Okay, is a dollar a real thing? In a sense, yes, but in another important sense, it’s illusory. The piece of paper we call a dollar, in other words, is a piece of paper, but the value we attribute to it can be called into question. Indeed, any monetary system is like this — at its base it is only an agreement between two parties, and if either party decides that they don’t want to play the money ‘game’ any more, then the money loses its illusory value. Money can add some interesting boons to our lives, yet it’s sobering to realize that because of money people kill people, and let others starve, and commit suicide.
What about other things we consider ‘real’? What about national borders? Consider the numbers of people who have killed and been killed to preserve an imaginary line. Can these truly be the actions of a civilized race of beings?
It’s interesting to look at all the elements of our civilized world — our laws, our mores, the importance we place on social status and fame and the colors of our skin. It’s not difficult to see that these are human conventions — nothing more than lines we’ve drawn in the sand. And because of those lines, many people suffer.
Surely there is a better way?
We create our own suffering by the lines we draw. When our husband or wife comes home and is angry or stressed, it’s easy to draw lines around them — lines of expected behavior — and to become angry with them because they’re not acting as we expect them to act. Yet it might be a simple hug, an act of acceptance, that makes that anger or stress evaporate.
These are but superficial examples, because when we begin to consider what is real in life, we eventually are confronted with addressing the word itself. What do we mean by ‘real’? This is where we may discover an amazing treasure — the realization that almost everything we considered to be solid and real is only a game of imagination — a grown-up version of play. What we’re left with is the essence of life — the unnameable, perfect essence of this very moment.
This riddle is no good if you don’t play it out by yourself. It’s a great topic if you’re sitting among a circle of friends. It’s enlightening to ponder on your own. What is real, and what does that word truly mean to you?
Ahh, even you and I, to a degree, are unreal.
Even the word “real” is not real.
I’d say, this is the paradox! But the word “paradox” too, is unreal.
I think I’m going mad, but madness itself is not real, because thought is not real, even I may not be real!
:p
Hi Rizal!
Wow! Way to bring it full circle and really play with this. I love it =) Maybe the idea of ‘real’ isn’t even real (and in the same way ‘unreal’ isn’t real), and we’d be just as correct in saying that all of these things — me, madness, dollars, dreams, and rainbows are as real as real can be . . .
Hi!
I love how you keep your posts simple, well written, and to the point. And I agree…but would also like to throw in some random thoughts of mine connected to this:
- Everything is real…
(somethings are just more real).
- Collective agreements/games are very hard to break
- Collective agreements/games are, like you said, lines we draw…which are then a great source of security for us humans (and if these lines are erased (too fast) then there´s a risk of our mind loosing focus/orientation). Meaning…the need/reason behind these lines might not be so different than from recognising that the lines are not real in themselves.
- “The treasure” of realizing that almost everything is unstable and in constant change can be very scary. Going from a perception of the world as solid and with fixed rules to un-solid with nothing fixed is a process and a choice… Do we choose security or truth? Both have their part to play.
Love your site, keep it up Kenton.
Hi Peter,
Excellent observations, and I think what you’ve written adds a lot to this post. First, you turned this on its head — we often hear ‘nothing is real’, but it’s just as relevant to hear that ‘everything is real’ (and helps us to undo our conceptions and hopefully draw us closer to a direct perception). Second, you noticed how powerful and important these agreements/games are. Without them, we probably could not have culture or society (at least culture or society resembling anything we currently know). Finally, you noted the ‘dark side’ of these realizations, which leads us to question whether we want to go down this road in the first place — an issue I hope that the post I followed this one with addresses.
Thanks for your voice here, Peter — always appreciated =)
Sweetwater,
Kenton
Maybe this is a primary verbal problem, in the conceptualization of what is real or unreality, that unlocks part of the answer. In Plato’s Cave the discussion centers around what IS real and what IS NOT real. Schrodinger’s Cat both IS and IS NOT in the box. Heisenberg’s Uncertainty says it IS impossible to determine both the velocity and position of a particle. IS is the power word, it overcomes the noun which we are are trying to determine the existence of. A verb in Webster’s dictionary defines itself as” The part of speech that expresses action,existence, or occurrences .” Verbs are flighty and full of energy. A thought may not be real , but it IS. Our life may or may not be real . but in the true Buddhist sense it IS. We exist in our thought (mind) therefore That IS what we are. “I think. therefore I am (IS)”.
Hi Walt —
Interesting thought! You’re seeing the tangle we get ourselves into, especially when we consider that the concepts of nouns and verbs, too, can be held up to the same examination. Instead of asking ‘What is real?’, it is often more telling to watch ourselves attempt to define ‘real’. Is there anything we can find that is unreal? If so, we can continue to use our dualistic model, but if we look carefully and can’t find ‘unreal’, then what? This idea of real and unreal is one of the comfortable divisions we use to define our world — comfortable until we take a more careful look at it. Then we begin to get an inkling that perhaps things aren’t as clear-cut as we’d like to believe . . . =)
Sweetwater,
Kenton