Break of Reality

It is interesting to ponder all of the stimulus we receive in today’s world, from social norms we pick up, or don’t, as children, to the idea of wealth that we are sold in early adulthood.

It seems to me that all these messages out there contradict one another and there doesn’t seem to be any real cohesiveness amongst them, which leads me to wonder what the truth is. What is real? What is reality?

It is counter-productive to think of life in either an ‘is’ or ‘is not’ manner but I think that is the only commonality of all the messages and pressures and external ideals share: the kind of life we show you is the kind of life you should want and strive for. Is this true? Is there only one ‘kind’ of life that is the best? Only one kind of life that gives the most happiness?

I think that there are two realities. The first reality is the one that society tries to show us and the one that society wants us to live in and support. The second reality is the one that exists underneath, unseen and unspoken. The second reality is the harsher one, the uglier one. The one society doesn’t want to admit to or encourage anyone to live in because happiness and satisfaction and achievement and everything positive depends on the human element rather than the material. We create our own happiness instead of buying it from somewhere else.

It is this break of reality that I think I struggle with the most. It is a confusing distortion which once seen cannot be unseen.

What’s striking is that I am not even sure if this is a problem, per se, but more of a moral conundrum regarding choice and free will. It seems that the resolution is to make a choice to embrace one reality over the other, but how does one decide what is real?