DIY: thinking
“Reality is merely an illusion, although a very persistent one”- Albert Einstein
I am a bit of a fan of protesting against the commonly accepted norms of the days. Why? Not really because there is anything wrong with them necessarily, but I don't like the trend of passive acceptance. I like to question things.
So, this week I want to throw an idea out to you and have you think about it. What is reality? How can you really know that something is real or true?
Think about it: everything you know goes through your five senses. It goes through your filter of perception first, only then does it exist. If something cannot be perceptive by your senses, does it exist? How can you prove it?
How can you explain colors to a blind person? Moreover, how can you describe colors to any other person? You can never find out how the world looks like through someone else's eyes. What is reality then?
Our whole system of understanding of reality is based on making guessing and finding evidence that supports those guesses. It is limited by the limits of our minds and our senses. It seems silly, then, to me, that people have this God-complex of thinking that we know everything. That there is nothing else left. Any new ideas that are different from our current ''reality'' are automatically rejected. You'd think that people would have learned their lesson from our history:
Hundreds of years ago people thought the Earth was flat. And the people who said otherwise were, at best, shunned and called crazy.
Even earlier, people didn't understand the process of weather, so they assigned Gods to each element of weather.
We like to explain things, and protest against any opposition to our theories.
And we protest so strongly, until so much time passes, and so much evidence is found, that we suddenly change our minds and wonder how we could ever have been so stupid to think otherwise.
My point is, humanity is still developing. So we must at least try to be open and not let the current ''reality of things'' limit our minds and possibilities.
“Whatever is a reality today, whatever you touch and believe in and that seems real for you today, is going to be - like the reality of yesterday - an illusion tomorrow.”
- Luigi PirandelloIt really is so sad for me that so many of the popular things in our world today are set at getting people into a state of passive acceptance of anything. An obvious example is the use of subliminal advertising- advertising that targets the subconscious, and we are not aware of it, although it has a very strong effect on us. And you never know the whole story, how, when and what can have some kind of effect on our minds. But we reject the idea, because we reject anything that isn't instant and obvious.
The world is moving so fast nowadays, and it's very sad that the general mass of people are just trudging along, in whatever direction they are told to go by the people who understand the system.
Ultimately, reality is what we create it to be. If we don't, then we will be simply accepting someone else's reality. The choice is yours.
DIY: self-improvement
“The doors we open and close each day decide the lives we live.” - Flora Whittemore
"Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself." -Leo Tolstoy
"God grant me the serenity to accept the things I
cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to
know the difference. " -Reinhold Niebuhr
Change and self-improvement are quite a common topic in my articles/blog posts/discussions/tweets/statuses, yet I keep finding new aspects to it, so get updated and read up. A quick post today, since I haven't slept in over four days... :)
The spring semester started at my university, although you can't tell it from the weather: the snow has left, and been replaced with ice. I kind of wish it had stayed...
Anyways, with the new semester I feel like there is always a certain feeling of opportunity in the air. The potential of things to come.
This semester, more than usual I feel like people around me are feeling it. Many of my friends have said ''I need to change my lifestyle'' or ''I need to rethink my life''. But it seems to me that people don't know how or where to start.
Luckily for you, my dear readers, that self-improvement has been my obsession since I was 9 years old. So I am here to help.
The point I want to emphasize is that it is always possible to change your life for the better. I feel like people don't understand this and sink into a state of hopeless misery and acceptance, which leads to depression. Don't allow your mind work tricks on you.
Step 1: Find an aspect of your life that seems incomplete or makes you unhappy. Make a list. And move on to step 2.
Step 2: Find something new, or a way to improve the old. Find a possible ''change''.
Step 3: Go out and do it.
Seems very simple, but people tend to get stuck on each of the three steps. Because practically, it may be a long period of time from one step to the other, with difficulties, set backs and doubts. So the most important thing is to stick with it and not allow yourself to cower back to your comfortable state of misery.
It may seem ironic, but people may prefer to be miserable, because it is comfortable and safe, as opposed to taking a risk and changing something in your life.
Step 1: Find an aspect of your life that seems incomplete or makes you unhappy. Make a list. And move on to step 2.
Step 2: Find something new, or a way to improve the old. Find a possible ''change''.
Step 3: Go out and do it.
Seems very simple, but people tend to get stuck on each of the three steps. Because practically, it may be a long period of time from one step to the other, with difficulties, set backs and doubts. So the most important thing is to stick with it and not allow yourself to cower back to your comfortable state of misery.
It may seem ironic, but people may prefer to be miserable, because it is comfortable and safe, as opposed to taking a risk and changing something in your life.
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