Reality... Am I the only one?

[hroom]

Hey all ,

So here's a thought, What if " I " am the only real person in the world and God is projecting everything around me so he can test me being human ? ...I mean it's an interesting thought ..I am not reffering to ME specificaly, but to anyone who might ask this question .... just think ... what if YOU are the only one real and God is projecting everything around YOU just to test you ? ..any ideas ? ..

Question: 'Lets say I think that I am the only one real around and I think everyone is just a projection - illusion - (no offence) ...how could you prove me wrong?"

[Planet_Jeroen]

Heh... well me posting could mean 2 things. Either your theory is false, or I'm God. Prove me wrong

[kjpou1]

hroom

Interesting question and nope can not prove you wrong but no offense hroom ...

Heh... well me posting could mean 2 things. Either your theory is false, or I'm God. Prove me wrong

.... almost fell out of my chair with the response Jeroen. Still laughing actually as this just made my day.

Kenneth

[Ascendant]

Hroom, what you've got there is one of the oldest philosophical dilemmas of all time. The answer is: you can't be proved wrong. There is no way to know whether another person is conscious. There is no way to tell if you are living in a simulation. So... you can either give up and do nothing, hoping the simulation will end (oh, and it will, trust me), or you can just do whatever you want, believing that the consequences don't matter, or you can believe that it's real and act accordingly. Up to you.

[Celeborn]

One of the greatest philosophers of all time, Rene Descartes, wrote on this very subject long, long ago, in his book Meditations on First Philosophy .

If you really are interested in seeing a man truly tread deep down the twisted path of this particular possibility, I recommend sitting down and reading it. Whether you agree with the mans conclusions or not, how he gets us there is one hell of a ride. (hyperbolic meditation is awesome )

But in the end, even if it is just you and God...or me and God...in the end it does not really matter at all.

Ascendant wrote:

So... you can either give up and do nothing, hoping the simulation will end (oh, and it will, trust me), or you can just do whatever you want, believing that the consequences don't matter, or you can believe that it's real and act accordingly.

Actually he cannot take either of those first two routes, because if he stops playing the game, even if he knows it is illusion, he has just failed the test.
Because in the end, whether we like to admit it or not, we are social creatures, and it is through our interactions with others that we define ourselves. Even those who go live in caves to meditate alone, are making a clear statement to society as a member of society. It is a distinction of self vs. other, which could not be made without the other.

So...take away the illusion, the maya, the matrix, and you take away yourSELF. And while this was and is the goal for some astetics, I personally believe that the best goal of any spiritual practice is to learn how to better live in the world and harmoniously interact with those around us. And whether the theory is true or not, knowing this on a conceptual level is not going to get you any closer to spiritual truth or fulfillment.

[sterlingindigo]

Interesting thought, hroom. I remember entertaining the idea myself before but I didn't give as much energy to it as I maybe should have. It is intriguing nonetheless.

Here are a couple of my rather simple ideas about it so far:

It is good to take time to consider the universal magnitude and the multi-level orchestration of the One True Creators' infinite love just for you (your verticle relationship).

It is also good to keep this firmly in mind in all of your dealings with the various 'projections' of that Creation (your horizontal relationship).

It can be true for you alone and for everyone else, even those still asleep to these ideas. A very good thought indeed, hroom. Thank you for offering it.

Hey all ,

So here's a thought, What if " I " am the only real person in the world and God is projecting everything around me so he can test me being human ? ...I mean it's an interesting thought ..I am not reffering to ME specificaly, but to anyone who might ask this question .... just think ... what if YOU are the only one real and God is projecting everything around YOU just to test you ? ..any ideas ? ..

Question: 'Lets say I think that I am the only one real around and I think everyone is just a projection - illusion - (no offence) ...how could you prove me wrong?"

The idea expressed in this question is known to philosophers as Solipsism (http://www.iep.utm.edu/s/solipsis.htm).

The big problem with Solipsism is that no sane person believes it. One may, of course, play games, challenging other people to prove that they exist. But the real question is whether one can walk through walls, leap tall buildings at a single bound, fly like a bird, etc. without hurting oneself.

[Quantitativefool]

Did this post like change or something...because I responded in one with the same first few statements...I'm so confused....

-Stu

[sash]

Quantitativefool: I think there was another post under Healing, it must have been deleted because it was made redundant under this thread.

I'm reluctant to post about this because it has no relation to this forum subject at all, and also has a limited relation to the subject matter of this website, although I think it might still be appropriate under another forum so I will comment since philosophy does interest me.
This question basically stems from philosophies linked with Solipsism and Relativism, and I'm sure a few others, since in its nature it is quite a philosophical problem.

IMHO on an existence level this specific problem can almost be proved wrong. The fact the the world functions in the way it does, with such complexity almost brings a strong enough argument against there being only one essence (person) and the rest being a simulation.
Another reason could be the fact that people have replied to this post, or that other people question this as well. In other words, how does this go to say that You are not the simulation and someone else is a genuine essence?
I think intuitively we can deduct that we each have an essence that is individual to ourselves. Whether this is true or not I completely agree with Celeborn's statement "whether the theory is true or not, knowing this on a conceptual level is not going to get you any closer to spiritual truth or fulfillment".
So where does the conception against the idea of knowing otherwise through intuition arise? For me it is the feeling of not being understood by the world. The feeling often washes over that no-one can related to you on such a level . . that no-one can know what it is like to be you. Perhaps this is what triggers this dilemma.

Having said that this thoery is not probable on the level of existence and how the earth is perceived in general, I do believe that is does hold true in a deeper sense. If you aren't "the only one" then it sometimes causes more philosophical problems than if you are! I would question whether we are not the same consciousness at the core, so in this sense the idea would prove valid.
Another major problem I see arising from this issue is the identification people have with themselves. I assumed until now that most people have been through this certain stage as a process of growth, but now I'm not so sure.
For me it occurred a while ago and is still developing now. I think the amount of introspective consciousness I had at the time reached a certain threshold and upon reaching that I changed how I identify with things. I would relate things to myself much less often and view things from a higher level. In other words trying to stop identifying with mySelf and start identifying with the universe instead.
Through this process I have found moments while talking to people where for a subtle second or two the lines between us would blur and their core being became evident and I identified with in a direct sense. In these moments I noticed that their core being was my core being, or vica versa - or it was just one being.
Rather than feeling a distaste for this type of identification as I would expect it was actually more a feeling of deep contentment. These moments incline me to perceive the essence of each person as the same core essence. If the least this conception does is solve my problems on postmodernism and relativism for the time being then it suits me. It has certainly brought me a strong sense of inner peace to accept the world in this way.


Warm Regards,
Sasha

Because in the end, whether we like to admit it or not, we are social creatures, and it is through our interactions with others that we define ourselves. Even those who go live in caves to meditate alone, are making a clear statement to society as a member of society. It is a distinction of self vs. other, which could not be made without the other.

So...take away the illusion, the maya, the matrix, and you take away yourSELF. And while this was and is the goal for some astetics, I personally believe that the best goal of any spiritual practice is to learn how to better live in the world and harmoniously interact with those around us. And whether the theory is true or not, knowing this on a conceptual level is not going to get you any closer to spiritual truth or fulfillment.

Amen! Never was a truer statement made. We are social creatures. In the few cases in which men have managed to survive without ever having had the benefits of at least one other man's company never develop intellectually to be able to ask the sort of questions which hroom has, in fact asked.

And for most men the company of others with whom he can share his life is essential to his moral and spiritual growth. So we should thank God for those others, no matter how much we may otherwise like to be alone.