Real

I am reading books. Strange books. Books which suggest that nothing is real. The Ikea table before me, isn't real.  It only exists in my mind. It is nothing more than 'sense-data'.

I look at my Ikea table and ponder its existence.

I move to a different corner of the room. The table is still there.

I tap the table. It makes a noise. A real noise.

I close my eyes for 11 seconds. I open my eyes - the table is still there.

My Ikea table is real. I am sure of it.

Comments

[BlondebutBright]

Perhaps this blog is also not real - and the individuals that comment are also a figment of your imagination.

I like those strange books. They present a fascinating way in which to examine life.

[Hopeless]

Everything - ikea tables, you, me - is just a group of atoms and molecules. There is no such thing as "a table" just a table shaped group of atoms and molecules. That is what my buddhism teach told us. I didn't understand it then and I don't understand it now!

[Lucie]

PUT THOSE BOOKS DOWN!

Sorry for shouting - pick up some nice fluffy fiction instead.

If everything is just atoms and molecules how come tables don't eat and breathe (and have to go to work - damn lazy tables)

[Celeste]

Hmm yes. Philosophy eh? Like saying if you've never met someone do they still exist? You've met me so you know I do!

[Nick]

But the table you saw 11 seconds ago isn't the table you see now. Anicca. Om. Change is the only constant.(Bloody books, they do you no good!)

[Robin]

If a tree falls in a forest and there is no one to hear it, who gives a bugger

[Sturgeon Falk]

The Buddha calls this notion "belief in the separatness of signs," that is, the belief that a sign, essentially an effect, can exist without a separate cause. Thus to see the table as something wholly separate and self-extant is illusory, since your perception of it is a cause unto itself - because you already know that anyone else you ask will perceive it slightly differently. Thus the table you see is not separate. In fact it only exists as a product of your consciousness, which is a product of your parents and their influences and uncountable aeons of generations before you. To tap the table and be aware of its presence is not enough. The table exists, but it is not a table; it is you. It is also me, as well as it is your boss, your first grade english teacher, the cloud on the horizon and the pavement outside your window.

There does not exist anything in the world that is separate or unique, save for the universal nature of being.

I digress, but my point is, bravo; the Buddha would be proud.

[mag]

real, not real, we will never know anything except that hot strong coffee tastes good -"is good" would be far too much to assume. Oh sorry, I forgot americans k n o w i n g about intelliegent design, of course:)

[eric]

Sturgeon Falk: whoa.

[Peter]

Sturgeon Falk: you know you're not supposed to speak for the Buddha. Impressive, nonetheless.

I can be philosophical too. Last week I was pondering just how many women had to get shagged for me to exist.

There was my mother, her mother, her mother, her mother, her mother... and so on. If even one of them had been a dog, or a lesbian, then there would be no Peter to write this comment.

How scary is that? And what if they'd had a headache? There must be at least a few thousand one-night stands in that crop.

Heterosexuality is very popular, it seems, and very essential.

[julie]

I just stubbed my toe on a group of atoms and molecules. Bloody painful product of my consciousness.

[andre]

But Julie - did you feel pain? or was pain felt?

[snowqueen]

It can be fun - sitting around realising that one can only ever interact with the world with one's own consciousness. Whether that means one can then extrapolate whether or not things really 'exist'seems to me to be a matter of semantics.

Personally I am more interested in people being nice to each other these days.

[Virg]

Sturgeon Falk -> most impressed !!!
and
Peter -> even better facinating !!! and also very impressive!!! ... especially for someone who can't tell the boys from the girls !! Do you get that? (if not think about soccer and toes !!) x Virg