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No, Reality Is Not A Figment Of Your Imagination, It's Real!

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Posted by Richard D. Stafford, Ph.D. on April 2, 2002 17:25:34 UTC

Aurino,

***** Aurino:
However, from a purely logical point of view, is it correct to assume there's a reality behind that perceived by your senses?
*****

As I have defined reality, reality is "Something A": the facts or information I wish to explain. It is my explanation which is a figment of my imagination. And, my senses, being part of that explanation are also a figment of my imagination.

***** Aurino:
Most problematic with that concept seems to be the fact that such "reality" is unknowable in principle, or by definition.
*****

No, what is unknowable is the "truth" of the explanation: "Something B"! "Reality" is certainly knowable as it is defined as "what we know to be true"; that which we are trying to explain!

***** Aurino:
That is, when you define reality that way, it follows as a necessary consequence that everything you perceive through your senses is not real.
*****

No, it is the explanation "something B" which is not real, and your senses, also being part of the explanation cannot be "real".

***** Aurino:
Again, I understand scientists make the same mistake, except they are not fully aware of the consequences.
*****

I think what scientists do is to define everything I am speaking of as "real". That leads them to the induction dilemma: "something B" (and their senses) can only be proved to exist through induction and no proof of induction exists.

***** Aurino:
I long ago realized that the commonly held definition of illusion implies that everything we perceive is an illusion, but of course not a lot of people are willing to accept that fact. And so it is that I had to find a solution for the problem on my own, and the best solution I could find was to get rid of the concept of an external reality altogether.
*****

In essence that is exactly what I have done. However, I get to keep physics and any science which can be deduced from physics. It has been their inability to do that which has stopped the scientists from taking that selfsame step.

***** Aurino:
That is, I came to understand that reality is a creation of our minds, that it doesn't exist "out there" for our senses to passively absorb it, but instead it's created moment after moment through the efforts of our subconscious.
*****

The explanation is a creation of our minds!

***** Aurino:
Yet nothing of that makes any difference to your paper, not as far as I can tell, but by approaching the problem from a slightly different perspective you might be able to express your ideas using a different terminology. That might help people understand it. You see, people's reaction to words has a strong emotional component, if you let that get in the way of your argument you might find yourself fighting against people's feelings, and you know that's a hopeless battle.
*****

It's a hopeless battle for the close minded! As I have commented elsewhere, see my answer to Alan:
http://www.astronomy.net/forums/god/messages/15910.shtml
I admit I sometimes get insulting and obtuse intentionally. Particularly when I find myself dealing with small minds. "It keeps people honest! Drives off the riffraff so to speak; anyone with an open mind can comprehend that it is possible for [any] "dogmatic claim" to be correct and lays belief aside in favor of thought!"

What do I think? I think the world lost an intelligent thinker when you dropped out of science.

Have fun -- Dick

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