What is the "Truth", or the "Reality" (about anything)?
The short answer is, there is no such thing as the Truth or the Reality.
Everything thing we see is filtered and colored through our perception, i.e., our five basic senses, our previous experiences, our mental wiring etc etc. No one see the same thing in the exact same way.
Take a simple chair for example, even though it is just a simple chair, we consciously or subconsciously form opinions about it - a comfortable chair, an ugly chair, a red chair, even a "simple" chair. So what is the universal Truth/Reality about this chair? Nope, there is none. No one see the chair the same way.
Having agree that there is no universal Truth / Reality, here is the next question:
How do Conflicts arise?
Conflicts arise when two different person's truths / realities are different from each other, and they both insist so strongly on them that they try to make the other person see their version of the truth / reality.
However, in my opinion, the conflicts are absurd and unnecessary, since there is no universal Truth / Reality. Everything is just a matter of perceptions. If everyone can see the Truth and Reality for what it is, which is simply a series of different perceptions, then everyone will be able to understand everyone else perfectly! Won't that be a wonderful world to live in?
However, given that we do not live in a perfect world, how can we make use of this insight After all these ramblings, how should we see the world?
So what exactly is the Universal Truth?
My Truth is simple. Truth is...
Whatever that works.
What do I mean by "whatever that works"? "Works" can mean myriad of things - Confirming observation, make money, bring happiness etc.
Let me give an example. For thousands of years, people's truth/reality was that the Sun revolves around the Earth. It had worked for them for thousands of years (confirmed their observation, boosted their ego, made them happy etc), so there is nothing wrong with it.
Until one day, Copernicus found that that particular truth/reality doesn't work so well anymore (doesn't fit new observations), and thus, he changed it. Today, we believe that the truth is that the Earth revolves around the Sun. So it is the current truth until somebody else changes it. Simple as that.
The same applies to everything else. Evolution Theory, Technical Analysis, God, what I / other people should or should not / can or cannot do etc etc.
All that matters is whether it works.
Hence, to summarize, there are 4 levels to Truth & Reality -
Level 0: Truth is the truth (as you perceive it to be or think it is).
Level 1: Truth is there is no Truth.
Level 2: Truth is whatever that works.
Keep an open mind and open your eyes. Look beyond what you think is the truth & reality, you will see the infinite possibilities and reveal the Truth & Reality for what it truly is.
P.S. Actually there is a Level 3 that is more advanced:
Level 3: Truth is what we choose to create. After knowing Level 1, we consciously create, change, manipulate the Truth as we see fit.
(But attempts to do these will have unintended consequences. So, for all practical purposes, we will just stick to level 1 and 2.)
P.P.S. Perhaps, this post is an attempt of Level 3 truth.
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Buddha was seated among his disciples one morning when a man approached the gathering. “Does God exist,” he asked. “Yes, God exists,” Buddha answered. After lunch, another man appeared. “Does God exist?” he asked. “No, God does not exist,” Buddha answered. Late in the day, a third man asked Buddha the same question, and Buddha's response was: “You must decide for yourself.” “Master, this is absurd,” said one of the disciples. “How can you give three different answers to the same question?” “Because they were different persons,” answered the Enlightened One. “And each person approaches God in his own way: some with certainty, some with denial and some with doubt.”
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