Milwaukee Business Daily

Is reality more than merely a collection of perceptions in our conscious mind?

And how are we to say that existence is not merely an illusion created by our mind? And is reality then subjective and fluid and able to be freely manipulated by our consciousness? I know these aren't original questions, I would just like to hear everyone's thoughts.

Public Comments

1. No to your topic, yes to your other questions.
2. I say with all certainty that I can claim to possess, that yes, reality exists outside of my perceptions of it. The universe does not depend on me, and I am proud (and very much relieved) to be contingent and gloriously extraneous! While it is enjoyable to consider intellectually the possibility that we exist in a "matrix" of sorts, I would even contend that it is impossible to live a life consistent with one's worldviews, if one believed that he were the only thing that existed, or of whose existence he could be certain. Of course, I would not presume to undertake to prove this. Others have tried in the past, much better than I could ever do, and even they have had but partial success. The most convincing I've found is contained in Descartes' "Discourse on the Method."
3. a person, whose brain is dead wouldn't feel anything of what we feel through our sense organs, so in that way, it is actually our sense organs which makes reality real.... so in that case, reality can be an illusion.... but then again, is everything just an illusion then? all fake? i don't think so.... in that case, to any individual, the next person would be an illusion, so if we think of everything in reality to be an illusion, then we must accept the fact that our friends and family are also mere illusions, none of them are existing......
4. Existance is most strange. That it is illusion. And the significance is that it is real. And therefore it is more subjective. Gardens are fields of flowers. These are the realities. They are flowers in a garden. These can be planted.
5. "I think,therefore,I am (or exist). Rene Descarte. Time and space are erroneous concepts of Reality. There could never have been an Absolute Nothingness, because that would be non-existence,and since nothing could exist in an Absolute Nothingness,then something,whatever it is,Intelligence,Consciousness, God,has always existed,and will never cease to exist. Ask yourself this question.Where am I?You do not exist in your body (which must include the brain).Do you exist in the Mind?Since you are the thinker,then you must be greater than that which is being thought!
6. To say definitively one way or the other is to ignore evidence that suggests otherwise. It seems as though experience has no more substance than an idea itself. However we can not ignore that the perceptions from our senses indicate that experience has substance.
7. Our reality is baised on a majority of people agreeing what something is. For example. Lets say there is a pile of apples......there are 100 people. Everyone, but one person calls them apples. This person calles them birds. Which would you consider this is a pile of what? Apples. If we had 100 people calling the apple different words, then there is no group agreement on vocablary--which can be that there is a person from each surrounding country. But, if is a colony of people who have always lived together and they don't agree on words, then that is one sorry group of people who will never be able to communicate or connect with each other. Reality might be part illusion or pretence, but all in all if it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck and walks like a duck. Then it is a duck. Simple words to explain an age old question.