“Reality exists in the human mind, and nowhere else.” This is a quote by George Orwell. I have thought about this quote for a bit, and I think that he is right... to some extent. Think about it. Everything you or I know is known through our perceptions. Describe a tree. You are going to tell me what a tree is by how you perceive it. Same thing if I ask you to describe a person. Whether its a person you know, or just someone passing by in the street, you are going to tell me how you perceive them.
Now, I know that there are a lot of things that exist, that you can describe without seeing them. But you can only describe them because you have either heard about them, seen them, or have seen enough similar things that you believe you can describe them. Secondly. think about the old philosophical argument called the caverns of Socrates. Socrates tells of a prisoner who has only lived in a cavern for his whole life, and he can only see out of it to a certain level. So much so that he can only see feet. His entire life, all he can see outside of his cave is feet. What would that man's reality be like compared to yours? And, if it is all he has experienced... and ever will experience, is his reality wrong? I would argue that it is not. It is what he can experience. Although there is a great wide world out there right outside his cavern, he does not know about it... and it is not a piece of his reality. If someone who has experienced it told him about it, he may believe it, or not. Similar to someone telling you what China is like. Whether you have been there or not! Also, consider that when someone tells you about a place you have never been, you are relying on their perceptions. How much of what they are saying will be true for all, versus just true for them? At the end of the day, reality is what we make it. There are some things that are usually true. But can we be certain that they are always true? And what is our definition of always? A strict definition of always, can negate the reality about many things. It all comes down to your perceptions. And where do you perceive things? In your mind! If any of you disagree, please leave your thoughts in the comments. I find this topic very interesting and I would love to see differing opinions.
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