Reality, Part 3

Reality, Part 3

 “Real isn’t how you are made… It’s a thing that happens to you. When a child loves you for a long, long time, not just to play with, but REALLY loves you, then you become Real.”[1]

Our concepts of reality and truth are always relative to our time, context, and location. The realities and truths that transcend our times, contexts, and locations, seemingly conflict with those that do not. For example, as I write this, it is 7:00 AM and the sun is rising over northeastern Kansas. That is a reality and is true…for me and my neighbors. For those in California, it is still dark. In Europe it is mid-afternoon. Sunrise in this moment is neither real nor true for them because their time, context, and location is different. Indeed, sunrise in the moment will no longer be real or true for me an hour from now. This sunrise will onlybe real an hour from now as a present memory and as one step in the sequence of events unfolding in the moment of 8:00 AM on this day.

Another contradictory truth is that the whole concept of sunrise is neither real nor true because the sun does not actually rise over anything. The phenomenon of the sun rising over the eastern horizon is an illusion of the time and location from which we observe it. The sun appears to rise in the east, not because of anything the sun does but because of the earth’s rotation. If I were on the moon there would be no sunrise because the moon does not rotate. We can draw similar conclusions about light and dark. During daylight hours in Kansas, natural light is real and true. But at that time, light is not the reality or truth on the other side of the planet where the sun’s rays are blocked from view. Darkness is their reality and truth of the moment. My point is that what is real and true for one person in one context is only what is real and true for one person in one context. There are no universal realities or truths, at least not in the ways we define and understand reality or truth.

Once we accept that our experiences of reality and truth are fluid and dynamic, we release reality and truth from the need for permanence with which they are often shackled. Once we grant that reality and truth are inexplicably tied to the present moment and to the changing nature of everything else in creation, we can embrace the changing nature of reality as our truth, instead of attempting to mold and contort our truth to fit a shifting reality. In the children’s book, The Velveteen Rabbit,¹ a stuffed rabbit was granted reality by the love of a young boy. There was no permanence to that reality, however, because times and circumstances changed. None of which negates the truth and realness of the cloth companion to the boy at the time. There is nothing wrong with granting realness to whatever brings us comfort and guidance and calling it truth, as long as we do not betray the dictates of love, and as long as we grant realness and truth their fluidity so they can adapt and grow as appropriate and necessary.

Our very human desire for certainty drives us to seek a north star, or a collection of unchanging principles and values that always serve as guides and anchors for our beliefs and actions. Even the north star analogy, however, is time, context, and location dependent because the north star (Polaris), is not visible to half of our planet, nor does it indicate a specific direction when viewed away from earth. Many folks consider the Bible as their north star, believing it to be the unchanging word of God. And there is a sense in which that may be true, but certainly not for the printed words in our Bibles. There are roughly 7000 different translations and editions of the Bible in English alone! And there are nearly as many understandings and applications of those translations as there are people reading them. And for most of us, our understandings of those words change as we mature, even when the written words remain the same. Even those who consider scripture or other sacred writings as ultimate and unchanging truth must admit to the fluidity of the understandings and applications of those truths. Being certain and unbending about truth is perhaps the true original sin.

Our realities and truths exist within a larger, more inclusive set of realities and truths that are beyond our intellectual grasp. If our understanding of truth does not evolve, we cannot grow spiritually. Jesus’ first command was to repent, meaning to turn around, to transform, to change. In order to grow closer to God, our actions and beliefs must change…regularly!

This is the 23^rd in a series of Life Notes on Time, and Eternity. The opinions expressed are mine. To engage with me or to explore contemplative spiritual direction, contact me at ghildenbrand@sunflower.com.

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[1] Margery Williams, The Velveteen Rabbit, George H Doran Company, 1922.