? I have seen people who thought their spouses loved them, and yet later they found out that their spouse was cheating on them. Who can you really trust? If you can't even trust your own senses, is there anyone you can trust? Okay, I took that last thought process to an extreme. We all do live in a world of illusion. But sometimes, those illusions are necessary to help keep our sanity. The reality is that we can only trust everyone so far. I trust my daughters and my mother with my life. And yet I know that all of them lie to me occasionally on small matters. "That hair cut looks great!" "I didn't eat the last doughnut Daddy!" Is my trust in them an illusion. No, it is my reality. I know that my family will occasionally lie about small matters. That is a reality. On larger issues, I believe I can trust them. The reality is that I need that illusion, and so do they so that we can all live together amicably. Away from my family, my trust wears thin. While I'll generally trust my friends to do the right thing, I do keep my eye open for instances where things are not really as they seem. I have nearly no trust for the government or the media. Oftentimes, while out in the real world I like to follow the money, or the who benefits doctrine. When I hear something that doesn't sound 100% on the up and up, I try to figure out who will benefit from the situation, and then try to find if there was any manipulation to lead to the odd outcome. Unfortunately, I can find those connections rather easily when it comes to the government or large corporations. In the end, the reality is that we all live lives of illusion. Sometimes, the more you can see the illusions the less happy you will be. Other times, the opposite will be true. In the end, I'll finish with another quote. "Be careful what you look for...you just might find it!"
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