Friday, May 05, 2006

The Biggest Reality Show Ever…

There are some days that just knock u off your feet. Some days when u just wake up with a smile on our face, not really knowing that it will the only one on your face the entire day. Some days when everything just seems to go wrong, as though the whole universe just conspired to make you feel utterly miserable. That was last Sunday. And that was the last post.

Ever get this feeling that you’re watching your own life happen from outside? No, I don’t mean to ask if u have suffered a mild case of dissassociative disorder. Just that at times, u just feel that things happening to you, are not really happening to u. they are not really real. Well, if you have never felt that way, I’d request u to stop reading right here. I wouldn’t want u to think that I’m a raving lunatic. Neither do I want to put ideas into your head.

Well, this feeling that I get once in a while, often gets me thinking. What the hell is reality anyways. Who decides what is real n what is science fiction? I mean, matrix could be real. So could Hogwarts. Sure, now u are thinking, “ Yeah right, and the moon is made of blue cheese, n clouds are made of kurlo pillows. This kid’s gone way off the rocker.” Its convenient right? We have made categories for everyone to fit in. Even for those who don’t want to- they are the miss-fits. The radicals. If someone says or believes in something that doesn’t fit into the system, they are immediately cast away as schizophrenics, maniacs. The Not-normals.

This brings us back to my original question. Who decides what is normal? Whose reality are we living anyways? I remember one day in college, tsu, me and killi had this HUGE debate over this. Well, mostly it was killi n me, with tsu trying placate me, while supporting killi’s view. Killi claimed that reality was quite simply what she could see, feel, touch n hear. I countered that so does a schizophrenic, so why is that called hallucination? She counter-countered that, well what a schizo’s reality is something that only he can see. But her reality is something that all of us can…she, me, tsu, the guy sitting in the adjacent bench trying to evesdrop, all of us. So well, I asked, then that simply means that your reality is dependant on the corroboration of others. Which when simply put can just mean that whatever the majority thinks, believes, and says, becomes the reality. It may be wrong, but then u gotta live with it.

This brings us to another favourite theory of mine. That this big, beautiful world of ours, runs on a few sets of parameters. And on the assumption that every man, woman, n child, accept n believe in those parameters. These parameters may not always make sense, but they are essential building blocks of our world. If they crumble, we crumble. So when some enlightened soul stands up to question them, it becomes necessary for us to label them as crazy, so that we don’t have to grope in the darkness for answers. Because we are quite happy to live with the answers that we already have. So well, if we believe that matrix is a reality, it kinda burdens us with a need to take a stand. Do we, go on as we did even after knowing the truth? Or do we, like Neo, fight for freedom? Choice…it’s not just our greatest gift, it is also our biggest burden. We chose our reality. We chose what we want to believe. And we chose to be who we are. Reality, my friend, is a myth. It’s all in your head…zombie.

5 comments:

Sreejith Narayanan said...

reality is some kind of borderline, below which, we are totally charmed by our imaginations. Different people, I believe have different levels of borderlines between the imaginations and the so called "actual" situation.

You want to become harry potter one fine day. You will be able to make and give love potions to ur crushes ;), crucio ur profs,in unbearable cases, u can avade kedavra them :P

But then, you cannot become harry potter suddenly. You should learn magic for it first. Then comes the question where can you learn magic? Hogwarts? Where is it? Noone knows!
That is reality. It teaches us that nothing comes for granted, {except for the love of ur parents (suddenly rememberd about mother's day :P)}
and everything has a price to pay.

Anu said...

hmm... we jus live in this world which u and i can perceive with our senses... and reality is wat majority considers it to be.. i know this line of fire came up tht day but... we all follow rules... i dunno this is my reality... i am too sel obssesseddddddd..........

crumbs said...

@ sreejith
well if reality teaches us that nothnign comes for granted, going my ur own arguement, luv of ur parents becomes surreal :D
that may be twisting wat u said...wch brings us back to square one...whose reality?
think it kinda become like this gaint chandelier in the center of the room...everyone sure sees it, but sees it front diff angel, n hence everyone's view is slightly diff!

@ tsu
if u re too self obsessed, so y is ur reality what the majority dictates?n well, that will remain as long as u agree with the majority till nw...wat if one day u dont?

Sreejith Narayanan said...

@ moontalk: The price u pay is that u acknowledge their existence. What happens in the case of an orphan? or for that matter ppl in us?

vidi said...

reality is what you believe it is. cos as much as you argue, u ll never stop beliveing what you truly belive...
confused?
welcome to reality :)