I don’t really understand the solidity of reality. Let me explain. There are so many times that I have met people who have a fixed idea of reality. A fixed idea of the world, and a fixed idea of spirituality.
I’m referring to that fixed, rigid set of beliefs about who and how the world is built. A set of beliefs that does not accept the fluidity of life and reality.
I know that many people will think this is strange. Most people work in the space of understanding that the world is a certain way. That understanding is built on the common frame of reference that we use to exist in this world. As humans we use language to classify and codify the world around ourselves. We create a common language and frame of referencce so that we can communicate.
I cannot have a dialogue about trees with someone unless we’ve agreed upon language to describe bark, green, brown, shade and roots. My perception of green may not match anyone else’s, but if several of us look at a tree and agree that the leaves are green, then we’ve created the beginning of a frame of reference to relate to each other and the world. Words and language are but labels that we use to describe our perceptions.
This is why different people find different things beautiful, and this is why different people have different tastes. It is all about perception and our frame of reference in the world.
And yet, we insist on the absolutness of our perception.
What is interesting is that we apply this frame of reference and absolutness of perception to our spiritual understandings and beliefs.
Each society throughout history has created their own pantheon of understandings of the non-physical. They have codified and labeled and described their perceptions in an absolute way, leaving no room for disagreement or discussion.
Some cultures have been open enough to bring a plethora of aspects around the spiritual, allowing almost everyone to find some aspect of spiritual presence or godhood that they could relate to.
Other cultures have been so narrow that they have killed those that disagreed. Limiting belief in their god to a point that all experiences that do not align with their perception of spirituality are made anathema and excluded.
It is hard to understand, when perception is so personal, how people can insist that everyone percieve the same, believe the same, act the same.
Everyone’s experience of the divine is personal. The worst thing that a human can do, is invalidate that experience for another. Whether its a secularist insisting it’s all in your head, or a christian insisting that you are communing with demons, it is all still just someone insisting they are right, you are wrong and attempting to have power over you.
