Comments on: Do you know what is real?

By: Don

Don — Mon, 22 Oct 2007 02:57:16 +0000

I think I can solve all the confusion. That is, if you have the ability to comprehend what I’m about to tell you -

Everything exists.

No, not just what you think exists, exists. Everything that you can and can not think of exists. Where is it that you exist right now? Relative existence is pointless to infinity. Where does the number 1 exist in comparison to all the other numbers? It’s just a number that is relative to the others, part of the infinite whole.

By: nat

nat — Mon, 22 Oct 2007 00:06:18 +0000

Well I totally agree, everything you said is pretty much what I always find myself thinking of and really losing myself in. It makes feel like crap sometimes knowing how thin our knowledge really is and how much our society drowns in it from day to day. I was experiencing that lonely feeling when I decided to google, how do I know this is real? I got the link to your web first. I also think that saying “no one knows” the answer can be an understatement. How do you know what other people know or don’t know? If its possible that we all see green in a different way than can you imagine the secrets other people may be holdings in their minds. There’s a lot of people in the world, I think.

By: jeff

jeff — Sun, 07 Oct 2007 04:01:54 +0000

What if I’m stuck in a false reality…. how would I get out?

By: Personal Growth Warning! Dan and Jennifer Join the Positive Blog Network. « Ask Dan and Jennifer

Fri, 02 Feb 2007 05:16:32 +0000

[...] Steve Olson - On a Quest for Personal Freedom Do you know what is real? [...]

By: Fab 5 on Friday 02/02/07 - Spirituality Applied to Life - Balanced Life Center

Fab 5 on Friday 02/02/07 - Spirituality Applied to Life - Balanced Life Center — Fri, 02 Feb 2007 05:14:45 +0000

[...] Going even further down the rabbit hole with Steve Olson’s post Do You Know What is Real? We can go in circles all day long with this stuff, but Steve explains it in everyday language that takes the circular logic out of it. The concept is still mind bending, but it’s easier to swallow in this post. [...]

By: Steve

Steve — Wed, 31 Jan 2007 04:12:47 +0000

Max,

I like the way you think and communicate. You dwell in the arena of ideas and thought, and not as much in the realm of ego and personality. That makes debate and communication much more fun.

When you begin to get egos out of the way, thinking is incredibly fun.

By: Max Terry

Max Terry — Wed, 31 Jan 2007 02:27:31 +0000

Aristus,

How could everything you believe about reality to be a leap of faith? It’s a leap of faith in the socially agreed upon reality, yes, but anything and everything you could ever know is contained in your nervous system.

Think about it. Can a computer ever know something that isn’t on its hard drive? It may have the concept of a hard drive and the fact it can’t know outside information, but THAT information is contained on the hard drive, too! Formal systems, like computers, can never know their whole structure. However, humans are greater than the formal systems we invented. Currently no one knows the extent of human potential — we’re only above halfway through our species evolution, after all.

If a tree falls in a forest and no one is there to hear it, does it make a sound?
No — the “sound” is literally generated by a nervous system. The famous koan could be translated as, “If a floppy disk is inserted into a computer that’s not turned on, is the information read?” No, of course not.

By: Aristus

Aristus — Mon, 29 Jan 2007 23:13:54 +0000

Everything you believe about reality is just that: a leap of faith, founded on sand.

Underneath empiricism is the Principle of Induction: i.e., the sun rose today, yesterday and last week, therefore it’s going to rise tomorrow. Every time I put salt in warm water it dissolves. Therefore, salt dissolves in water. Simple, unassailable, common-sensical, right?

But is the P-of-I is really valid? Of course it’s valid! How do you know? Because it’s always worked in the past… oh.

By: Max Terry

Max Terry — Mon, 29 Jan 2007 20:58:34 +0000

Steve,

Perhaps it’s empirical evidence that’s the “leap of faith,” and what “you believe about reality” is the real truth. Even if it’s not the real truth, it is the _only truth_.

By: Steve

Steve — Mon, 29 Jan 2007 18:47:49 +0000

Max,

I have always chosen 2 as well. But until this year I had never seriously entertained the possibility of #2 #1. Just entertaining the possibility is a bit unnerving.

And what amazes me even more is that since the decision isn’t based on empirical evidence, it is a leap of faith.

So wouldn’t that mean that everything you believe about reality is a leap of faith?