Everything you imagine is real. To agree with this statement sounds quite frankly a little absurd. It sounds absurd because we often associate the imaginative as “pretend” “fake” or even “clinically insane” depending on the circumstances. It would seem that in our current social position as a race or at least a culture, we have let go of this idea as the only pretend thing we seem to believe in these days is God. In our new commercial world we’ve created for ourselves, our lives have consequently taken a turn for the “material”. Now we strive for ownership and wealth, just look the current state of our planet. Never before as a species have we seen such a demand for our natural resources, and thanks to this demand we are seeing the beginning of the collapse of human society as we run out of resources and consequently contribute to the worsening condition of our planet. Because we as a Western culture are fixed on the material, it would seem that we have lost connection with our philosophical side. No longer do we really have the time to get in touch with the philosophical, because we as a species are too distracted with… Well, everything else. It is definite that in our new world our sense of reality has become to a lot of people almost or entirely material, it would now look as though our sense and knowledge of imagination has been skewed dramatically.
Firstly, let me explain reality by definition and why I disagree with it. Reality by definition means the world or state of things as they actually exist, as opposed to the dream we’ve all had that were millionaires. Reality referrers to the thing we can actually see or comprehend in a conscious state so long as it reflects that which can be observed. I disagree with this because I believe what is merely seen or observed while “conscious” (not asleep or unconscious) should by no means be the restriction of what is considered real. I believe what we experience when we think or dream is just as real as anything else. The movie ‘The Matrix’ taught me something very interesting about reality, and that was that reality or at least what we perceive as reality is merely “a series of electrical signals interpreted by the brain”, combine this quote with the prompt “everything you imagine is real” (also a quote – Pablo Picasso) and you have something to think about. That quote got me thinking about what really is the difference between the “real world”, the “dream world” and the “imaginative world”? If the view put forth by the Matrix is correct, which I’m going to assume it is, the real, and the imaginative are all just a series of electrical signals interpreted by the brain. So then, if everything we can see, touch, hear and imagine is just electrical signals, how can we define “real”? Or even better, what is “reality”?
I can imagine by now you’re feeling a bit like Alice tumbling down the rabbit whole… I’m mean, you’re probably feeling a little confused, but that’s okay, so am I. What I can conclude on my last point so far is, reality as far as we can tell is again, just a series of electrical signals interpreted by the brain. This brings me to my next point, dreams. It is quite obvious that a quality of the human brain is we like other animals have the ability to dream, thus it is reality that we dream and therefore means I really am a millionaire. No sadly not, when I look in my wallet there’s nothing and when I check my bank account it still says $0.75, which means in actual fact I’m no millionaire. However, while I may not be a millionaire, this does not mean my dream didn’t happen, because it did, in fact it just so happens that this is a frequently reoccurring dream. It would seem that now we, or more correctly I, have run into a bit of a dilemma. To put it simply, the questions are as follows. If I dream I’m a millionaire why does that mean in “reality” or when I wake, I’m no longer? The answer seems very simple, which it usually is; it was just a dream, it wasn’t real. Or was it? In my last paragraph I touched on the fact that what we see, touch, taste and smell are simply a series of electrical signals interpreted by the brain, much the same as a dream. Reality means the world or state of things as they actually exist, and the reality is… dreams, much like what is called “reality” is merely just a series of electrical signals, and no matter what you consider reality to be? In the end it’s just simply an interpretation, meaning in reality (oh God) dreams really are just as real as reality or the $0.75 in the bank.
Your probably thinking right now, “I get it I get it, but what is reality and what the %$#* has it got to do with the collapse of human society!?” well here it comes. In my final conclusion I say this; it is clear from my investigation that, in our current Western society our materialistic values in which we hold has blinded us from the true meaning of reality, as we don't even acknowledge what is imagined or even dreamed as reality. Imagination and “reality” are simply electrical signals interpreted by the brain, meaning reality along with its new counterpart “imagination” are really one in the same, and on that note, reality is just an interpretation of our perceptions, which therefore means by definition, everything you imagine is real, and thats the reality.
