Friday 9 August 2002

Pic of the day: No, I don't take credit for creating the beauty of this world, only for sometimes seeing it.

Do you create your own world?

You may have heard this: "You create your own world." Some Buddhist and Neo-Gnostic thinkers insist that each of us live in a universe of our own creation. And it sure sounds believable when you hear a newly divorced couple ... But the philosophical implications are staggering.

In real Buddhism, mercy plays an important part. If not for mercy, the Buddha need not have shared his teaching with the world; he could just have continued to Nirvana all alone. But mercy makes no sense if each of us is alone in the universe. If reality is a single player game, and everyone except me is a non player character, then there is no reason to consider their feelings or their needs. I could steal or rape or murder at will, and it would have no bad effects apart from degrading my own soul. Actually it would not even degrade my soul if I was fully aware that I lived in a virtual reality.

Even if less strictly interpreted, the doctrine tends to blame the victim. If you are poor, you have simply neglected to create your own riches. If you are sick, then you haven't created your own health. Actually there is often some truth in that: Few if any of us have always chosen the right thing to do in all circumstances. But that doesn't mean that we have chosen our parents, like some New Age preachers like to claim. And it is utterly heartless to say that a traffic victim chose to be run down by a drunken driver. Actually, if I created my own reality, that would be a reality in which these arrogant philosophers would suffer and die horribly while mocked by a voice from beyond...

Finally the reductio ad absurdum. Since you have created your world, you have also created the gurus who told you that you created your world. It is just an idea in your head, and there's no reason why should be true anymore than any other idea. You are back to cogito ergo sum. I think I am, therefore I am... I think.

***

In German and Scandinavian languages, there is another definition of reality. As they say in Norwegian Book Language: "Det virkelige er det som virker" – the real is that which works. The very word for reality is derived from the word meaning "work" or "be effective". People may have many high-flying ideas, but these ideas are worthless unless they can be put to work and be effective in real life. And in real life, acting as if you are the only real person in the world will have the effect of getting you into a prison cell or a secure mental hospital room. Then you can spend your time there explaining to yourself that this was what you really wanted!

Yet another definition of reality is implied in my mother tongue, Nynorsk (New Norwegian). We sometimes use the word "røyndom", which is derived from our word for experience. And it is true that to some extent our reality is created by our experience. Or at least it is colored by experience. Let me show this by an example:

A group of people are standing at the bus stop as someone comes out of the bus. The first observer believes it is a woman who approaches, and he is right. The second sees a white person, and he is also right. The third sees an adult, and is also right. The fourth sees fashionable clothes, and this is also true. But the fifth man sees all of this and yet none of it; he sees his wife.

We do not create our world so much moment by moment; instead it is built by the sum of our experience. We can choose to some extent which of our experiences we want to focus on. It gets easier with practice. And we can choose some of the experiences we want to have. We cannot choose all of them, but we can choose some. And from those, new opportunities may unfold. We may not create our world, but we can start to shape our life – step by step.