States of Reality

There's a lot of debate (if you're one to get into these sorts of conversations) about what is real and what isn't. Reality is a very hard thing to define because if you think about it, it's just like Morpheus says "What is 'real', how do you define 'real'? If you're talking about what you can feel, what you can smell, what you can taste and see then 'real' is simply electrical signals interpreted by your brain." I personally believe that the only true indisputable definition for 'real' is whatever you're experiencing at any given moment at any given time. This moment in time is the only true reality because the moment that just passed is a memory and our brains are very good at fabricating false memories so there goes their credibility. However we can't very well live our lives one moment at a time because, despite the fact that it would be super fun and we'd all be crazy adrenaline junkies with no regard for the future, it would be detrimental to the survival of our species if we didn't plan ahead and use past experiences for guidance.

When asked most people would describe something as being real the same way Neo seemed to understand the concept. If you can sense it, it must be real. They are, of course, referring to physical reality but what about the things you taste, touch, see, smell and hear in your dreams or in your fantasies (or for the hippies out there, when you meditate). When you dream you are completely immersed in another world and you can sense everything as fully and realistically as you can in your waking life. Yet most people disregard that as a fabrication or a trick of the mind. (which as I mentioned not too long ago your brain totally does with your precious memories anyway) Then we come back to the point that nothing is really real to you until you experience it. For example we're told that we live on a planet that's floating in space but for all we know the sky is a giant glass globe that changes color like those glasses which get darker in sunlight and clear in dimly lit areas. Unless you go out into space yourself and watch as the rocket pierces through our atmosphere and pops out into the infinite vastness of outer space you're really just taking other people's word for it and I don't know if you're aware but people have been know to lie.

So these are some of the logistical problems you run into when trying to define reality. My personal belief is there there is nothing that isn't real. From images floating around in your mind to the keys on your keyboard and your plans for the future. All things are essentially made up of the same energy so I propose dealing with reality the same way we deal with matter. We have states of matter; solid, liquid, gas and plasma. Well I think we can look at reality in the same way and categorize it in states. Here is how I've sorted it.

Solid Reality
   These are tangible things that leave evidence of their existence. Basically anything occupying the physical plane. Anything that you can touch, taste or see.

Liquid Reality
   Here you find ethereal things that have a strong connection to physical reality. Things likes memories or future plans. Thins that are either going to become solid reality or came from solid reality.

Gaseous Reality
  This is the super ethereal. Your dreams or fantasies. This reality doesn't really leave a mark or affect solid reality directly however if for example you lived a hundred years ago and you fantasized about flying to the moon, that gaseous fantasy became liquid and a trip was planned and eventually executed bringing it into a solid state.

Plasma Reality
   As with states of matter, plasma is the one that doesn't fit nicely with the others. This is the reality where things like out of body experiences, hallucinations, control or your internal energy through martial arts and meditation. It's sort of lives side by side with Solid Reality but it's not quite the same. The quantum world for example lives in Plasma Reality because it's sort of here but doesn't follow the same rules as physical objects.


Using this model we can clearly express and deal with different forms of reality as opposed to disregarding things as just our imagination and letting it affect our lives. For example people with hypnagogic hallucinations (that's where you wake up but still see, hear and feel things from yours dreams. It feels just like anything else and you're up and alert but if someone were in the room with you they wouldn't see anything) can actually deal with it with a different perspective other than "I gotta stop seeing all this stuff that isn't real". My rationale is if you're seeing it, it's real because you're sensing it and therefore it is part of your world and your reality.

Another area where this model comes in handy is subjective and objective reality. Solid Reality is objective. We are all affected by it and can't really just mind-over-matter it away but as you get to the less stable realities they become more and subjective and manipulatable.

So here is a scenario:

Say you dream of living in a city in the clouds.[Gaseous Reality-you can envision yourself there but you can change that vision with ease and it has no effect on the world around you] Then you win the lottery in every country simultaneously and your partners billionaire grandparent dies leaving you with all the cash so you decide "You know what? I'm gonna build a city in the clouds" so you start planning and designing it [Liquid Reality-the vision is now on its way to being realized and experienced by everyone else] Finally you build it and everyone is amazed that you achieved such an extraordinary architectural feat and everyone wants to move there and you become even richer and use all your money to end poverty around the world [Solid Reality-there are clear changes happening in the physical plane that can't be denied by anyone] Finally you notice all these monk moving to your city and they claim it's because the energy there is purer or cleaner or something along those lines [Plasma Reality-to them it's a tangible difference, to you it's gobbledy gook]

This whole concept is still in its infancy so I'm open to suggestions from fresh eyes but keep in mind this isn't an invitation to debate what is real and what isn't it's an invitation to suggest ideas and input for this whole 'everything is real' model. Suggestions must build on this model. If you do want to debate reality we can do that too just somewhere else.