Do you believe in reality?

[BlackMagicWoman]

Originally Posted by KUBINY

surprisingly i found out i did still not contribute to the theme, hence observe:

I do not believe in reality (nor the world around me, nor do i believe in my own existence) since the day i tried to claim my existence by logical arguments infront of my own self and failed. Some would probably killed themselves in my situation (the more brave ones), but i just shifted my view of the world and my brain. Still, i feel to be bound to some morales and etiquette (another sign of my weakness). I (with no shame) must say that the only idol i have in my life is Charles Bukowski. The guy that pisses into your book instead of giving you an autograph!!! now thats my goal!
And a couple of weeks ago i found out that life is a mere pause between non-existence, not anything to hold on to for long. So much for death.
And dont you quote me any existencionalistic philosopher that claims otherwise, since those are mere men as well as my- or thy-selves!

so farewell and dont you eat up your mommas!

Nietzsche said very well that any philosophy is just another author's psychology. That is why I chosed to study psychology afterwards
The only solution to an "abisal thinking" is to NOT practise your own philosophy like Socrates was very much into, but to consider it as one of your rational, intellectual stages and just that.
We are humans (well, we have this illusion anyway) with many needs besides our intellect. And our intellect is influenced by our chemical ballance in our brain, so, nobody is really right, only those chemicals are right!

[BlackMagicWoman]

Originally Posted by mohsinali410

1. Yes because it exists in my mind
2. Yes because I exist in my mind and other people's minds
3. Yes because I exist in mine and other people's minds. Also, if I don't exist in your mind yet, I can be detected by senses
4. Yes because I have... lol
5. I don't know because I haven't experienced death

Everyone experienced death. Everytime when a relative dies and you see his dead frozen body, or at least at TV... and that is a scary image
Edit: I only chosed to have different posts for different answers to other people's posts. Sry for posting in a row so much

[KUBINY]

Originally Posted by BlackMagicWoman

Nietzsche said very well that any philosophy is just another author's psychology. That is why I chosed to study psychology afterwards
The only solution to an "abisal thinking" is to NOT practise your own philosophy like Socrates was very much into, but to consider it as one of your rational, intellectual stages and just that.
We are humans (well, we have this illusion anyway) with many needs besides our intellect. And our intellect is influenced by our chemical ballance in our brain, so, nobody is really right, only those chemicals are right!

and what if not even chemistry is right? After all, we made up all the science disciplines and its the ongoing societys propaganda that teaches us its true

[BlackMagicWoman]

Originally Posted by KUBINY

and what if not even chemistry is right? After all, we made up all the science disciplines and its the ongoing societys propaganda that teaches us its true

Very valid point of view. Science is not that different than religion because it does require to have faith in it.
When I said that those chemicals are right it was mostly a joke. I dont know who is right or wrong. The only thing we have is plausible ideas and theories. You can choose to believe one just because it sounds more plausible to you. Just like the darwinian evolution theory...
But this is our condition, as humans, not really sure of anything (at least the ones that realise that). You can accept that condition and still try to experience your uncertainty or fight it, or you can commit suicide in the name of an uncertain ideology... What is best? I choose life I chose to keep dreaming and improve them and myself on the way .

[Maryson]

How many pages do you need? Because this can be elaborated till my death.. :S I'm a thinker. *sigh*

1) Do you believe in reality?
Since reality means something that IS. Then YES, I believe that I AM. Therefore I believe in reality. Something that IS REAL.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reality
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/reality

2) If not, do you believe You exist?
N/A

3) If you do believe in reality, do you think you have proofs of your existence?
I think there are massive amount of proof that I am alive/real, depending on in what category you look. a) There are all the records in three different countries (Sweden, Holland and the U.S where I have lived throughout my life) There are also my family and friends, and a simple fact that I make foot prints in the mud/snow/on the ground when I walk. I leave residue in the air when I breathe. There are scientists that can prove that there are residue of peoples pee and other stuff in our water these days. Just because you can't see it with your eye doesn't mean it's not there, which is humans big problem today, most of the times they need to SEE it and TOUCH it for it to be there, someone that has a religious belief can tell you otherwise, as long as you feel it so strong in yourself then it doesn't matter what anyone else think. b) Being REAL can mean numerous things in different languages, for example in English it can also mean real as in being honest and straight forward. Am I real in that sense? I think I am because I always try to be honest and tell people what I think. (but maybe that has nothing to do with this?)

4) If you dont know whether you believe or not, have you ever tought about the question?
N/A

5) If you dont believe in reality, are you still afraid of death?
I think everyone is afraid of dying one way or the other no matter if you believe in reality or not. Just because of the fact that we don't know what will come afterwards, and people tend to be afraid of what they don't know. Some people choose to think that nothing will happen, others want to think that they will go on in a new greater experience.

[JohnCapital]

Late to the party again. Kubiny, I know you have enough answers, but since you encouraged us to continue, I thought I might as well.

1) Do you believe in reality? (not very tricky, i know)
While I answer yes, the full truth is reality exists whether we believe or not. I'll explain later.

2) If not, do you believe You exist?
N/A

3) If you do believe in reality, do you think you have proofs of your existence?
I'll try to make this part as brief as I can.

The concept "I think, therefore I am" that has been tossed aside here is a much better explanation then you realize.

First the obvious: If I don't exist, I can't think.

If I didn't exist, I couldn't experience anything, whether it be true or illusion.

Since I do experience "something", that something must exist in some form. Even dreams exist, however they are simply strangely interpreted brainwaves which give temporary experiences of sight, sound, etc. Since I experience those brainwaves, they must exist.

Much like the sound from your radio was once simply invisible electronic waves riding the air. It did exist although we are not aware of them, and was simply changed into something we could perceive.

Since I experience things, things in general must be there for me to begin my experiences.

However, the "I think..." concept is only meant to provide proof of your personal existence. For example, a new-born doesn't truly think yet, due to lack of enough experience with this reality to be able to have things to think about. They exist, yet they don't think (Children learn by noticing the differences between things. They don't know what a fish is, but they learn quickly that it doesn't look like a cat or the wall or their mom. It's different.)

4) If you dont know whether you believe or not, have you ever tought about the question?
I have considered these topics very deeply for most of my life. (Insert philosophical nerd sounds here.)

5) If you dont believe in reality, are you still afraid of death?
I'm not afraid to die. I'm just making sure it occurs as far in the future as possible.

Originally Posted by Teilk

Also, in the immortal words of a good dead friend:
"Reality is for people that can't handle drugs"

That's me to a "T".

Originally Posted by BlackMagicWoman

There is the solipsist theory that cannot be proven false. "I exist and everything else is only a product of my own mind's fantasies".

As I hinted above Solipsism tries to ignore the fact that a dream requires a dreamer and by correlation and dreamer must be created somehow. this that causes the dreamer is the reality outside the dreamer. The effect cannot be its own cause, even in a Solipsists' reality.

Also keep in mind that reality exists regardless of our perception.

• Watching a magic trick, we are fooled into believing something, when the reality of what's going on is quite different.
• Driving a car, you see a small rock heading toward you. You put up your arm to protect your face, but the rock bounces off the windshield. That you forgot it was there did not destroy the reality that the windshield exists.
• A flower looks quite different to a bee, a human, in UV light, via x-ray, yet that flower still exists it its true form. All these different views can only see a small portion of everything that truly makes up that flower.

Just the fact that our perceptions can be fooled or changed leads credence that reality exists in a very real form. It also hints that true reality exists regardless of how (or whether) we view it.

It is at this point someone tries to knock down what I say by simply saying "prove it", as if it's impossible to prove that since something is experienced, it must come from outside that which is doing the experiencing. The eyeball can't see itself without help from an outside source.

[KUBINY]

Im very glad you replied JohnCapital, since you gave me a very interesting insight on the existence problematic. One that can still be tossed aside as unprovable, but it IS very convinient! I might actually use some of your interpretations of your toughts in my work, although you were late

[Ethar]

1) If reality is binded with existance, then yes.
2) If my mind can think, than that means I exist.
3) Proofs of my existance are things I leave behind me for future generations and to remember me.
4) ---
5) NOW I am not afraid of it, but when I will be close to it, maybe I will be afraid...

[LarsMac]

I just thought I should point out
Definition of believe.

intransitive verb. think that something exists: to be of the opinion that something exists or is a reality, especially when there is no absolute proof of its existence or reality.

So really we toy with a certain circular logic, here, which is an interesting intellectual exercise, but belief, and proof are irrelevant.

A paraphrase from the buddha: Nothing is real, except this moment.

[Ethar]

Originally Posted by LarsMac

I just thought I should point out
A paraphrase from the buddha: Nothing is real, except this moment.

So can we say that what happened in the past wasn't real, because only the CURRENT moment is real?