Hmmm… let’s start with a question that my philosophy teacher asked us in college:
“How do you know that you know what you think you know?”
At first it may sound like a fake/made up or trick question, maybe even silly and not worth thinking about… but let’s think about it because I think there is something here that can give us a clue to ‘Reality’.
First off, is reality a real thing or is it just an idea? For the sake of keeping our sanity, let’s say it’s a real thing 🙂 Ok moving on…
Let’s look at this….
The question implies that it IS possible to know something, or not know something. More so, this question implies that it is possible to THINK you know something when in fact you really don’t…. that means you are deceived…(which is a real thing too… people can be deceived…) Would you agree with this? If so, then you believe there is such thing as an absolute truth…because you can’t be deceived in something that may not have been true to begin with.
*Side note* You can’t say “There is no such thing as absolute truth” because that would mean you are trying to make an absolute statement and you just contradicted yourself – and if you said it already knowing that, then there was no point whatsoever to your statement and it was not worth taking seriously and it would cause one to question what your sense of reality looks like and if there is any stability or even safety in your thinking.
Consider this…. Reality=absolute truth. Why? Reality is constant and never changes. If you say reality DOES change, then I would tell you to go see a psychologist. It doesn’t matter what anyone says or believes, reality will always be what it is and has been – and that brings comfort 🙂 It is certain, fixed, and therefore trustworthy. It is what it is, not what we THINK it is or what we FEEL it is. WE don’t determine reality… it just is. It has been… even before we were born. We were born into reality…. reality was not born into us.
Question: Do you KNOW reality….? Because if you don’t, that would be pretty scary wouldn’t you say…? Also, I think it would be equally scary if you THOUGHT you knew reality, but you really didn’t.
I once read something that said “To be in touch with truth is to be in touch with reality…”
Did you ever stop to think that maybe the reason life can be so hard is because we only THINK we know reality when we really don’t? Life would be so much more easier to get through if we for sure KNOW reality, wouldn’t you agree? Because then we wouldn’t be continually stumbling due to things we thought we knew but were actually deceived in. To know reality, we need to know the truth…
Over the past week or so, a few times this topic has been coming up when it comes to the life of a Christian… truth/reality vs. thoughts/feelings/emotions – which often lie to us.
“The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it?” – Jeremiah 17:9
See that?! “Who can KNOW it?” This bible verse suggests that there is often no truth to what we may believe is “right” when we are led by emotions and feelings and our own desires – which often influences our thoughts and actions.
Jesus said of Himself “I am the way, the truth, the life”.
To live life the way it was designed and meant to be lived (according to reality; truth) we need to look to Jesus for instruction (truth), which means we look to what He says (the bible).
Let’s commit to memory and hold onto and choose to apply TRUTH (God’s word) in our daily lives, despite what we FEEL, that we may LIVE 🙂
