That is not unexpected Willamena. Reality is indeed what we each fully experience however it would be somewhat arrogant and misleading to think that we grasp
the totality of what reality is. There is always something beyond our expereince in physical terms, let alone in non-physical terms. All I am trying to get people to understand is that reality is far larger a construct that they presently perceive.
Originally Posted by
Willamena
Grasp this: The totality of reality that we each experience is the totality of reality. Beyond that, there is nothing; there is nothing beyond that. It is not arrogance to think so --on the contrary, it is arrogance to tell others that what you, or anyone, have experienced in totality is something they must also experience in order to be more total. In that, you throw "reality" across the divide and assign it to objective reality.
Ok, think of me as being especially thick on this point. Would you care to explain this further?
Here's me. There's you. You are a part of reality to me, one of the discrete bits that make up the picture of the world from my perspective. You also have a picture with which to work, and it contains different bits than mine. The bits that are not included in my picture are, for me, nothing until and unless they become a part of my picture as I acquire bits.
People (other than me, that is) talk about "shared reality." It's one of their bits, one that makes little sense to me. In my view, only the pictures each of us paint, for each of us, are relevant to define reality. I don't share what I experience with anyone else; rather, I share my pictures with them, described in words, actions, notions, etc. That is what is "shared," not reality and not the experience.
The totality of reality is the sum of the bits in the picture that each of us paints for ourselves through our experience of
being. Beyond the bits we have there is nothing --nothing of relevance, nothing important, until it becomes a piece of that picture. Only then it can be important. Only once it becomes
something can it be relevant to someone.
"Shared reality" is a term used to suggest that the pictures each of us paint added together form a larger picture --and they do, but that's not a picture that is
real. That "out there" isn't
reality (the "
full experience" that each of us have) but rather a picture painted of the words each of us contribute to bring it to life.
Many people will (as I once did, and still do, but now knowingly) assign that larger picture "reality," and place our trust in it. We make it objectively real, but it still resides
within the picture that we paint with our experiences. I'm always careful, now, to refer to it as objective reality.
Your words, in this thread and others, have painted for me an experience that you had, but for me it's just a painting made of words. It's not real unless and until I experience something like it myself, and even then all I can do is compare what I've experienced to the picture of your words in order to conclude if we've had the same experience. "Fullness" or totality is a complete picture. The picture painted with other's words is not complete; only the picture I paint with my experiences is complete.
Hopes this helps.