• Asking the question 'What is reality?' Great! Get
the answer here.
• Total reality revealed here as 3 experience based kinds of
reality.
• Soren, the Personal Development Guy, describes them …
• … and tells you how to move from fear & loneliness to
happiness.
Absolute Reality vs Personal, Relative Reality and Consensus
Reality
What is reality?
You know what reality is, right?
Sure! You experience it every day. Right?
Well, odds are that you are both right and wrong. There are
several kinds of reality, you see. And if you are interested in
personal development, self improvement, spiritual growth,
lasting happiness, love, freedom and inner peace that is a
pretty important fact.
No, scratch that, it is an all important fact! So, please read
on, and we'll uncover reality together.
Definition of Reality
The dictionary defines reality as: ’Real existence; that which
underlies appearance; something which is actually experienced’.
So this definition equates reality with experience (reality =
experience), which is a pretty simple, practical and useful way
of defining what is real. To be real something has to be
experienced.
Also, it follows that if something is actually experienced it is
real! (So if you experience something, it is real – at least for
you).
Okay, now do you know what reality is? Probably: Yes and no.
Personal, Relative Reality: What YOU Experience as Real
For sure you know what a reality is – what one particular
reality is, i.e. your reality. Your own
personal, relative reality. But that's not the only reality
'out there' (or: 'in there', as it were).
Watch a movie or another work of art with a handful of other
people you don't know all that well, and odds are you will have
had very different experiences. One had a wonderful experience,
another one had a so-so experience and one was bored out of his
or her skull. Yet you all experienced the same movie/work of
art.
Well, it's like that with every other experience you have, too.
What you perceive and experience as 'interesting' or 'boring';
'good' or 'bad'; or 'reasonable' or 'unreasonable'; or any other
number of other relative things there is surely someone else who
perceives differently, perhaps even opposite of you.
We all experience things differently. We all live in different
personal realities.
The one thing that isn't very nice about each of all these
personal, relative realities (including yours) is that is a
pretty lonely and scary experience. Basically, it is the
experience of the ego which is fearful, scary experience, since
the ego is a fear based defense mechanism.
So, an alternative might be preferable.
Social Construction of Reality: Consensus Reality
– What Groups Experience as Real
You probably also have a good idea about what the culture you
live in agrees upon. This is the so-called
consensus reality. As the words 'agrees upon' indicate
consensus reality it is a matter of social construction of
reality. In a country there is likely to be a certain level of
agreement on what is real and what is not.
If you are a member of a sub-culture in your country, say, a
hippie, a yuppie, a rocker, a punker, an emo or some such, well,
then your sub-culture agrees upon a certain world view – and
that then becomes the consensus reality of that particular group
– and you, too.
One culture may frown upon the reality of another culture. This
can happen both inside a country and between countries.
Only problem with consensus reality is that it is an aggregation
of a number of individual, personal realities – usually based on
the lowest common denominator. What this means is basically that
now you get to be a group of people who are lonely and scared
together.
Again, an alternative might be preferable.
Absolute Reality: What Actually IS Real
Happily, there is more to reality than both personal reality and
consensus reality. A lot more!
Because how can your personal reality coexist with everyone
else's? And it's the same with your particular cultural
(consensus reality) – how can it coexist with all the other
cultural realities?
The answer is this: Different realities can coexist because
every single kind of reality I have mentioned above exists
INSIDE a BIGGER reality:
Absolute reality.
Absolute reality is what CONTAINS all the billions of
individual, personal realities and many thousands of cultural
consensus realities.
Absolute reality must be pretty big, then, right? Well, it is.
It is everywhere, all the time. You are living in it. But most
of the time you are not experiencing it. You can, though.
And this is where it gets interesting for folks who are into
personal development, self improvement and enlightened
spirituality. Why? Because it is in absolute reality that you
find a lasting sense of freedom, happiness, wonder, love and
inner peace.
The 'Price' of Absolute Reality
Who isn't interested in freedom, happiness, wonder, love and
inner peace? Nobody! Deep down, every human alive want one, more
or all of those things. You, too, for sure?!
Well, not only can you have them – all of them – but you can
have them right NOW and it will not cost you anything.
Or, to be precise, it will not cost you any money, nor will it
cost you anything of real value, but you will probably THINK and
BELIEVE that it does. Thus, you will be very AFRAID, which is
just about as counterproductive as it gets when it comes to
experiencing the happiness, freedom, love, etc. of absolute
reality.
What is it that experiencing absolute reality will appear to
'cost' you? Well, it's the other two kinds of reality:
individual, personal reality and consensus reality. They are
standing in the way of your experience of absolute reality. So,
they have to go. If you want happiness, love, freedom, inner
peace and a sense of wonder, that is.
Enlightened Spirituality = Experiencing Absolute Reality
You have probably heard about so-called spiritually enlightened
teachers, right?
Perhaps you even know (of) one, because perhaps, you, too, are
into enlightened spirituality and chasing spiritual
enlightenment? (I used to do that, too).
Well, good news: Your hunt is over. Spiritual enlightenment is
at hand, because basically enlightened spirituality is simply
experiencing absolute reality.
Absolute Reality Is the Home of Happiness
This is how it is:
Absolute reality = Wholeness, happiness, love, freedom, wonder
and inner peace.
Absolute reality = Everything there is – ALL there is. It
includes everything and there is nothing else. Thus, it also
includes you.
Absolute reality = You – your true self; your most basic,
authentic and true nature as a human being.
What do these statements mean?
They mean that experiencing absolute reality is EASY. Because
absolute reality exists not only all around you but inside you,
too. You ARE (a part of) absolute reality, and thus you ARE
wholeness, happiness, love, freedom, wonder and inner peace (or,
if you prefer: they are parts of you).
All you have to do is – temporarily or permanently – STOP
experiencing your own, personal, relative reality and any and
all consensus realities that you are currently subscribing to.
Please note that: It is not something you have to DO, it is
something you have to STOP doing.
The moment you stop doing this, you will experience absolute
reality.
What Is Reality? Why Don't You Find Out for Yourself?
The good news about stopping your experience of consensus
reality and your own, personal reality is this:
a) If what you need is reassurance, you will get it by upping
your level of information (reading texts like this one and
others like it) and trying it out in practice;
b) The experience of absolute reality is NOT an all or nothing
proposition, so you can get the wonderful experiences on a
temporary basis if you prefer;
c) Specific methods and techniques that can help you get those
good experiences do exist. One example is
the Let Go Method which is also the subject of one of my
ebooks for download:
Finding Inner Peace by Letting Go. (In fact you can also
benefit from reading my other ebook
How to Be Yourself and Find Authentic Happiness).
Summing Up on the What Is Reality Question
Summing up on the 'what is reality?' question: Reality equals
experience, and there are three basic kinds of reality:
• Personal, relative reality – the individual
world view, which differs for every person, but since it is ego
based, it is based on fear and separation, and very often there
will be a sense of lack (i.e. you believe in the thought 'There
is not enough of anything').
• Consensus reality – common world views in
your culture(s) agreed upon and aggregated, which is, of course,
just as fear based as personal reality.
• Absolute reality – ultimate reality; the
reality that surrounds and contains everything and ALL kinds of
reality. In practice this is the experience of wholeness,
happiness, love, freedom, wonder and inner peace.
The wonder and beauty of free will is that you get to
choose between those 3 kinds of reality!
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