Defining Reality
Jun 4th, 2008 by padma
I sat in a series of briefings and round table discussion today regarding ethnicity and race, which then brought about a great series of conversations about the effects of social and cultural groups from an international perspective. We talked about how we use our “groups” to construct the realities we live in and in doing so use these groups to give us purpose.
Constructing Reality
Whether the logic holds true or not is beyond the scope of this blog, however this got me thinking about how I create my own realities and if the manner in which I do so clouds my judgment or enhances it. Traditionally, I’d view myself as an eastern, Caucasian, non-denominational, Ohio-born, American. So, considering all of those factors, how is my world view affected? To be honest, I’ve spent the greater part of 20 years trying to shed my ties to these categories, not because I don’t appreciate my roots, but because I want to do my own thinking. The question is, do I really do my own thinking?
Social, Religious, and Cultural Divides
Having had Born-Again Christianity beaten into me for 10-15 years as a child and into my teenage years, I still do sense a slight resentment towards Christianity and Religion in general. This led me to actively avoid Christianity for quite some time until I finally understood that not only did my Christian past help me form the broad foundation I have today (because of my search for freedom) concerning religion, but also that my Christian experience was not the only Christian experience that exists. However, this has affected my own created reality in some manner.
As far as other categories go, overall I would say the group think in which I was raised is conservative, somewhat-selfish, privileged, and patriotic. Although I most certainly have not figured out how these roots have manifested into my realities today, I can only surmise that I have a lot less overall experience and understanding than I was raised to believe I had.
Am I Seeing Clearly?
Now, to back to the topic so as not to get long winded on this whim, do I really see things clearly through my lens? That is really a rhetorical question and I am sure you can see where I am going with this. Clearly most of us, upon examination, do not have as clear of a world view as we think we do. Blame however, is not the goal here, rather I propose that introspection should be instead.
Freeing Ourselves from Delusion
Just as Buddhists use the eightfold path to free themselves from delusion and suffering, I would argue that deconstructing our own realities as finitely as we can will help us understand why we act the way we do, as well as see and appreciate truth when we stumble upon it. Chances are we see it every day but do not have the facility to recognize it. If we truly are going to live our Dharma, we must do so without false intention, clouded judgment, or altered perceptions of reality. So the question is, what filters do you use to create your own reality, and had you even realized they existed? Furthermore, have you been susceptible to group think when creating your own world view? Its easy to do, the question for next time is, how do we fix it?
