Nothing beyond ‘consciousness is’ is true. Not a single thing. Everything else is made up. You, me, the universe, science, God, everything. So, what can we say about anything? Nothing without speculating wildly or making shit up.
So, let’s do both!
Reality is the paradigm that we live in. It is different for everybody. No two people actually experience the same reality, because our concepts are different. That’s a fact that we tend to gloss over. Because our concepts align somewhat, we pretend that they align totally. But they don’t. All concepts actually misalign with all other concepts 100% of the time. So wouldn’t it be more true to say that they don’t align at all, ever?
Then what makes reality real? Belief. If you believe something. That makes it real.
Only real for you of course. But that is a disclaimer that should be attached to all reality. It is only real for the person experiencing it. And belief is what makes it so. There isn’t one reality. There are 7 billion or so. All real. All built on belief. None true of course but who cares? We live in our realities, untrue though they are, so let’s make them a bit nicer if we can. And we can.
‘So, if I believe something, that makes it true?!’
No. That makes it real. Only consciousness is true. Nothing else. And reality isn’t true, it’s made up, it can’t be true. But it’s real. To you.
‘Then, can I change my reality by believing something else?!’
Now we’re getting somewhere. Yes! Of course. In fact, that’s what you’ve done your entire life. You don’t believe now what you believed 5 years ago. And your reality has changed because of it. But you can’t believe what you don’t believe, so there is that.
But what if we were to create a new reality within the constraints of what we can believe? What criteria would we choose to decide what to believe? What do I want from my reality? I want it to be… ‘nice’, I guess. Pleasant. Better than my reality before. Something like that.
So, let’s see if I can come up with a new and improved reality for myself! Here is what I believe (from now on):
- Everything is connected. In fact, there is only one thing. The ‘I’ that I used to think was separate from everything else is an illusion, the boundaries between me and the rest of the pattern don’t exist. Everything is one, me included.
- I don’t have to struggle, because I don’t exist. I can trust the pattern to do what it does because I couldn’t do otherwise if I tried. And I have tried, I’ve been squirming all my life. I can stop squirming.
- I can trust the universe because the universe is all there is and isn’t that the definition of God? The alpha and the omega. Everything. But that includes me! Inseparable. So I can trust God and myself. Seems reasonable, I’ll go with it.
- I believe that I can truly and totally trust my intuition, because it has never failed me. Not once. That seems like a good enough basis for a belief. We’ll take this one too.
- I believe that the universe is a kind of mirror. It reflects what I send out. So, if I want love and kindness, that’s what I should send out, right? Yup, sounds good to me.
- Furthermore, if everything is inseparable and it’s all me and it’s all God, then… I should probably be nice to it. Or not, if that’s what I really want, but why on earth would I want to be a dick to myself or to God? Seems unwise.
- If nothing is separate, then I need a new way to view the world. Discrete lego-like blocks doesn’t seem to be a good model for what I know to be true: 1. So let’s say that reality (made up though it is) is a pattern of energy: continuous, ever changing, flowing. Nice.
- If reality is a continuous flowing pattern of energy then it seems reasonable that I can influence that pattern and the other way around. So, can I feel other people’s energy, can they sense mine, can we influence each other’s? Seems fair enough and it matches my experience pretty good. I believe it.
- If nothing is real then neither is the scientific model. It may be useful in certain cases but that doesn’t make it truer than other models. So, I can choose models that best fit the situation or problem. I can believe that those models are real if and when they work, even if they are only applicable in a limited sense. Because belief is what makes stuff real, nothing else.
- Luck and coincidence seem pretty weird labels if I believe that the universe is one interconnected thing. Do I believe that the universe is taking care of me? Well, I am the universe and the universe is me, so it would seem weird if I didn’t believe that… done!
I think I can keep doing this for quite a while. And I will! But for now this seems like a pretty good start.
Behold, my new reality. I’ll post more if and when I make up more. Curious about your reality.
Cheers!