When I was 15, I was going around telling people in school that nothing was   
   real. Some people thought that I was on drugs; others, that I wanted   
   attention; and others still, that I was escaping reality. I was in fact doing   
   none of the above. I was    
   working with the definition of reality that I had been given. According to the   
   empiricist definition of reality, something is real if it can be proven. Since   
   nothing can be proven to a man with brain damage or to a man who refuses to   
   listen to evidence,    
   it follows from that definition that nothing is real. Define something   
   falsely, expect the whole thing to go haywire.   
      
   Another definition of reality I got was “something that does not go away   
   when you stop believing in it.” This is also not always correct. I have   
   heard it from many people that people's beliefs have a great role in shaping   
   the reality of their lives,    
   and I agree with that, although in no way do I agree with the New Agers who   
   think that they are the only thing that shapes their reality. A statement made   
   by an American industrialist is, “Either you believe that you can, or you   
   believe that you cannot.   
    In either case, you are right.” Beliefs that people have do have a great   
   role in shaping reality – both of their lives and of the world as they   
   impact upon it. You may not believe in misogynistic or racist attitudes; but   
   they've had vast impact upon    
   reality, and they continue to do so now even though many people believe that   
   these attitudes are wrong.   
      
   Reality is not something that can, or should be, defined in reference to a   
   method. A method is there to discern reality, and not the other way around.   
   This is the case with logic; this is the case with faith; this is the case   
   with just about everything.    
   Reality does not exist because you can either observe it or believe in it. It   
   existed before you; it will continue existing long after you're gone.   
      
   The problem in both cases has been mistaking the horse and the cart. The cart   
   does not drive the horse; the horse drives the cart. Reality exists whether or   
   not you either can prove it or believe in it; and defining it in reference to   
   either such thing    
   is wrong.   
      
   The problem is not with reality. The problem is with wrongful definitions of   
   what reality is. A wrong definition will always beget wrong conclusions; and   
   we see the same both with nihilists who use the logical implications of the   
   empiricist view to say    
   that nothing is real and the New Agers who think that everyone makes their   
   reality with their consciousness or their beliefs.   
      
   More nonsense to that effect has come from the academics who think that   
   reality is something that is construed by people agreeing upon it. Once again,   
   that is completely wrong. People agreeing upon an issue has not created the   
   solar system. Their beliefs    
   shape their actions and communications, which then impact upon the rest of the   
   world. It does not mean that they have created reality, or that reality is   
   something that is construed.   
      
   Another bit of nonsense that I have heard is that truth is relative. No, it is   
   not. There is nothing relative about the sun. Relativism is the ideology of a   
   conman; what a friend from India rightfully called scumbaggery. Truth is   
   complex; reality is    
   complex; but neither are relative.   
      
   Probably the best view I've had on this matter is that reality is co-created.   
   There is the Sun, the Earth, and the rest of the universe that we did not   
   create, and then there is the human world which we did. Both are part of   
   reality, and both are    
   expected to continue to remain a part of reality for a long time. There is   
   what we have been given, and there is what we do with it. Both are equally   
   real.   
      
   Do not define something in reference to a method that is being used to study   
   it. Define something according to what it is. Both logic and beliefs that   
   people have a vast role in influencing the reality of their actions and of the   
   world as they impact    
   upon it. That does not mean that they have created reality. And it does not   
   mean that reality is something that should be defined in reference to either   
   method.   
      
   https://sites.google.com/site/ilyashambatthought   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)