Wednesday, May 24, 2017



The virtually virtual reality

I never expected this from him/her.We all have experienced these
'U wrecker' moments that wreck you. They reveal a totally unexpected dimension of  people whom we hitherto considered 'close' to us. In fact such acts or deeds by these purported 'close' persons forces us to close our association with them. The treachery remains in the mind as seething embers of self- persecution after the flames of anguish and anger have died down. We curse our own judgement and feel ashamed of our naivete. Eventually, we become suspicious of all our existing relationships and skeptical about future ones. The introspection process endeavors to look for the motive, identify any subtle provocation or inadvertent hurt caused by us. The Sherlock Holmes in us goes about investigating any possible instigation or whether we are victims of some conspiracy. The thought process goes on overdrive. The ripples of such misdemeanours travel far and long disturbing the still waters of the mind.
Judgement about our colleagues and close ones is  volatile. We have to concede the fact that their reality is also changing and that effects a change in them too. If our existence  itself is fleeting and transitory, expecting eternity in the nature of our close ones is preposterous.
This realisation makes us more forgiving and goes a long way in building up our equanimity. Our own responses, reactions might have appeared as unpalatable and intolerable on occasions. It's much  easier and convenient  to play the victim. We most certainly have played the oppressor without ever  being aware of it. Our aggression or intimidation would never be cognised by our own sensitivity sensors. Judging and categorizing the people around us is inevitable.
Our judgement and assessment too has an intrinsic bias. This bias distorts the true image. Our egos serve as lenses that modify and alter reality. Our social  conditioning, public perception, further adds to  this distortion
Based on these customised and distorted assumptions one forms a core view of reality. People in our lives serve as mirrors on which we base our view of the world and ourselves. We thereafter  cling to these views as a way of keeping our world (and ourselves) constant. Often taking full responsibility for our view of reality is beyond the intestinal fortitude of most people.
Categorising and judging people is  a fundamental reflex of our reality building machine. We need to know where the other person fits into our picture, so that we can know who we are and where we are. We wish this picture to be running smoothly and unchanged perpetually. .  It is extremely disturbing to break the fourth wall of our own consciousness. It causes extreme disorientation never knowing who we are and where we are. Dealing with an ever changing ,uncertain and unpredictable world is deeply unsettling for most people.A rude shock forces us to start the painstaking work of deconstructing our own reality tunnel.The resistance we go through from ourselves (and from others) during this process is very disconcerting and painful. The reality that we had assumed suddenly starts melting into a virtuality. The images that we have formed of people and our relationship with them is constantly being redmodelled. We assume reality to be constant and unchanging. We have to reconstruct a new reality. A reality that is constantly changing. A reality that is kaleidoscopic. A reality that lasts as long as this  present moment.
The  only reality is  a virtual virtuality.

No comments: