What is reality?

What is reality? If you ask a different person you will get a different answer each time. To me, reality is the difference between our dreams and our actual state of being. Reality is how actual circumstances are versus ideal circumstances.

Everyone has dreams. We have a state that we wish to be in. We have goals that we want to and desire to achieve. We have people that we idolize and want imitate to the end. These are dreams.

Reality is often a lot harsher. It is the actual circumstances that you are in. The actual goals that you are capable of achieving. And who you really are, not who you want to become.

Reality also has a lot to do with perception. The way a person perceives things differently. This is why the answer you get when you ask some one what is reality is different most of the time.

A good example would be the question ‘Is the glass half empty or half full?’. The reality to a pessimistic person would be that the glass is half empty most likely. To an optimistic person where as, the glass would be perceived as half full; and that would be their reality.

So by changing perceptions are we able to change our reality? The answer to this is yes. You are the centre of your reality. You decide what circumstances you allow to affect you and what you do not. If you always perceive things negatively, your reality will be a depressing and dark one. The reverse is also true.

So by making decisions and noticing details, you can alter your perception of reality. A good example would be a son whose father left him through death. If he focuses on the detail that his father left him alone, he may become depressive and introverted. Where as if he realizes that his mother and the rest of his family are still there for him and are even more supportive than before, things may not seem as dark as they are. His reality by noticing details is altered.

Reality is also facts that we assume to be true. Many, many years ago, the reality was that the earth was flat and if you traveled too far to the edge of the world, you’d literally fall off it. It was a fact that no one challenged until Greeks theorized that the earth was a sphere that some people accepted this fact. Later on, Christopher Columbus would embark on a three year journey to prove this fact to be true. When this happened, the ‘reality’ that the earth was flat was dismissed.

In other words, the majority or society decides what reality is. The norm is reality to an extent. It affects our perceptions of what is good and what is bad, thus constructing our perceptions of reality. Society today, has deemed that being thin is attractive. Therefore the reality for fat people is that they are unattractive.

The media also creates a sense of reality for us. It dictates what facts and what information is disseminated to us. Thus, how we perceive the world and other cultures that we do not have direct contact with is shaped by the media.

Reality is a complex thing. While we have a degree of control over it, a lot of it is affected by society and the media.