Getting Subjective Reality

[Jason McIsaac]

I've been spending quite a bit of time lately trying to crack the SR problem. A while back, I tried for several months to get into the mindset but couldn't do it. I started listening to Steve's podcasts 8 and 16 again, repeatedly. I gotta say that they are chock full of nuggets. I mean podcast 16 probably has at least 100 different concepts to wrap your head around. I grasp 1-2 new ones each time I listen to it.

Here are some things I've thought about lately that have moved me closer to fully immersing myself in SR, and some things I've still got to get my head around. I thought this may help some of the people in the same boat as me (all 3 of you!):

I originally thought it would wash over me like a gigantic 'AHA', but that's not the way it's been happening. It's coming to me bit by bit after I thought to myself "maybe it will come to me bit by bit"

I've been skimming the surface, spending small pockets of time within SR, seeing it from the inside. This step is critical because looking at it from a purely OR perspective, it mostly seems like BS.

I believe one of my main problems now is that I'm still interpreting the vast majority of my sensory experiences from the OR perspective because I've been doing it for so long. And this perpetuates the cycle. Like when I'm at the grocery store for the 2000th time in my life, I have to conscious step back and think 'I'm creating all of this'. Instead of being a body walking through reality and taking in perceptions from the outside. The more often I make this conscious effort, the closer I feel to SR.

Another critical element is understanding how powerful the subconscious is. It has the power to create everything I see. It is not just another part of the mind that has a vast (albeit unreliable) memory and some processing power. It is super powerful. Once you understand this, it takes care of a raft of SR concept problems.

I had a hard time getting my head around this one: How do I accept that my NEW experiences are created by my subconscious? Things that are way outside my past experience or things that I don't even understand? Objective reality seems to explain this better than SR- i.e. new experiences are actually things that have always existed, but you're just seeing them for the first time. My SR explanation is: the subconscious is super powerful, you've never been aware of how powerful it is. It creates vast experience, your reality, including things that may seem new and completely unexpected. You can accept these brand new experiences in SR because you subconsciously EXPECTED something unexpected, and your super powerful subconscious mind created it for you.

Think of all of the times that you experienced a new thing that was very much like you thought it would be. Happens all the time to me... including my trip to Europe- every city was pretty much what I expected. I'm constantly surprised at how closely new things match my expectations. It's happening more than ever since I've come closer to SR.

Another problem: the world is sooo incredibly vivid, logically consistent and perfect, I don't see any flaws in my perception. In other words, it feels much more real than a lucid dream. And this vividness seems to be better explained by OR. The SR answer: 1- you're not looking hard enough for flaws/inconsistencies in 'reality'. I-M, coincidences and fulfilled expectations are all evidence. AND don't forget how powerful your subconscious is. Your subconsciously created reality is ALL THERE HAS EVER BEEN, so that's the only thing you've ever known. It's always been the source of your reality and is now. That's what's creating everything. 2- my objective perspective caused me to believe that the world is vivid, logically consistent and perfect, so my subconscious fulfilled my expections on that count too.

Similar to the above issue is the realization that there are many people I've run into who are smarter than me. How is this an issue? Because if I'm creating these smart people whose intelligence sometimes astounds me (like Steve P), where is this coming from? Is there a part of my subconscious that is a lot smarter than my conscious mind can comprehend? It's difficult to believe that I'm ultimately having an internal dialogue between my conscious mind and a smarter part of my subconscious mind when I'm interacting with these people. This seems to be better better explained by OR. I'm guessing that once again the SR answer is that my subconscious mind IS super powerful. But this one is a sticking point for me.

I've wanted to make sense of I-M and the LoA, overcoming the 'conflicting intentions' problem, (and other problems, like Steve talks about). In subjective reality, IM and LoA are presupposed. It's hard to imagine SR without IM and LoA.

This is one of the hardest concepts I've ever tried to get my head around, or I should say, immerse myself into. 'Understanding' SR from an objective perspective is not that hard, but actually DOING it is immensely difficult. I understand Special Relativity (hey another SR!), and this is much harder.
Anyone else out there with some perspectives?

J

[infinitethoughts]

Think about this.

It is said that you live in one world, when people talk they say "the" world, etc.

If that were true, that would mean there is only one perspective that exists. Clearly this aint' true.

Truth be told, there are many, many, many worlds, all agreeing to this present definition of "the" world.
For better or for worse.

The question is, what'll happen when uni-verses (people) wake up and not agree fully with the present definition of "the" world as it is now ?

[wolfgang]

Is SR like oneness? And OR duality? Then all talking of what SR is - is conceptualizing. The ego can't know oneness, since it is stuck in duality thinking.

By trying to think your way into oneness, one can only conceptualize, and this conceptualization also has a built-in duality. The ego can't know absolute truth - truth that would not be open for debate or has no opposite. The ego is in duality/OR and when it makes a concept of oneness/SR, it is able to only by putting oneness on a relative comparison, trying to make oneness or SR have an opposite.

[JoeGoldfarb]

Originally Posted by Jason McIsaac

Another problem: the world is sooo incredibly vivid, logically consistent and perfect, I don't see any flaws in my perception. In other words, it feels much more real than a lucid dream. And this vividness seems to be better explained by OR. The SR answer: 1- you're not looking hard enough for flaws/inconsistencies in 'reality'. I-M, coincidences and fulfilled expectations are all evidence. AND don't forget how powerful your subconscious is. Your subconsciously created reality is ALL THERE HAS EVER BEEN, so that's the only thing you've ever known. It's always been the source of your reality and is now. That's what's creating everything. 2- my objective perspective caused me to believe that the world is vivid, logically consistent and perfect, so my subconscious fulfilled my expections on that count too.

excellent post! especially this above. isnt a "flaw/inconsistency" a subjective perspective? be careful with that. one can throw themselves into their own bubble reality if they let that way of thinking run out of control.

in order to continue to interact seamlessly with the OR world and people, one needs to continuously acknowledge that reality. Yes, most people believe a chair is solid and there is no meaning in a coincidence.

think of OR as a group dream made real only by the numbers of others dreaming it. while obviously OR exists in a static form when there are no people to dream it, the OR becomes dynamic with the inclusion of life

Originally Posted by Jason McIsaac

Similar to the above issue is the realization that there are many people I've run into who are smarter than me. How is this an issue? Because if I'm creating these smart people whose intelligence sometimes astounds me (like Steve P), where is this coming from?

...from the OR dream scape. it's like clay. you can make, call fourth whatever you want.
do you want beautiful woman? you want a week long vacation at the beach? just as those examples are "there" "waiting" for you to call forth their existence into YOUR SR, so is everything else.

you just gotta tap that power, brother

[JoeGoldfarb]

Originally Posted by Jason McIsaac

I believe one of my main problems now is that I'm still interpreting the vast majority of my sensory experiences from the OR perspective because I've been doing it for so long. And this perpetuates the cycle. Like when I'm at the grocery store for the 2000th time in my life, I have to conscious step back and think 'I'm creating all of this'. Instead of being a body walking through reality and taking in perceptions from the outside. The more often I make this conscious effort, the closer I feel to SR.

J

how about this approach...
the grocery store exists objectively, but what matters, and the only thing that does matter is how you view it subjectively. do you view the store in a positive, negative, or neutral light? whatever may be the case, you will have (manifest) experiences accordingly.

[dave marshall]

Hi Jason,

there is some more info on the nature of reality and SR here
that may interest you,

dave

[Rhythman]

Reality via sense perceptions will always be subjective, even when the perceiver perceived duality is dissolved. Our nervous systems receive millions of bites of data per second but can only process about 2000 bites. The result is the nervous system omits most of the data and abstracts the data it does process. It is all an illusion so we might as well enjoy it That being said, teachers such as Nisargadatta Maharaj speak of Reality being Objective as it is beyond the subjective experience via the senses.

Rhythman

[Jason McIsaac]

I'd like to thank the various manifestations of my subconscious for providing further input. You seem to be telling me that I've got a lot more work to do.