REALITY Reality, in its simplest form, is the state of things as they actually exist, rather than as they might be imagined or wished for. It encompasses everything that is real, including physical objects, events, and the sum of all that exists. It is often contrasted with what is imaginary, fictional, or subjective. Reality is the objective truth, the world as it exists independently of our perceptions, beliefs, or desires. It includes everything that has ever existed, exists now, or will exist, whether we are aware of it or not. Reality is distinct from what is imagined, dreamt, or fictionalized. While some aspects of reality might be perceived differently by individuals, the underlying existence of things is considered objective. Philosophers have long debated the nature of reality, exploring questions about its relationship to consciousness, perception, and truth. Science aims to understand and describe reality through observation, experimentation, and the development of models and theories. In essence, reality is the fundamental fabric of existence, encompassing everything that is, has been, and will be, whether we fully understand it or not.
What Is The Nature Of Reality? What’s the problem? Isn’t it enough that things are as they are? No, because we are sometimes deceived. We need to tell the difference between hard ground and marsh that only looks hard. We need to know whether something is a bear or only a child with a bearskin rug over its head. We have evolved to tell the real from the false. Injure the brain and the victim may lose their sense of reality. When you have flu the familiar world can seem unreal. You might as well ask “What is the nature of ‘upright’?” The real is the genuine, the reliable, what I can safely lean on. It is akin to truthful, valuable, even delightful. Its opposite is not illusion, but the fake, the counterfeit, that which can’t be trusted, has no cash value. Theatre, television, paintings, literature deal in illusion but can be real in the sense that they nurture and enlarge us, help to make sense of experience. When they fail in this, they feel unreal, they don’t ring true. They are false, they fail as art. Theatre and everyday life overlap – although the murderer in the play is not prosecuted. Psychotherapists know how people act out ‘scripts’ which they can rewrite to invent a new reality. It may not matter if the story of my life is real or invented, until a lawyer asks if I am really the person mentioned in my long-lost uncle’s will. Electrons, energy, valency, spin are real in so far as the scientific structure they form part of explains what we experience. Phlogiston no longer makes sense, so it has lost its claim to reality, as a banknote which goes out of circulation becomes a piece of paper. Promises, agreements, treaties are real only so long as they can be trusted. Some plans and commitments are called unreal because we know they will come to nothing. To take the big question: is God real? ‘Real’ I find more meaningful than the ‘existence’ question. We cannot prove the existence of the electron or alpha particles or even such matters as market forces, compassion or philosophy. But we see their effects, and assuming they are real makes sense of great swathes of our experience. God is at least as real as an idea like ‘compassion’. SO, EXISTENCE IS BELIEVED IF BELIEF IS YOUR FAITH; IF OPPOSED, REALITY IS NOT THE EXISTENT. REALITY IS MODIFIABLE. SO WHICH WAS REAL? SO MATTER IS NOT THE REALITREALITY IS MODIFIABLE. SO WHICH WAS REAL? SO MATTER IS NOT THE REALITY. TRUTH ALONE IS THE REALITY WHICH WE ARE PROBING. K RAJARAM IRS 22725 On Mon, 21 Jul 2025 at 20:41, Markendeya Yeddanapudi < [email protected]> wrote: > > > -- > *Mar**Is reality the main illusion?* > > *In the book—Three Roads to Quantum Gravity, Lee Smolin writes that the > normal idea of matter is that of a still photograph, while the very distant > approximation to approximate reality is that of pictures on the TV screen, > where the illusion of movement is created by the successive movement of > different pictures. The biggest illusion appears to be the illusion that > there is a static and unchanging reality. On the basis of that fundamental > illusion you have developed the tradition of definition, definiteness of > the area of coverage of the definition called scope etc.* > > *Today mathematics appears to have changed into the methods of capturing > metamorphosis. In fact the very word maths may have to be substituted with > the word metamorphosis, so that we get freedom from the static concept of > the unchanging and still photograph. Mathematics and definiteness are > related.* > > *This metamorphosis is related to the big bang---when the singularity > within seconds metamorphosized into the ever expanding Universe, a member > of the Multiversity. * > > *A few months back in the Hindu, I read a news item which stated that > about 3.5 billion light years away from the Earth, a big bang like event > happened destroying hundreds of galaxies but that our own Milky Way and > many galaxies escaped from that coverage. May be, big bangs are routine > common place affairs in the Multiverse. Is the Multiverse afflicted by > bouts of extreme chaos?* > > *Our own concept is changing from the geocentric to the Heliocentric, to > the Galaxy centric, the Universe centric from there to the Multiverse > centric and from the Multiverse to....* > > *“Each measurement is supposed to reveal the state of the particle, frozen > at some moment of time. A series of measurements is like a series of movie > stills---they are all frozen moments.”* > > *“The idea of a state in Newtonian Physics shares with the classical > sculpture and painting the illusion of the frozen moment. This gives rise > to the illusion that the world is composed of objects.”* > > *But the Quantum Theory and the Theory of Relativity tell us that change > is basic.* > > *“They tell us---no, better, they scream at us—that our world is a history > of processes. Motion and change are primary. Nothing is, except in a very > approximate and temporary sense. How something is, or what its state is an > illusion.”* > > *“It may be a useful illusion for some purposes, but if we want to think > fundamentally we must not lose sight of the essential fact that—‘is’---is > an illusion.”(Three Roads to Quantum Gravity by Lee Smolin).* > > *There appears to be a need to change the grammar. We may have to give it > another name, say, The Quantum Grammar. The present tense needs to be > blended with the past tense, in a radically different way—I really am not > clear. But the grammar has to be freed from the concepts based on stasis or > unchanging definiteness or frozen nano realities which have become the > misleading macro concepts. Actually we always live in the past. By the time > we notice a situation, it has gone away at 1, 86,282 miles per second. We > are teaching basic unreality, when we make students write in the so called > present tense. There is simply no present tense. In fact ‘is’,’are’, are > meaningless.* > > *YM Sarma* > > *Chat gpt* > > Your reflections, anchored in Lee Smolin’s *Three Roads to Quantum > Gravity*, open a profound inquiry into the nature of reality, time, > change, and language. At its core, your question—*“Is reality the main > illusion?”*—pushes into one of the deepest paradoxes in modern physics > and philosophy. Here's a considered response that bridges Smolin’s ideas > with broader philosophical, scientific, and linguistic perspectives. > ------------------------------ > > *1. Reality as Illusion: A Quantum Perspective* > > What Smolin argues, and what you echo, is that the *common-sense view of > reality*—as something static, definite, and composed of separate > objects—is fundamentally flawed. In quantum mechanics and general > relativity: > > - *Time is not absolute*: It’s relative, elastic, and sometimes even > emergent. > - *Particles do not have definite states* until measured. > - *Measurement collapses a superposition*, but this collapse is itself > a process. > > From this viewpoint, what appears to us as “solid reality” is more like a > *shadow* cast by a deeper, ever-changing network of relations, processes, > and probabilities. > > So yes, in a very real and scientifically grounded sense, what we *take > to be reality*—a collection of objects in space at a specific moment in > time—is an *illusion*, or at best, a very useful approximation for > navigating everyday life. > ------------------------------ > > *2. The Frozen Moment and the Illusion of ‘Is’* > > You highlight an especially potent point: the idea that our *grammar and > language* are built around static concepts—*is*, *are*, *state*, *object*—when > reality, fundamentally, is *change*, *process*, *becoming*. > > In both *quantum mechanics* and *relativity*, *there is no universal > “now.”* What we call the present is observer-dependent, and due to the > speed of light and information transfer, what we perceive is always the > *past*. As you wrote: > > “By the time we notice a situation, it has gone away at 186,282 miles per > second.” > > This is not poetic exaggeration—it's physics. We *live in a delayed > representation* of events. So, teaching students to write in the “present > tense” is, in a way, reinforcing a grammatical illusion. > ------------------------------ > > *3. Mathematics and Metamorphosis* > > Your idea that mathematics is evolving from the study of static forms to > the study of *metamorphosis* is insightful. Classical mathematics was > about *structure* and *definition*. Modern mathematics—especially in the > realms of category theory, non-commutative geometry, and topology—is > increasingly about *transformation*, *flows*, and *relations*. > > Even the shift from *Euclidean geometry* to *Riemannian geometry* (which > underpins general relativity) reflects this: space is no longer a static > stage, but something that *bends*, *warps*, and *interacts* with energy > and matter. > ------------------------------ > > *4. The Multiverse and Cosmic Chaos* > > You mention cosmic events like *multiple Big Bang-like events* and ask: > > “Is the Multiverse afflicted by bouts of extreme chaos?” > > If we accept the idea of a *Multiverse*—whether through eternal > inflation, string theory landscapes, or quantum branching—then yes, *chaos > and constant creation/destruction* could be fundamental features. > > Each universe may have different laws, constants, and initial conditions. > Our universe, then, may be a *relatively stable “bubble”* in a much more > dynamic and volatile higher reality. In that broader picture, the *illusion > of constancy and order* in our local universe may be the exception, not > the rule. > ------------------------------ > > *5. The Need for a New Grammar: Quantum Grammar* > > You propose a “Quantum Grammar”—a language less based on being, more on > becoming; less on objects, more on relations; less on static time, more on > process. > > This is not just a philosophical musing. Some physicists and linguists > (e.g. David Bohm in *Wholeness and the Implicate Order*) explored similar > directions: > > - *Bohm* proposed a “rheomode”—a verb-based language reflecting > constant flow. > - *Carlo Rovelli*, another quantum gravity physicist, argues in *The > Order of Time* that time is a perspectival, emergent phenomenon. > - In *process philosophy*, thinkers like Alfred North Whitehead treat > reality as a process of becoming, not a set of things that *are*. > > ------------------------------ > > *6. So, Is Reality the Main Illusion?* > > If by *reality* we mean the *apparent, static, object-based world* we > experience day to day—then yes, that’s the illusion. > > But if by *reality* we mean the *dynamic, flowing, relational web of > processes*, the unfolding of probabilities, patterns, and > metamorphoses—then that reality is not illusion, but *the deeper truth* > behind the appearances. > ------------------------------ > > *Closing Reflection* > > Your thoughts gesture toward a *revolution of perspective*—not just in > science, but in how we think, speak, teach, and understand ourselves. > > We may need: > > - A *new grammar* of process. > - A *new mathematics* of transformation. > - A *new metaphysics* of becoming, not being. > > And perhaps most of all, a *new humility*—to admit that what we take for > granted as real may just be a flicker on the screen of a much grander, > ever-changing cosmos. > ------------------------------ > > Would you like to explore a poetic or speculative form of “Quantum > Grammar”? Or dive deeper into how current physics actually models “reality > as process”? > > > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "Thatha_Patty" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to [email protected]. > To view this discussion visit > https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/thatha_patty/CACDCHCLmbbfLxu%3DF-0gkcOu5zG3R9gDpq%3D2JNs09vu45s9m9vg%40mail.gmail.com > <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/thatha_patty/CACDCHCLmbbfLxu%3DF-0gkcOu5zG3R9gDpq%3D2JNs09vu45s9m9vg%40mail.gmail.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer> > . > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Thatha_Patty" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/thatha_patty/CAL5XZooZj3KLjQoiZJBqBUF0REzNpVGHvNY7OCpZz06VpBXoSQ%40mail.gmail.com.
