Subjective reality

If I ask you a simple question, “From which direction the sun rises and sets”, you would think I am kidding. Even a small kid would answer that the sun rises in the east and sets in the west.

Now if I were to challenge your answer and give you a different answer, that the sunrises in the north and sets in the north in some part of the year and it rises in the south and sets in the south in the other part of the year, and sometimes it does not rise or set at all, you would probably think that I have lost my brains. Right?.  But this is the truth in an island called Tromso, located in Northern Norway. This is not a myth but a proven fact.

What we consider a fact is not necessarily a fact in every part of the world. It may be false.

We know the sun doesn’t move but our perception of its movements have become our reality and we live our lives accordingly.  Seeing the midnight sun and its impact on the local people really will turn one’s assumptions upside down. You realise that at the physical or metaphysical level, there is no “One Reality”.  For nearly six-billion people, the reality is that the sun rises in the east and sets in the west, but for a half-million people the sun rises and sets in the north or south. The minority reality may be experienced by only a few people, but it’s as real and valid as the majority  experience, however contrary, unreal or absurd  it may seem at first.

And that’s a message the majority community of any nation would do well to learn, understand and accept.  The minority experience is a reality.  Seemingly contrary multiple realities can and must coexist harmoniously in a country as they do in nature.

The development of human intelligence should not always be objective in nature, it has to be subjective, as well. This above illustration is a classic example of subjective reality. We often fail to see the larger picture. This holds true for different religions too, different communities, different economic classes, etc. 

Therefore every time there is a difference of thought or opinions, before blindly arguing to justifying our point, let us try to listen with empathy what the other person is trying to say and then decide. Let us learn to accept the fact that,  our life’s reality is limited to our perception and it is not the wholesome truth.

Galileo was killed for telling the world, that the earth was round like a ball, when the whole world was living by the assumption that the world was flat. Killing the person did not kill the truth. After a few years it was proved that the earth was round.

Happy Reading,

D. Senthil Kannan

Article Dated Dec 2007