Tag: Reality
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Myth, Religion and Kaleidoscopes
Because I’m interested in religion (though not a paid-up member) I’m interested in mythology. Religion and mythology, being bed-fellows, inter-penetrate. Both paint pictures that can be felt to convey deep-seated truths about ourselves and our world – which unadorned and prosaic literalism would seem to have much less ability to convey. The same is true…
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What is (or are) Real?
Since this is so counter-intuitive, and goes against ‘common-sense’, let’s have another go at asking the question, what is real at the most fundamental level? What can we say about the most basic building blocks of all that exists? This doesn’t seem like an unimportant question, because I’m part of whatever it is that’s real.…
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NOW you see it ! NO you don’t ! (ii)
The difference between appearance and reality is counter-intuitive, and hard to grasp. If we value integrity, authenticity and actuality – the facts about how things are – we must have the courage to follow Alice down the rabbit hole, and discover how mind-bendingly full of wonders is fundamental reality. We need to let our imaginations…
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Was the Bishop a Complete Idiot? (ii)
The previous post was about how Bishop Berkeley was right (if properly understood) when he said that whatever is not being perceived does not exist. There indeed is a sense in which what we call the Moon is not ‘there’, when no one is looking at it – when no human mind is converting the…
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Was the Bishop a Complete Idiot?
The Bishop was George Berkeley (1685-1753), and he could be blamed for the following question that’s sometimes asked – ‘Does the Moon still exist when no one is looking at it?’ This is usually dismissed as a piece of obvious nonsense – a joke rather than a serious question. Bishop Berkeley, knowing his Latin, put…
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Let’s get ‘Real’
Assuming we’re not hostile to Science for religious or other reasons, we really ought to take on board some of its newest findings, however strange or disturbing some of them might seem to be, especially if we’re at all interested in being ‘real’. Imagine you’re sitting at a table. It has a flat top, and…
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Common Sense? IV
Let’s now take a ‘common sense’ view of our world, with all its sights (drab or colourful) ; its sounds (soothing or raucous) ; its smells (inviting or unpleasant) ; its tastes (sweet or bitter) ; and its textures (soft or unyielding). If you’ve been reading these posts, you’ll know what’s coming next. These ‘appearances’…
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Common Sense? III
Let’s say a little more about atoms. The ‘common sense’ view is that they contain protons, neutrons and electrons, all like tiny billiard balls. The protons and neutrons are squeezed into the nucleus, which is like the sun in our solar system, and the electrons that surround the nucleus are like orbiting planets. This is…
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Common Sense? II
Sometimes, ‘common sense’ is deceiving. Unless we’re willing to look behind appearances, we risk failing to discover deeper realities, and our store of knowledge and understanding is thereby impoverished. Modern science provides some startling examples of this. It’s over a century since the existence of atoms was confirmed, and exploration began into what they might…
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