Subjective Reality Revisited
Lyman Reed
November 28th, 2007
thoughts
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A belief is only a thought that we’ve had over and over and over again. They become our models of the world and how it works, and therefore affect the way we act, react, and interact with what’s around us.
Sometimes we take those repetitive thoughts, invest in them, repeat them to ourselves even more - and they become a rock solid fortress which we will defend to the death, even if we are faced with evidence that they may not be as absolute as we once thought.
One of the models of our world that I’ve taken on in the past is the idea of Subjective Reality - the belief that everything that happens to us on the outside comes from our insides. The most recent place that I heard it was in the James Ray video that I posted a couple of days ago.
At times in my life, this model of reality really worked well for me. It gave me a sense of power, a sense that I can do something - I’m not a victim in a random world.
Rick at Shards of Consciousness has a great episode of his weekly podcast that brought some new light to the subject for me, called Subjective Reality, False Reality
In it, Rick talks about how our maps are not the territory - just because we perceive something to be true, doesn’t make it so.
A podcast that has a great exploration of Subjective Reality from the other side of the fence comes from Steve Pavlina, which he calls The True Nature of Reality, in which Steve argues for the idea that there is only one consciousness - and it’s yours.
So who’s right?
They both are - depending on your current perspective.
In his podcast, Rick does say that if you are looking at things from the perspective of Source - then yes, everything comes from one consciousness.
But in the physical, 3 dimensional world that we spend most, if not all, of our time in, our consciousness is not that of Source. It’s of ego - the wave that appears on the ocean of that Source.
Maybe if you are Jesus or Buddha, all of your experience can be subjective.
But I’m neither. I’m Lyman.
So what’s a poor soul striving for enlightenment to do?
Enter Mark Joyer’s “Utilitarian Model Flexibility”, from his Simpleology book - the idea that we can adopt various models of reality much like we use the software that runs our computers.
Use whatever model works best for you - where you are - right now.
And to not get so caught up in one particular model that you become unable to let in any new information, especially when that model becomes useless (at best), or dangerous (at worst).
We may be spiritual beings having a human experience… but we are having a human experience.
It’s time we stopped fighting that.
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Discuss this post at Personal Development Partners
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Your writing keeps getting better and better, Lyman.
I love the way you put it when you say
That’s the essence of what I was getting at. Your point about using the most effective model is a point well taken.
Keep up the great work.
Thanks, Rick. That point you brought up was exactly what I got from your podcast… thanks again for creating it.
Hi Lyman,
Steve pretty much repudiated the solipsism angle in recent posts (I would say his perspective is much aligned with Rick’s.
I’ll second Rick’s observation about the quality of your writing!
Mike
Thanks for sharing the link, Mike… it’s a much more condensed version of Steve’s ideas on subjective reality than a 68 minute podcast.
And thanks (to you both) for your compliments on my writing. It really is true - the more you do it, the better you get!
“So what’s a poor soul striving for enlightenment to do?” One important Buddhist concept is non-striving. I don’t claim to understood it, but I think of it from time to time.
My gut reaction to your question is “Lighten up and have a sense of humor.” When the Zen master Dogen was asked the secret to his enlightenment, he answered, “It was just one mistake after another. ” I think that’s a great attitude.
Great point, Jean! Not taking ourselves so seriously is one of the keys to life. Not that I live it all of the time; sometimes I need to be reminded.
And if it’s just one mistake after another, I’m definitely on the road to enlightenment - and going about 120 mph!
You recommend that we “use whatever model works best for you - where you are - right now.”
Einstein reputedly said “the significant problems we have cannot be solved at the same level of thinking with which we created them.”
A life is just a series of todays; aren’t all of our problems caused by doing “what works best for us right now”?
Hi Chris,
Great point. But I’d have to say that if something’s causing problems, it isn’t working for us in the first place. I wasn’t using “now” in the sense of *this current moment*. I could probably have been more accurate and written it as “at this stage in your life.”
Thanks for the thoughtful comment. I appreciate it.