"What is out there for you is not what is out there - that is, what is
'out there for you' is not the so-called 'objective reality'. While we
can confidently assume that there is an objective reality out there,
that is not the reality that
shows up
for you. What
shows up
for you is a 'reality' generated by
your brain.
Put in another
way,
while we assume that what we perceive is the reality that is actually
out there, in fact every shred of what
shows up
for you as reality is being wholly generated by
your brain."
When it first
landed
for me, it was a stunning realization. It's a stunning realization for
anyone for whom
it lands
I suppose. And man! It certainly was for me. What I got was: how
people are ie the way I say they are? I make it up. When I
say "So-and-so is arrogant" for example, when I say "So-and-so is
demanding", when I say "So-and-so is whatever", I make it up. People
are arrogant or demanding or whatever, only inasmuch as I make up that
they're that way. It's a distinction I only alit on much later in
my life.
Prior to that, there never was an "I make up that they're that way.".
No, they are that way.
Here's some clarification of what I mean by I "make it up". I don't
mean I lie. I don't mean I
imagine.
I don't mean I conjecture. I mean that it's
my own interpretation,
my opinion,
my casting that people are some particular way, and I haven't owned
it's
my interpretation,
opinion,
casting that they're that way - so it seems to me that they
are that way. Somewhere along the line, the "I make it up"
part of the equation got lost. "I make up that they are that way" was
superseded by "They're that way" (no question), something I never
discovered
let alone realized I was doing. Life was s'posed to be
that way.
OK, what about the movies? Some are entertaining? or "I
make up that some are entertaining."? Music. That's a great song? or "I
make up that it's a great song."? Books. It's a
well-written
book? or "I make up that it's a
well-written
book."? Weather. It's a beautiful day? or "I make up that it's a
beautiful day."? Now to be clear about this, we don't talk that
way. We don't preface everything we say with "I make up that ...".
But this isn't about the way we say it. This is about getting the
distinction in the first place. And the distinction "I make up that
..." could be rephrased as "That (ie whatever that is) is
in fact wholly generated by
your brain.".
Wholly generated by
your brain?
And I ask you: if you're on to this distinction and starting to let it
in, then how could it not be?
So now the question has become: exactly how much of this
do I make up? Do I make up just a bit of it? Do I make up
some of it? Do I make up a lot of it? Do I make up
all of it? Do I (and: what if I) make up the whole
world? I mean, do I (and: is it that maybe I) make up the
whole
god-damned
thing? What if there's no "the whole world" except the
whole world that I make up? What if there's no "the whole
world" except the whole world generated by
my brain?
Oh ... my ...
God!
Look: no matter which way you cut it, the question is confronting.
Really. It's daunting. If there's no "the whole world" out there except
the whole world generated by
my brain,
then that "the whole world" can't be the so-called objective
reality I've always
considered
"the whole world" to be. And while I'm pretty certain that there is a
"the whole world" out there which is that objective reality, I'll bet
good money that's not the "the whole world" that
shows up
for you, and neither is it the "the whole world" to which you have
access.
"The whole world" that
shows up
for you, the one to which you have
access,
is wholly generated by
your brain.
And look: again, if you're on to this distinction and starting to let
it in, then how could it not be?
So if it's indeed a given that there's no "the whole world" out there
except the whole world generated by
my brain,
then what's my experience of where that puts me? It puts me
present
to everything. It puts me
at cause of
everything. It makes me
the source
of everything. Be careful: if you take what I just asserted as an
argument or as a debate, it won't work. It doesn't occur in that
domain. Instead try it on for size. Cloak yourself in it like an
experience.
The bottom line is all of this may not be the so-called objective
reality you've always
considered
"the whole world" to be. It may all be wholly generated by
your brain.
And yes, that is confronting. It's daunting. And it's a
game-changer.
Don't do anything with it now. Just sit with it in your lap, like a hot
brick.
