Perception is not REALITY

It has come to my attention as of late that this idea of perception being the only part of reality given any notice has gotten ENTIRELY out of hand. Before the idea collapses our universe like a torpedo does to a submarine (it implodes), I'm going to address it. If you were worried about this idea spreading like a virus, don't, cause it already has. The good news is that I'm getting ready to punch so many holes in it that you won't be able to take it seriously anymore (in the event you have already contracted the idea).

Reality: The state or quality of being real.

This sounds straightforward enough, but in all fairness "real" should probably be addressed as well. There are eighteen definitions for this word. 11 as an adjective, 1 adverb, 3 noun, and 3 as an idiom. This should not come as a surprise since the word "real" defines what is actual and is pretty much the subject of philosophy. I have never been formally trained in philosophy which in reality makes me an arm chair philosopher. You see, I understand this, and I am not suffering any delusions thinking myself some well versed professor of thought. I could easily fall into the trap of perception as reality and conclude that I am the Grand Green Wizard of philosophy. I could view myself as the end all be all of thought and no longer suffer any other ideas other than whatever rubbish I could spew forth into your perceptions. I'm not going to do that or think that. I like the second definition for real the best.

Real: existing or occurring as fact; actual rather than imaginary, ideal, or fictitious.

I think that is a pretty straightforward definition for the word "real". I'm going to stop with the definitions there because I could go on defining words with dictionary.com all day long. Deep down I think we all know what the qualities of real are. Just because you view an event a certain way does not mean that your view is correct and actual. Your perception does not make a thing real. For instance: say that you walk into a room and you see a person pointing a handgun at another person. "Please don't kill me," says the person on the receiving end of said gun. BAM, the gun goes off and kills the other person. The police show up and whisk the shooter away and the victim is taken away in a body bag. This is all you know about the event. You are apt to view the shooter as wrong for killing the other person. If all you have to go on is your perception of that event, and all you know is that the victim was pleading with the shooter not to kill them and the shooter does anyways than you are going to be apt to declare the shooter wrong. You may hold the belief that killing is wrong no matter what the circumstances. I am not trying to get into a debate about whether killing is ever okay or not. My point is that what you don't know, the fact that the "victim" tied the shooter to a chair and raped his wife, 4 year old daughter, and infant son while making the shooter watch, might change your perception of the reality.

Here is another example. Say somebody tells you that they were walking down the street when all of a sudden the concrete sidewalk, the entire sidewalk, morphed into a chicken and started running around pecking the windshields out of passing cars, snatching people up and gobbling them like worms, and taking massive 1000 pound chicken shits all over suburbia. Would you believe them? Of course you wouldn't. The best a sane person could do in this instance would be to believe that the other person was telling you the truth as they saw it. They may be telling you the truth and if they are than they are psychotic and they need to be medicated. They probably need to sit down and talk to somebody professional as well. If you subscribe to this nonsense that "perception is reality" than you will be forced to believe in gargantuan concrete morphing chickens. You don't want to believe that do you? If you do believe that than I have some beach front property in Rock Hill SC to sale to you...that's a couple of hundred miles inland. I'll give you a good price on it to.

Ridiculous I know, but I am being forced into this ridiculousness by what is ironically becoming reality. If somebody doesn't do something we are all going to be forced into believing in gigantic evil chickens terrorizing suburbia. In our society it is becoming normal to believe this nonsense. I know this because I have been sat down at work, in my supervisors office, and I've had to defend myself against allegations manufactured up in somebodies head. If somebody who is paranoid schizophrenic and suffering from delusions blames me for being a cretin I have to defend myself against their delusions. What if that person has not been diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia because they have never seen a shrink? Does that mean that they are not indeed paranoid schizophrenic until they are diagnosed? The shrink waves the magic wand and now we don't have to believe their delusions anymore? Nonsense.

In my opinion egalitarianism is to blame for this crap. That's the idea that we are all equal. I'm not sorry to say that we are not all equal. Maybe in the spiritual potential, we all at one time had a functioning brain, there's a Buddha within sort of way we are all equal, but a crack head welfare junkie is not equal to a neurosurgeon in at least discipline. Wouldn't any sane person agree with that statement. A murdering gang banger is not equal to a peaceful philanthropist monk in charitable work. Somebody who came up with the cure for cancer is not equal to a dish washer in their offerings to society. I'm not saying that washing dishes is not an important function for society, and I'm not saying we should not all be afforded the same rights, we should be, but it does not follow that just because we should all have the same rights I should have to be subjected to believing in the mindless blathering drivel of a psychotic chickenhead that's off it's meds.

Reality is not up for debate. Your perceptions are only real to you. If you believe you are invincible than go stand in the middle of an interstate and wait a while. The 1000 pound units of metal that are hurdling along at 70 mph will give you a lesson in physics that you won't be able to deny because you will terminate rather quickly. There ain't a doctor alive that can resuscitate a pile of goo. So we can debate what is real and what is not real in philosophy class or amongst intellects, but let's not pretend that your garden variety moron's delusions are real. It used to be that you wouldn't be fooling anybody with this egalitarian nonsense. That's not the case any longer. In my estimation it seems that the vast majority of people out there are mindlessly believing that their perception is the end all be all while at the same time believing that mine and your perceptions are equally as correct. I believe in talking Christmas trees, you believe that ingesting draino will buy you a ticket to heaven, and Cracky McCrackerson believes that crack is good for tooth enamel. Right, and we are all idiots.

So let's try to get it straight. Reality is represented just fine by facts. If you want to know reality than investigate the circumstances surrounding that particular event, or thought, or perception. As the dude said "there are lots of ins and outs and whathaveyous to keep straight in old dudders head." The dude knew that Bunny kidnapped herself because she needed to feed the monkey. He knew that the nihilist were full of shit. They believed in nothing...nothing for crying out loud.

For the record I'm going to say it straight whenever I can. At work I have to subscribe to this "psychotics perceptions are just as real as mine" crap, but I don't have to believe it, and I sure as hell ain't gonna defend it in this mental space.