Talk:The Real
Reality. A topic worth discussing in depth. Here is an idea how to approach the question of reality.
What is real? Is the laptop I see in front of my eyes "real"? Of course it is. How about the thoughts I just had? Are those real? I opt for saying yes! They are just as real as the desk in front of me. I think they are equally real. The only difference is their traits. How they behave, so to say. Thoughts are ephemereal. Objects are inert.
The best way I can think of to tackle this is by comparisson with "truth". I have to admit, another "difficult" topic, from a philosophical point of view.
In the LP, we differentiate between "Truth" and "truth". Truth with capital "T" is a higher level truth. This concept implies that there are different levels of truth. Indeed, one could have an incredible amount of "levels" of truth.
First, I'd like to distance myself from the thought, that the "higher lvl" truth is the more "sacred", the more "important", of the truths. It is not. "small" truths are just as important as "big" truths. This becomes evident when one understands that a "small" monad (that is, a monad whose consciousness is very dense) is just as important as a "big" monad. The reason for this lies in the dimension of detail. Like always, in the LP, there is no judgement concerning worth or similar things.
So the idea goes as follows: Every truth can be thought of residing on a structure on different layers. Every layer encompasses a different range of information. Big truths encompass a big amount of information, small truths encompass small amounts of information. Now we can imagine that smaller truths are encompassed, like the twigs on a branch, by higher truths. And so on. Another possibility to visualize it is via a pyramid shape. Another way to visualize it is by imagining circles, or more generally some geometric forms fitting into one another.(this is my favourite visualization) If we adopt this perspective, it gets obvious that:
1) truths are layered (which is the main assuption) 2) every thought, every emotion, every experience is always true. 3) how untruth is created by the existence of this layered truth-system.
Untruth is created by:
a) adoption of an information of the same layer from a different perspective than the original perspective without taking into account that it was a different perspective and what lead to that particular perspective.
b) induction of an information of a lower level into a higher level.
c) deduction of information into the same level or lower.
d) pathology: internally prompted delusion.
e) pathology: externally prompted delusion
[Notice that small truths have a higher information density than big truths. Big truths apply on a huge variety of topics, but are less concrete. The difference here is the detail. Detail is one of the dimensions. <-- this is important]
A small metaphor just occured to me: Imagine that we are all miners. We mine information in the depths of creation. Each of us mines at its own place, although we all mine in the same mine which has several levels. Sometimes we have common projects, but most of the time, we mine for ourselves. Are the diamonds some of us mine more worth than the diamonds of others? No. We all mine diamonds, and that's cool. Now, in order to share what we mined, we need something in common. This would be the refinery. The refinery processes the diamonds of each of us and makes it available to all on the particular level of the mine. The generations of miners before us dug till a certain level. After there was no more diamonds to find, they retired, and allowed the next generation of miners to come forth. The new generation searched left and right and found a deeper level to the mine and started digging. They as well, dug untill there was no more diamonds to find, brought their diamonds to their refinery, retired and allowed the next generation to come. Now, the interesting thing is, that the retired miners retired. They didn't die. They just couldn't find more diamonds. But the new generations could. And that was great, because this gave the old generations many shiny new diamonds to behold. However, it must be said that it was mutually beneficial. The new generations dug so deep, that they were risking getting lost in the tunnels and shafts of this great mine. In order for them to orientate, they too, needed the work of their predecessors, who created unequivocal clarity with their refined diamonds. The top layers of the mine were connecting every deeper level with each other. Once they learned of the existence of the top layers, the miners wouldn't lose their way anymore and frequently and easily could commune between the layers.
To come to a conclusion: Reality behaves similar like truth.
