Some Basic Components of Reality to Begin Doubting Right Now

Just in case you were getting too attached to it all…

If you’ve been kind of losing your mind the past few weeks the way I have, then you know how much of a rollercoaster life can become. Being open-minded and ready to heal deeply often comes hand-in-hand with mental turbulence. It’s not reality that needs to change, it’s you. Or is it?

You’ll appreciate this guided journey through all the things you think are real but you could probably let go of right now. Sometimes, it’s truly liberating to doubt the foundations of reality.

Just think: if you can destroy your assumptions about everything and start fresh, you could build a reality that doesn’t get you down. Your reality should be light and free, not restrictive and heavy.

Reality doesn’t have to be the way you think. It’s up to you.

Here are some things you could and should question. Just allow your attachments to them fade away.

Time

Your perception of the passage of time is an illusion. Time isn’t real!

Einstein told us time is relative, and when you wrap your mind around that, it makes you start to doubt everything you know about time. For all you know, your experience of time is totally different than it is for everyone else. Sometimes time might stop when you’re not looking. It’s common to feel like time doesn’t pass at the same “rate” all the time. When you’re having fun it flies, and when you’re waiting for something, it drags by. So, why are you attached to it being a thing?

Maybe time doesn’t exist and all that there ever was, despite your perception, is now. The present moment. Let that sink in for a second.

Memories

If nothing but the present moment is real, then you must ask the next logical question: are your memories real?

You will never know. It’s not something anyone can prove. Memories help you navigate the present moment, but they can be faulty. They can fade. They aren’t reliable. They might not be real.

Remember that part of Blade Runner where Rachel realizes that her memories were planted in her and they were never hers? Well, just imagine yourself in that position. For all you know, that is your truth.

Your memories make up who you are right now. If you distance yourself from them and you don’t let them define you, then you’re free.

Personal Identity

Do you even know who you are? Or what you are?

Almost your whole idea of your identity comes from your conditioning and your senses, which are faulty. (Not to mention your memory, which we covered above.) If you are doubting the certainty of your memories, then you will probably need to totally re-assess your behavior that’s based on past experiences.

If your behavior and preferences are all memory-based, then you have a problem — you don’t really know who you are. Think about what it means to be you right now without any preconceived notions about the life you’ve been living.

What is a human? Are you a human experiencing life with spiritual aspects or a spirit experiencing life with human aspects? And if you only looked at what you know is real right now, ignoring everything else, then would you recognize yourself?

You really need to figure out your identity before you make big life decisions.

Material Objects

What is the nature of a table? A candy cane? Your pinky toe? All things can be divided into atomic parts and further, revealing that we just perceive them in a certain form — but at other levels, they are just jumbles of smaller parts. You wouldn’t recognize a table if you shrunk down to the quantum level like Ant-Man.

And if we didn’t slap labels and words onto everything, would we even know that they exist?

If objects are nothing but products of our perception, then it begs the question: why are we attached to them? A hundred-dollar bill is nothing. Your body is nothing. You made it what it is with your attachment to it. Your perception created a story about it and your attachment to that story created the object in your reality.

So, material objects are only as real as you allow them to be through your perceptual stories.

Money is abundant or scarce because of your beliefs. The mess in your kitchen is a mess because you said it was. The monsters in your closet enjoy their whole existence because you accepted stories about them.

Your Sanity

You think you know what’s real, but reality is fluid. You might end up seeing angels in the sky tomorrow and start to doubt whether you ever knew what was real or whether your mind is playing tricks on you.

Sanity is something we all take for granted. Sometimes it feels good to lose it for a minute.

When you start doubting your reality, sanity will come and go. And it’s a pretty great adventure. If you haven’t doubted your sanity, then you’re too attached to the physical world around you and all the trappings that come with it, like time and memories.

Let yourself go into the unknown. Embrace the loss of certainty. Float away into the abyss of reality’s deconstruction.

Hi, I’m Emily. I write about consciousness, philosophy, and deep considerations of existence. I also teach meditation, Ayurveda, and I am a spiritual coach. For more about me, have a look at my website.

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The divine in me recognizes the divine in you.