The world is exactly as it appears
Created | Updated Jan 28, 2002
The world is just as it appears. This is a very strange statement. Considering that our world is our reality and reality is effectively different for everyone. We can't make such a broad statement about the nature of existence. Our reality is based on our perception, cultural assumptions and naturalised ideas installed from birth and the ideology of our society. Therefore, reality is a completely different concept for every living thing.
The way that our bodies perceive and react to the things around us is our perception. What we see and hear around us is more representative of the chemical make-ups of our bodies, than what is actually there. It has been suggested that even something as ordinary as a colour spectrum could vary significantly from person to person. What I see as blue, could actually be green, and I would never know this, as I would've been indoctrinated with the notion that blue is green. Most of all, being human, the chances of me actually ever questioning my perception are slim.
Another way that we shape the world around us is through language. Even our perception, which is completely internal, is shaped by language. A good example of this is the 'blue is green' scenario. When we teach a concept such as colour to a small child, we rarely stop to think that the crayon we're pointing at and saying 'purple', is very likely to actually be yellow. Ludwig Wittgenstein once said that, "The limits of my language are the limits of my world." He had a good point. This is true in that, everything around us when stripped down, comes to language. Most people tend to think in words and sentences instead of pictures. So it is possible to assume that, seeing as the very process of thought itself is an extension of our language, without language there would be no human conciousness. The world would be a very different place then. It's all a question of: "What came first, the conciousness and thoughts or the language that we express them in?"
Much as the idea of nothing being real destorys all hope in some people, it is a sad fact that most of the things that we take for granted as being true are in fact, only cultural constructions. Things that we are conditioned to believe from a very young age to the point where nothing else can seem to be truthful. Love, reality, justice and even the entire concept of "Me, myself and I" are cultural constructions. There is a fair bit of proof that if you're taught something over and over again from a very young age, you will almost invariably hold strong convictions in that area until your dying day.
An example of this are some of the children in the Ku Klutz Klan. Some are as young as 3 or 4 and are taking vows to support the Klan's belief in white supremacy. This is only because they've never known any different. Perhaps it never crossed their minds that there's something outside of that hideous notion of 'us and them'. The same concept applies to the bigger 'truths'. Love, beauty, justice, reality. We all believe it because we've never known a society that didn't place all its faith in these values.
As humans, the world is not how it appears, it is how we make it. We create truths and values to suit ourselves and the lives we're living and to give ourselves more comfort in the world. Once these things are believed for a few generations, it becomes impossible to burrow out from the cotton wool that has been protecting us from reality for so long. We finally completely naturalise the notion and it becomes as if there would be no world without it.
In relation to the question, 'Is the world just as it appears?', there always, of course, the question of, 'Is everything that appears around us real?' According to the Ancient Greek philosopher, Plato, apparently not. Plato believed that the world around us was not, indeed real, but that everything was merely a reflection of something that existed in what he called 'The World of Ideas.' The chair that you are sitting on, is not a real chair, but an imperfect reflection of the 'idea chair.' The perfect chair. The chair to end all chairs. If this is true, then we, as humans are nothing more than imperfect reflections of the 'idea human.' This is turn means that we only half exist, but even if we do exist, the world around us still doesn't.
To us, everything appears pretty real, the world appears to exist and we appear to be a significant part of it. However, appear is a very subjective word. The world appears to be how it does because of electrical signals in our brains This is fair enough, but it's a well known fact that even the most advanced electrical signals do have high failure rates. All it takes is one marginally off-beat impulse and you're off in fantasy land. You, yourself, are convinced that this is the reality you've always known and that nothing has changed. You'd be drastically wrong. If this is the case, then our personal reality changes daily and we don't even notice.
The world around us is not how it appears. This is because, in our ever fluctuating idea of reality, it appears different from day to day, from person to person. Our world is a potent cocktail of cultural assumptions, naturalised ideas, absurb ideology and our unreliable perception. The world is not how it appears in general, but rather, how we make it appear to ourselves.
The way that our bodies perceive and react to the things around us is our perception. What we see and hear around us is more representative of the chemical make-ups of our bodies, than what is actually there. It has been suggested that even something as ordinary as a colour spectrum could vary significantly from person to person. What I see as blue, could actually be green, and I would never know this, as I would've been indoctrinated with the notion that blue is green. Most of all, being human, the chances of me actually ever questioning my perception are slim.
Another way that we shape the world around us is through language. Even our perception, which is completely internal, is shaped by language. A good example of this is the 'blue is green' scenario. When we teach a concept such as colour to a small child, we rarely stop to think that the crayon we're pointing at and saying 'purple', is very likely to actually be yellow. Ludwig Wittgenstein once said that, "The limits of my language are the limits of my world." He had a good point. This is true in that, everything around us when stripped down, comes to language. Most people tend to think in words and sentences instead of pictures. So it is possible to assume that, seeing as the very process of thought itself is an extension of our language, without language there would be no human conciousness. The world would be a very different place then. It's all a question of: "What came first, the conciousness and thoughts or the language that we express them in?"
Much as the idea of nothing being real destorys all hope in some people, it is a sad fact that most of the things that we take for granted as being true are in fact, only cultural constructions. Things that we are conditioned to believe from a very young age to the point where nothing else can seem to be truthful. Love, reality, justice and even the entire concept of "Me, myself and I" are cultural constructions. There is a fair bit of proof that if you're taught something over and over again from a very young age, you will almost invariably hold strong convictions in that area until your dying day.
An example of this are some of the children in the Ku Klutz Klan. Some are as young as 3 or 4 and are taking vows to support the Klan's belief in white supremacy. This is only because they've never known any different. Perhaps it never crossed their minds that there's something outside of that hideous notion of 'us and them'. The same concept applies to the bigger 'truths'. Love, beauty, justice, reality. We all believe it because we've never known a society that didn't place all its faith in these values.
As humans, the world is not how it appears, it is how we make it. We create truths and values to suit ourselves and the lives we're living and to give ourselves more comfort in the world. Once these things are believed for a few generations, it becomes impossible to burrow out from the cotton wool that has been protecting us from reality for so long. We finally completely naturalise the notion and it becomes as if there would be no world without it.
In relation to the question, 'Is the world just as it appears?', there always, of course, the question of, 'Is everything that appears around us real?' According to the Ancient Greek philosopher, Plato, apparently not. Plato believed that the world around us was not, indeed real, but that everything was merely a reflection of something that existed in what he called 'The World of Ideas.' The chair that you are sitting on, is not a real chair, but an imperfect reflection of the 'idea chair.' The perfect chair. The chair to end all chairs. If this is true, then we, as humans are nothing more than imperfect reflections of the 'idea human.' This is turn means that we only half exist, but even if we do exist, the world around us still doesn't.
To us, everything appears pretty real, the world appears to exist and we appear to be a significant part of it. However, appear is a very subjective word. The world appears to be how it does because of electrical signals in our brains This is fair enough, but it's a well known fact that even the most advanced electrical signals do have high failure rates. All it takes is one marginally off-beat impulse and you're off in fantasy land. You, yourself, are convinced that this is the reality you've always known and that nothing has changed. You'd be drastically wrong. If this is the case, then our personal reality changes daily and we don't even notice.
The world around us is not how it appears. This is because, in our ever fluctuating idea of reality, it appears different from day to day, from person to person. Our world is a potent cocktail of cultural assumptions, naturalised ideas, absurb ideology and our unreliable perception. The world is not how it appears in general, but rather, how we make it appear to ourselves.
