Reality

Absolute Reality includes all that exists, independent of whether we perceive it, or are aware of it. Absolute Reality includes matter and energy, and interacting systems of these. It includes objects and dynamic systems of interacting objects with varying levels of energy. It includes all life and all beings - sub-human, human and super-human. It includes everything that exists, known and unknown to us - everywhere. Absolute Reality is complete - there is nothing missing - regardless of whether it is known or unknown to us.

Transcendent Reality holds that absolute reality is so vast that we can never encompass it all. It extends microscopically far smaller than our most powerful microscopes and probes can peak. And it extends macroscopically far larger than our most powerful telescopes can peer,

Reality is that part of Absolute Reality that humankind has knowledge of. We gain our knowledge through our senses and extensions of our senses in our scientific instruments, our observations, our scientific research, and sharing our individual knowledge with each other. We have limited ability to sense Absolute Reality, thus our grasp on Reality is always approximate and incomplete.

Maps are the brains representation of Reality. Within the mind of each individual is a map of reality – which is even more approximate and less accurate than reality itself, because our individual experiences and observations are less than the aggregate of all humankind's experiences and observations. Inherited tendencies, cultural inputs, and individual idiosyncrasies can influence an individual's Map. Thus it is that individuals, and even groups of people, have a lesser grasp on Reality than that held collectively by all humankind.

Senses are our external link between Reality and the Map in our brain.  It is through our external sensing systems - and extensions of our senses we make through our scientific instruments, that we perceive reality. Our natural external sensing systems consist of remote sensors in our eyes, ears, nose, and special cells embedded in our skin, a signal transmission path along our chemical-electrical nervous system, and a central processing unit in our brain. Our extended senses are those we make with our scientific instruments.

In addition to our own sensory system input to our Map, we receive reports from others around us, such as our parents, siblings, neighbors, teachers, books, schools, churches, government agencies, entertainment media, and now the Internet. Each of these sources of information may contain misleading perceptions, distortions and deceptions. If we have no way to detect these information errors and correct them, then they will likely distort our Map of Reality. Thus it is incumbent on us to compares all outside information received to that of our own actual experience and observations. Such information that is not consistent should not be integrated into our Map until further investigation and consideration has resolved any inconsistencies or questions.

Perceptions are our “take” on reality, often confused with “truth”  Our perceptions are a “shade of truth” that is colored by our prejudices, biases, pre-determinations, cultural orientations, superstitions, irrational fears, ethno-centric beliefs, emotions, irrelevant extensions of logic and/or experience, unverified acceptances of the pronouncements of others, and other error-prone and error-inducing mechanisms, All human perceptions contain error and distortions to some degree. As such, perception is not truth or reality. But, for better or worse, it is all any human has. How then do we extract truth from perception?  It is exceedingly difficult, but there are methodologies that help us in that process, particularly the scientific method –if rigorously applied and independently verified.  But even the most rigorous application of scientific methodology is still subject to distortions and deceit. 

Distortions are error in our sense pathways, processing algorithms, and interpretations. As such, distortion is largely self-induced error. To appreciate the seriousness of distortion, consider the following discussion on our visual sense.

Our visual sensing system consists of remote light sensors in our eyeballs, a signal transmission path along our nervous system, and a visual signal processing area in our brain. The eye lens focuses incoming light onto special cells on the back inside wall of the eye. These light receptor cells convert light into electrical impulses that travel along electro-chemical nerve paths into the special areas of the brain. There the electro-chemical signals are interpreted and an image reconstructed in the brain. Because we have two eyes, which move and focus together, our brain can estimate depth and size by interpreting electrical signals from the muscles controlling the eye.

Light is a electro-magnetic phenomena. The human eye can only detect a narrow frequency range in the electro-magnetic spectrum. For example, our eyes do not detect infra-red or ultra-violet radiation, though apparently other animals, such as insects, can. So our external light sensors do not detect all the information that is available about our environment. Thus our brain can only assemble a partial image of reality. We do not see reality directly, but build a partial "map" of reality in our brain through our own sensory paths, and through reports from others around us.

The visual processing area in the brain can be fooled into 'seeing' objects that are not there, and not 'seeing' objects that are there. Light energy bends and refracts through natural and man-made lenses and reflectors, causing objects to appear to be where they are not. Arrays of mirrors can be constructed to shunt light around an object so all the light behind the object reaches the eye as if no object exists.

Besides external manipulation of light feeding misinformation into our eyes, distortions can be introduced anywhere along our visual sensory systems to cause our brain to incorrectly interpret the sensory information, and thus cause us to form a distorted and incomplete map of reality. Such distortions may occur because our visual sensory system is malformed, damaged, or has deteriorated by disease or age. This may happen in the eye, the nerve path between the eye and the brain, in the brain, or all three.

Deceptions are misinformation cues that are deliberately produced by humans or other living organisms to give a competitive edge to the deceiver, either in self-defense, or as a better predator.  All life forms, including humans, appear to regularly employ deceptions.  Deceptions include camouflage, imitation, bluff, mimicry, feigning injury, puffery, and among humans, in addition to all other forms of deception, propaganda, and claims of magical or supernatural alliances with gods, demons, and angels.  (See Deceit, Truth, and Family, for further discussions on deceptions.)

Models The Map in our brain is a natural mental phenomenon. Much of it is created automatically without our conscience effort, much like the involuntary physical organs and systems within our body. We can consciously extend our Map by creating models of Reality, and store them in our conscious memory, in our writings and drawings, or on a computer. Our models can be shared with others through discussion and publication. When we share our models we expose them to a broader slice of Reality than our Map. By listening to the comments, suggestions, and experiences of others, we can improve the utility and accuracy of our models. Our models are even more approximate and incomplete than the Reality that they are intended to represent. Even so, models provide great utility to us in our quest for knowledge to expand our personal Map and our collective Reality, for understanding the systems therein, and to manipulate our Environment.

In the Philosophy section we speak of philosophy as modeling. More precisely philosophy is modeling systems. Our philosophical models are simplified representations of real systems. Because they are inherently approximate and inaccurate, they are useful only for a limited range of applications. As we gain more knowledge and improve our understanding, our need for truer representation and greater accuracy in our models also increase. The quest for more knowledge and understanding of Absolute Reality must be a continual one. Our information is always too insufficient, and our models always too approximate for our ever-expanding needs. We must continually add refinements to our models as we gain additional information. Occasionally, we discover something in Reality that dumfounds us to the point that we have to abandon our carefully constructed model, and build a new one.

Systems are sets of interacting phenomena that produce cyclical, repeatable, or predictable actions or results.  A system is also the set of relationships that govern the behavior of the interacting phenomena.  If we consider that we have incomplete, inaccurate, and distorted images in our brain of real objects, then we have even more difficulty discerning, mapping, and modeling systems in Reality. It is only through a rare genius now and then that we have discerned real systems and modeled many of them.

Environment.  Our Absolute Environment is that part of Absolute Reality that affects us. The Environment is that part of Absolute Environment that we collectively know, thus that part of Reality that affects us and that we know about. Since the Reality that we know is approximate and incomplete, so to is the Environment that we know. Environment is discussed further in the Environment Web page.