Is Reality Objective or Subjective?

Is Reality(rēˈalədē) Objective or Subjective?

By Steve Pavlina

The benefit(ˈbenəfit) of asking the big questions is that sometimes you can use reasoned(ˈrēzənd) logic to answer them. There are a few big questions that I’ve successfully answered to my satisfaction(ˌsadəsˈfakSH(ə)n), and I don’t expect my answers to change with the passage of time.

Is Reality Objective or Subjective?

One of those big questions is whether this reality is objective or subjective. I eventually(əˈven(t)SH(o͞o)əlē) understood that the answer is always going to be unknowable(ˌənˈnōəbəl) when asked from the perspective of a conscious(ˈkän(t)SHəs) being. Even if I die and remain(rəˈmān) conscious and aware in some form of afterlife, I still won’t know the answer. Even if I somehow live forever and become the most powerful and omnipotent(ämˈnipətənt) being imaginable(iˈmaj(ə)nəb(ə)l), I still won’t know.

The reason this question cannot ever be answered with a firm yes or no is rather simple. A subjective reality can simulate(ˈsimyəˌlāt) an objective one, and vice(vīs,ˈvīsē,ˈvīsə) versa(versə) So there’s no way to know if there’s another container(kənˈtānər) of the opposite(ˈäpəzət) type one level below your current reality.

If this container effect sounds unlikely, notice that you already experience it when you have a nighttime dream. During such a dream, you’re in a subjective world. Your dreamscape(ˈdrēmˌskāp) is supposedly(səˈpōzədlē) happening in your imagination.

If you believe that your waking world is objective, then your physical brain(brān) is doing the dreaming, so there’s an objective layer beneath(bəˈnēTH) your subjective dream world. Events(əˈvent) in that objective world could even interfere(ˌin(t)ərˈfir) with your dream, or they could influence(ˈinflo͝oəns) how the dream turns out. Something could happen to your physical body while you’re dreaming. Your dream world isn’t free and separate(ˈsep(ə)rət) from its objective container. Furthermore, the limitations(ˌliməˈtāSHən) of your physical brain constrain(kənˈstrān) the depths of your subjective dream world simulation(ˌsimyəˈlāSH(ə)n). Your dream world is running on physical hardware – the hardware of your brain and its billions of neurons(ˈn(y)o͝orän).

On the other hand, if you believe that your waking world is primarily(prīˈme(ə)rəlē) subjective, then you still don’t know if there’s another objective layer beneath that. Maybe your true nature is that of an objective being dreaming up a subjective story here. But even if you woke up to that reality at some point, such as when you die in this waking reality, you still won’t know if there’s yet another layer below that.

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https://www.stevepavlina.com/blog/2017/10/is-reality-objective-or-subjective/