Solipsistic [sol•ip•sis•tic] - the belief that the only thing somebody can be sure of is that he or she exists, and that true knowledge of anything else is impossible

Reality is whatever we choose it to be… Now some may choose to ignore this idea, but it is a fundamental truth nonetheless.

In truth our only connection to reality is whatever we perceive through our limited senses. That tree is real because I can see it, touch it, and smell it. This hamburger is real because I can pick it up, put it in my mouth, and taste its greasy goodness. Our brain interprets the responses we receive from our senses, and then creates our world.

Every person’s world is different. How can you say that what you perceive to be green, is the same thing I perceive to be green? I was taught in kindergarten that a particular shade of color is associated with a particular word, but does everyone see that color the same?

Our mind is an extremely powerful tool for creating and interpreting the reality around us. It will go to great lengths and will even “artificialize” the world in order to keep our concept of truth intact. Our brain can create false memories, define truths that we were never told, and even fool the senses all in order to keep the ideal of our reality.

In terms of creating false memories, how many dreams have you had, that you swore were true? Over time our brains can actually confuse these dreams with real memories, and you can fool yourself into believing a dream actually happened.

Trey Williams free lance philosopher