What Is Reality?

What is reality?

It's a question I've been pondering recently.

Example - I could be at a soccer match, stood next to a fan of the opposition, when a significant game turning event takes place on the field of play. Now we will both see this event through our own prejudices. What I see as a blatent foul he see's as an accidental clash. We both witnessed the same incident so why do we not come to differing conclusions?

Another Example - A neighbour tells me he worships the little green fairies that appear at the bottom of his garden. Now in my own reality I NEVER see these fairies, but in his reality they're there all the time. The belief in God is an essential part of current global politics, yet my neighbours belief in little green fairies gets him locked away as a 'madman'!

So, what is reality? I.M.O every individual has his or her own perception of what reality actually is.

The Tired Ramblings Of A Proletarian Nobody

As a guy I’d managed to reach thirty without committing to a co-habiting relationship with anybody. I’d plodded along without giving any real thought to anything bar getting through life with the least hassle possible, a sentiment shared by countless other members of the human race. As long as I had enough money for beer, rugby and a computer I was more or less happy in my own little world.

When I started work in what was, and still is, my ‘trade’ of printing I encountered a fellow employee who was getting on in years and had a simple philosophy on life.

“You spend a third of your life asleep, a third of your life at work and a third of your life at home. Everybody enjoys sleep, so if you enjoy your job and enjoy your wife you’re laughing.”

If only I’d listened to him instead of living for the moment I might have tried to escape my boring dead end job and a relationship that I let drag on way too long. My thirtieth birthday was the first significant turning point in my life. I realised I wasn’t happy. I ended my non-love affair (no disrespect to my ex who deserved better than she ever got from me) and had genuine intentions of taking time out from relationships and bettering myself academically in the hope of escaping the soul-destroying confines of my job. Meeting my future wife and the subsequent consequences of a family life with four children has ended any realistic hopes of study for the foreseeable future.

However, having my first child had a profound affect on my life. Suddenly I had responsibilities for the welfare of another human being. As a parent my first priority is to nurture and protect my children. It gives me a focus in life; my dead end job gains some meaning, even if it is only bringing home a wage packet to run the household (and having easy going bosses always helps).

So I enjoy my sleep, I enjoy my family life and my job is now tolerable. That would be enough for me if it wasn’t for the fact my family and I are supposedly legitimate targets for suicide bombers, kids are being murdered yards away from my home and the government seems intent on turning my country into some kind of parliamentary duopoly ‘police-state’. I have no faith in religion, no faith in my government and no faith in society as a whole. To put it bluntly, bar my family and friends I’m fast losing faith in everything and anybody. This blog is the result of pent-up anger, an opportunity to air my personal opinions, a cyberspace soapbox where I can rationalise my views on life.