Hi! Interesting exploration on the topic of “reality” and whether anything can be “real”. I am more “radical” in my interpretation of reality. The only thing that exists is zero and infinity (void and the “ALL THAT IS”). However, you cannot experience zero or infinity. Experience is what sits between the two. And everything that “exists”, all of the knowledge or science or theories that we have accumulated are merely reflections of strategies for experiencing more of infinity. A nice way to explain this is by examining lightning. The clouds represent void, nothing, zero (or pure potential), the ground represents infinity. Between the two, you can have an “experience” going from zero (the “big bang” I guess) to infinity. And along the way, consciousness has to develop “strategies” to explore infinity. The process of evolution from pagan beliefs, to monotheist religions, to mainstream science, to spirituality mingled with quantum physics and panpsychism are simply the evolutionary result of always seeking the experience which reflects infinity’s nature: that of being infinite. How long of a collective experience could we “build” from keeping the belief in pagan Gods? Not very long. It was probably a dead end, just like branches of lightning that never reach the ground.
If you observe the entire “story” of the Universe from our current understanding, it all becomes clear.
Imagine an early Universe where a bunch of hydrogen atoms were bumping into each other chaotically. That “story”, that experience, leads nowhere. However, at some point, those hydrogen atoms have the idea of forming a Star which is, if you think about it carefully, the bridge or portal between the “world” of physics and chemistry (all atoms besides hydrogen are “forged” in Stars, which is why many physicists like to say that we are made up of “star dust”). Then imagine a bunch of amino acids and proteins swimming in the ocean, reacting with each other. Another story leading nowhere, going on forever until the Star of that planet goes supernova and then everything starts again. But at some point, those proteins and amino acids have the idea of forming a living cell which is the bridge or portal between the world of chemistry and biology. You could describe a living cell as being a set of very complex and orderly chemical reactions controlled in time, but being so complex that a new “field” is created altogether. Then the same logic applies again. If you stick with just biology, you get a pointless circular story. A bunch of biological creatures eating themselves for millions of years until an asteroid pays them a visit or the Star goes Supernova and you start again. But throw humans (or simply, sentient self-aware beings) in the mix, and you now understand that humans are the bridge or portal between biology and… something else. While we are biological creatures, it is pointless to try to explain the complexity of the civilization we have built looking at just the “laws” of biology. We use sociology, psychology, neurology, spirituality, politics, economics and many other fields to try to describe what humans are and to describe our behaviour.
What does this have to do with “reality”? Well, simply put, our beliefs are our way of navigating inside of infinity. They can be religious beliefs, scientific beliefs, spiritual ones, but they all serve the same unique unchanging purpose: that of enabling us to experience more of infinity. Should those beliefs no longer “serve” us, then it is “time” to change them. Do you not find it odd that at this very time, when everyone is talking about the collapse of our entire civilization, climate change etc, that we witness a great revival in spirituality and a radical interpretation of quantum physics (that the “role” of the observer doesn’t just “affect” reality but creates it)? Or that we start to take stabs at the assumption that consciousness is in the brain? Or even your very article questioning objective reality and bringing back the idea of subjectivity and consciousness into the picture? I have written extensively about what is happening to us at this time, but the short answer is that we are also just a building block or “logic layer” of the Universe, just ONE cell in a global organism we are far from imagining. And the entire story of humanity can be summed up as: “what are the rules which enable a harmonious interaction between all humans and their ecosystem”, which is the exact same thing happening at every “logic layer”. Hydrogen atoms trying to “find out the rules for a harmonious interaction between themselves” aka, a Star. Amino acids and proteins trying to “find out the rules for a harmonious interaction between themselves” aka a living cell. And we are getting darn close to finding those out. And once that happens… There is a world of difference in what amino acids and proteins would experience between floating chaotically in the ocean and being part of a global collective organism such as a living cell.
Sorry for being so long winded, but these ideas take time to develop and explain. I hope you have found this interesting.
You can check out my writing here, if you are interested:
