Is Reality an Illusion? | Jan Westerhoff

WHAT IS REALITY - DREAMLIKE AND MIRACULOUS

WHAT IS REALITY?

Anonymous said...

I have to believe in a world outside my own mind.

I have to believe my actions still have meaning even if I don't remember them.

I have to believe that when my eyes are closed, the world's still here.

Even for a pure materialist, the world, even time, is an illusion. 

It is a fabrication of our senses and mind, and subject to their foibles. 

Hence an external materialist reality is something to which the materialist has only the slenderest access. 

Ideally the rational materialist seeks to form a minimal internally-consistent simplification of their world with maximum explanatory or predictive power. 

That is, a theory of the world. 

The reductionist physicist humbly aspires to a Theory of Everything, apparently believing superstrings and quantum gravity best explain the experience of the scent of a rose or of a lover or of just being there. 

(Ok, that's unfair, but metaphysics is often not physicists' forte: A ToE is not Ultimate Reality; that is God.)

The more fundamental question is of purpose.

Is our external reality merely a cold and indifferent universe following clockwork rules? Non-teleological. Purposeless.

Or is it something consciously fabricated? Are our lives planned and directed? Purposeful.

Well I'll just say it: it's the latter. 

There are just too many anomalous, bizarre and statistically implausible things for it to be otherwise. 

If you've spent a few decades in this absurd world, you should've noticed by now.

You know what I say when I see a bed of  red hot coals?

Brilliant!

Lucky guess.

Sure, there are generally "rational" - that is, physical - explanations for phenomena. 

For example, hot coal walkers avoid injury by moving quickly to cool by convection and prevent absorbing heat and somehow not dripping sweat to evade the latent heat of condensation. Thermodynamics.

But there are far stranger phenomena out there if you're willing to look. 

Our world is not something soulless and mechanical but rather something dreamlike and miraculous. 

Something magical. Even compassionate.

You were put in this world for a purpose. 

And that purpose is to save your life. 

Even the pain helps you.

To help you and save you to become a being worthy of eternity. To enter the next world. The real life.

Somewhere much more fun and relaxing than this infuriating, absurd place..

Where did he go?

  He is gone to a better place. Goodbye, Rance.

He's under the bed.

  I know.

WHAT IS REALITY?

We encounter 'a pretty teenage girl'.

What we perceive is our brain's best guess at what the girl is like.

Donald Hoffman believes that human perceptions of girls and other things are all illusions.

Donald D. Hoffman is a Professor in the Department of Cognitive Sciences at the University of California, Irvine, with joint appointments in the Department of Philosophy, the Department of Logic and Philosophy of Science, and the School of Computer Science.

...

The scientists who study quantum physics say that an object does not exist until we observe it.

....

"The current understanding - that all probabilities all exist at once, in the same reality, until you measure or observe them - is mind-blowing. And yet the math is there to prove it."

What is Reality?


Norway 1905

"When we produce a thought, that thought can change us and can change the world in a good way or in a bad way.

"If it is right thought, if that thought is produced in line with right thinking, then it will have a healing, nourishing effect on our body and on the world.

"Just by producing right thinking you can change the world. You can make the world a better place to live..."

Dharma Talk: The Buddhist Understanding of Reality



In John's Gospel, Jesus says: "It is the Father who lives in me who carries out his work through me...

"If you live your life in me, and my words live in your hearts, you can ask for whatever you like and it will come true for you."

In Luke's Gospel, Jesus says: "Give and men will give to you - yes, good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over will they pour into your lap...

"The kingdom of God is inside you."

Doctors studying patients with multiple personality disorder have discovered something strange.

One of the personalities possessed by a certain patient needs glasses for their eyes.

But, another of the same patient's personalities does not need glasses for their eyes.

Or, one of the patient's personalities is diabetic and another of the same patient's personalities is not diabetic.

10 Amazing Examples of Mind Over Matter.

When the patient switches from one personality to another, their body actually goes through real changes, such as differences in blood sugar levels.

10 Amazing Examples of Mind Over Matter.

In other words, the mind can alter the body.

The Powers-That-Be do not want us to know that they are constantly trying to control our minds, and shape our personalities.

They want us to be addicted to 'negative' states of mind.

Can you get your brain and body not to suffer from any physical and emotional injuries?

If so, this could be useful for people walking on burning coals, or for people training to be angels.

If you are a benevolent and skilful doctor, or an angel, the ability not to suffer physical and emotional injuries and ailments could be useful.

However, if you are an immature young child, or an evil general, there may be useful lessons to be learnt from suffering temporary pain.

Prahlad Jani, the man who says he hasn't eaten or drunk for 70 years

Prahlad Jani says he has not eaten or drunk for 70 years.

"A devout Christian called Therese Neumann (above) did not eat or drink for 35 years. 

"She was watched 24 hours a day and confirmed not to have eaten or drunk anything for 2 weeks with no ill-effects, dehydration or weight loss." 

The Biology of Belief  / Therese Neumann.

"Jainist Hira Ratan Manek claims not to have eaten anything since 1995. 

"He has been studied under controlled conditions by teams of scientists and doctors many times and was never observed to eat or drink at all. 

"One time he went 211 days under careful supervision, another time 411 days."

The Biology of Belief

Tibetan monks and Indian Yogis can apparently use meditation to control their body functions.

In 1936, a French cardiologist called Therese Brosse traveled to India to study yogis.

She found that the yogis could slow down their heart rates to abnormally low levels.

In the 1950s, another group of researchers studied yogis lying for 8 hours in air-tight sealed boxes.

The Yogis were able to survive by slowing down their heart rate and breathing.

10 Amazing Examples of Mind Over Matter.

Jack Schwarz practiced mind over matter.

He could put a long sail-maker's needle through his arm without injury.

"He also displayed his ability to regulate his body's blood flow by causing the puncture hole in his arm to bleed or stop bleeding at will...

Schwarz was studied by researchers at the Menninger Foundation who found that he could indeed control bodily processes with only his mind.

10 Amazing Examples of Mind Over Matter.

Mirin Dajo

"Mirin Dajo was invited to Switzerland to have his abilities formally studied under laboratory conditions. 

"In front of a group of doctors and journalists, Dajo had his assistant stab him through with the steel rapier and as always he did not bleed or even flinch. 

"He then calmly walked upstairs with doctors to take his X-ray which undeniably proved that no trickery was involved and he was indeed impaled.

Some people's brain cells may see motherhood as being 'unconditional love and forgiveness'.

Other people may see motherhood as being 'disappointment and ridicule'.

The Biology of Belief

Some people's brain cells may see the body as being potentially healthy.

Some people's brain cells may see the body as being potentially sick.

"What we ultimately do is tell ourselves a story about what the outside world is."

(Dr. Joe Dispenza, What the Bleep Do We Know?)

Research has shown that patients who have feelings of helplessness and hopelessness have a lower chance of surviving serious illnesses.

Patients who visualise themselves being healed, have a better chance of surviving serious illnesses.

10 Amazing Examples of Mind Over Matter.

Candace Pert, former chief of brain biochemistry at the National Institute of Mental Health, suggests that mind is present throughout the body and that emotions are the links between matter and mind.

The Spiritual Universe

"Thoughts change brain chemistry."

(Dr. Joseph M. Carver PhD, Emotional Memory Management: Positive Control Over Your Memory.)

If we are constantly bombarding our cells with the same negative attitudes, emotions, and beliefs, our biochemistry adapts by creating more receptor sites for those particular brain chemicals which cause our problems.

The Biology of Belief

"People often become physically/chemically addicted and dependent on various negative states of being such as depression, victimization, frustration, or jealousy. 

"Over time we crave more of the peptides (certain brain chemicals) we're addicted to and create repetitive dramas in our lives in order to receive our next dose."

The Biology of Belief

"Living with positive, life-affirming, non-limiting thoughts/emotions/beliefs leads to physical health, wellness, and even miraculous supernormal abilities."

The Biology of Belief

"To save her trapped son, Angela Cavallo lifted a 1964 Chevrolet and held it up for five minutes while neighbors arrived, reset a jack, and rescued her unconscious boy. 

"Similarly, a construction worker lifted a 3,000-pound helicopter that had crashed into a drainage ditch, trapping his buddy under water.

"In this feat captured on video, the man held the aircraft aloft while others pulled his friend from beneath the wreckage."   Spontaneous Evolution / The Biology of Belief

According to some research at Princeton University

We can mentally influence - and are influenced by - the thoughts of others.

We can mentally influence biological processes in bodies other than our own.

We can mentally influence the functioning of non-biological systems.

The Next Great Turning - Context Institute

Now, if we are going to be angels in Nirvana, or Heaven or Paradise, we may have to dump our personalities.

Paradoxically, it may be that if we give up our supposed 'free will', we can then follow the will of 'God' (or go with the flow, tune into the Tao, realise that we are part of 'God') and live happily ever after.

The Buddhists would say that our sense of being a separate 'self' is an illusion.

We should practise non-attachment to lots of things.

"All the delightful things of the world - sweet sounds, lovely forms, all the pleasant tastes and touches and thoughts - these are all agreed to bring happiness if they are not grasped and possessed.

But if you regard them merely as pleasures for your own use and satisfaction and do not see them as passing wonders, they will bring suffering.

-Sutta Nipata, Blog: Pleasure and Joy

Alexi Helligar (If everything is just an illusion) refers to the 'zero state' of 'self'.

"Living beings resist the zero state so they can experience enjoyment out of what is essentially nothingness."

Being an angel in Heaven, Paradise or Nirvana does not mean that one is without compassion.

Some Buddhists see an enlightened being as one whose changing self is highly developed.[16]

One with "great self" has a mind which is not at the mercy of outside stimuli or its own moods, but is imbued with self-control, and self-contained.[17]

The mind of such a one is without boundaries, not limited by attachment or "I-identification."[18]

One can transform one's self from an "insignificant self" into a "great self" through practices such as mindfulness.[19]

The suttas portray one disciple who has developed his mind through loving-kindness saying: "Formerly this mind of mine was limited, but now my mind is immeasurable."[19]

With "nirvana-after-death", paranirvana, the last remains of physical life vanish, and no further rebirth takes place.

With nirvāṇa the consciousness is released, and the mind becomes aware in a way that is totally unconstrained by anything in the conditioned world. 

At its best after 4 minutes.

How to explain the world?

0 = +x -x

Particles are constantly popping in and out of existence, according to the scientists.

The +x -x could be seen as representing all possible things.

According to the scientists, a bottle of Coke exists in all possible locations, until it is observed existing in one particular location.

Atom Is Seen in 2 Places at Once - New York Times 

The observer apparently decides where the bottle of Coke is to be found.

And, just as a bottle of Coke can be in more than one place at once, it can also be in more than one time period at once.

The observer apparently decides the time period in which the bottle of Coke is to be found.

Our understanding of time and space may be out of date, according to the scientists.

"The world has the incomprehensible property of existing in a 'superposition' of possible states and every so often plumps for one or another."

Can Quantum Mechanics Explain Free Will?

Jean Piaget[7] stated that young children have to learn about time and space.

There is a lion somewhere ahead of us.

Perhaps we observe it right in front of us, about to eat us.

Or, perhaps we observe it sitting peacefully, eating manna from heaven.

Particles appear to exist in all states simultaneously according to the experiments in quantum superposition

"Experiments in quantum physics seem to demonstrate the need for an observer to be present to make potentialities become real... 

"Basically, what quantum theory says is that fundamental particles are empty of inherent existence and exist in an undefined state of potentialities. 

"They have no inherent existence from their own side and do not become 'real' until a mind interacts with them and gives them meaning. 

"Whenever and wherever there is no mind there is no meaning and no reality."

Buddhism and Quantum Physics

REALITY

MODERATE OPTIMISTS LIVE LONGER

A MODERATE OPTIMIST has a positive outlook and believes that some good things will happen in the future.

"Low levels of pessimism, rather than high levels of optimism, have been associated with better health.

"Having realistic expectations, rather than taking extremely positive or negative positions, may actually be the recipe for good health and happiness.

"Rather than constantly aiming for a bright smile and sunny disposition, or giving in to an overall negative outlook, the goal should be moderate optimism

Pessimism | Psychology Today UK



Researchers at Harvard University have reported that:

People who are optimistic tend to live longer than their less-optimistic people.

The study appeared in the American Journal of Epidemiology.



Some Americans and Brits are not as optimistic as they used to be.

This may be a cause of falling Life Expectancy.

Is Shrinking Optimism Tied to Drop in U.S. Life Expectancy ...

The degree of pessimism felt by an individual or group can often be linked to political and economic conditions in their personal lives and their society.

Pessimism | Psychology Today UK

In 2015, there was a report entitled:"Rising Morbidity and Mortality in Midlife Among White Non-Hispanic Americans".

It would appear that there was no similar rise in mortality in the small, often mildly socialist countries in Europe and Asia.

US life expectancy falls for third year in a row

Life Expectancy -

United States 79.5 years
Switzerland 83.4 years
Iceland 83.0 years
Singapore 83.6 years
Switzerland 83.489 years
Sweden 82.6 years 

Research shows that People who are 'happy, positive and optimistic' have a lower risk of developing a cold or flu.

Are Happy People Healthier?  / 5 Ways that Positivity and Happiness can Protect you from Illness 

...

Vasubandhu (4th to 5th century C.E.) was a Budhist monk.

Vasubandhu's major ideas are:[7]

"Whatever we are aware of, think about, experience, or conceptualize, occurs to us nowhere else than within consciousness."

"External objects do not exist."

As Chögyal Namkhai Norbu puts it: "In a real sense, all the visions that we see in our lifetime are like a big dream . . . ."[2]

...

Markus Buch -

"If life is a dream, then it must have a purpose...

"Therefore, what is the purpose of life as dream?

"Life is definitely a story full of symbolic events ...character development...

"Therefore, the best bet for me is to behave nicely..."

...

"According to contemporary teacher Chögyal Namkhai Norbu Rinpoche, all appearances perceived during the whole life of an individual, through all senses, including sounds, smells, tastes and tactile sensations in their totality, are like a big dream. 

"It is claimed that, on careful examination, the dream of life and regular nightly dreams are not very different, and that in their essential nature there is no difference between them."

Java.

"Carl Jung believed that aside from each of us having our own conscious and subconscious selves, all humans are all somehow connected in one universal and collective unconscious."

Interstellar: Parallel Universes, Dreams, & The Mind .

"This collective unconscious is what gives us similar imagery in our dreams, and even ideas for myths, beliefs and folktales around the world...

"Cultures across the globe have very distinctive 'hero's journey' stories, along with many other archetypal tales and beliefs, that somehow all seem to share similar points in the plot line.


Cyprus

"One of the main ways in which Jung suggested that humans connect to the collective unconscious is through dreams.

This maybe points to the idea that somehow, through dreams, we can reach out to other people who are very far away or even gone from this world, since dreams exist in a place that knows no dimensional bounds... 

"Love is the only thing that seems to transcend both time and space."

Interstellar: Parallel Universes, Dreams, & The Mind


Morocco.

Jesus said: "Because of your faith, it will happen."

The Buddha said, "What you dwell upon you become." 

Hindu mysticism says, "Whatever a person's mind dwells on intensely and with firm resolve, that is exactly what he becomes."

THE USA'S PROBLEMS

The USA has two problems which have recently been highlighted by The Economist:

1. The US army is finding it increasingly difficult to recruit people for its military.

2. Many large US corporations are seeing a drop in profits.

Who will fight the next war? / The age of the torporation

When it comes to recruiting for the military the problems are:

1. Many young Americans are too overweight to join the military.

2. Many young Americans have tattoos, and the military won't take people with tattoos.

3. Many young American females have babies and toddlers to look after, so the military will not recruit them.

4. Many young Americans struggle to do mental arithmetic, so the military will not recruit them.

5. A growing number of the better educated young Americans do not like the military because of its actions in Afghanistan, Iraq and elsewhere.

Who will fight the next war?

The main cause of death of US soldiers is suicide.

One-third of America's serving military personnel suffer from psychiatric disorders.

The Economist relates that "for the second quarter in a row the sales and profits of members of the S&P 500 (top companies) are expected to fall...

"Even the tech industry's earnings are flat...

The age of the torporation

The main cause of America's decline is that it has been hijacked by a rich and corrupt elite.

"The United States has a greater disparity of wealth than almost any other nation on earth. Four hundred U.S. billionaires have more money than half the people of the United States combined..."

The Decline and Fall of the United States Washington's Blog.

American kids tend to be mind controlled.

Too many Americans fail to see that the US government carries out acts of false flag terrorism.

The biggest act of terrorism in the UK has been blamed on the CIA and its friends.

So, who controls the USA?

We call them Nazi-Zionist-Mafia-Robber Barons.

What we want is an end to AMERICANISATION.

Americanisation means the destruction of pretty gardens and houses and their replacement with ugly concrete structures.

Americanisation means crime, violence and unhappy children.

Americanisation means that beautiful old cultures are torn down and replaced with malls where you can buy McDonalds or watch a film about madness, mayhem and murder.

Americanisation means control by the military, the drug mafias and the big corporations.

When people try to resist Americanisation they find that they are subjected to false-flag terrorism and rigged elections.

"There are no people outdoors anymore - no kids on bikes, no neighbors talking over fences, no old men sitting on porches."

According to Gallup, 1957 was the happiest year ever in the USA.

After that, it was all downhill.



Bill Bryson has written about the destruction of pretty towns and farms in the USA.

Bill Bryson: The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid (2006)

1. American Farms destroyed

Bill Bryson writes: "I was born into a state that had two hundred thousand farms. 

"Today the number is less than half that and falling...

"Most small towns in Iowa have pretty well died.

"Drive anywhere in the state these days and what you see are empty towns, empty roads, collapsing barns, boarded farmhouses."

Bigger farms make more money.

2. Americans' worship of money.

Bill Bryson describes the Americans' worship of mammon in the years after 1957.

"We were entering a world where things were done because they offered a better return, not a better world.

"People were wealthier than ever before, but life somehow didn’t seem as much fun...

"Women increasingly went out to work..."



3. Americans become more dumb and more criminal.

Bill Bryson writes: "Juvenile crime continued to rise and the education system seemed to be falling apart.

"The most popular nonfiction book of 1957 was an attack on American education standards called Why Johnny Can’t Read..."

"Television got itself into a terrible scandal when it was revealed that many of the game shows were rigged."

Can of US Cola in the West Bank. Picture taken by Justin McIntosh, August 2004.

4. American Towns destroyed

Bill Bryson describes what happened to Des Moines as the big corporations took over.

"Now we would be able to dine at the same restaurants, eat the same fast foods, wear the same clothes, direct visitors to the same motel beds as people in California and New York and Florida.

"Des Moines would be exactly like everywhere else...

"Often now along streets like Grand and University avenues the old houses were bulldozed to splinters...

"Two stately Victorian houses across from Tech High School on Grand had become sudden vague memories.

"The old downtown movie palaces were among the first to go.

"Bishop’s, our beloved cafeteria, closed about the same time...

"The Register ... which once truly was the pride of Iowa, got taken over by the Gannett organization three years later. Today it is, well, not what it was...

"My peerless Little League park, with its grandstand and press box, was torn down...

"There are no people outdoors anymore - no kids on bikes, no neighbors talking over fences, no old men sitting on porches.

"Everyone is indoors.

"All the downtown stores went one by one...

"Then somebody got mugged or saw a disturbed homeless person or something, and hardly anybody went downtown after dark after that, and most of the rest of the restaurants and nightspots closed.

"In the ultimate indignity, even the bus station moved out...

The USA could be healed if the top people followed the words of Jesus:

Blessed are the peacemakers.

Blessed are the merciful.

Blessed are the meek.

Love your enemies.

First take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye.

You cannot serve God and money.

Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.

The greatest among you shall be your servant.