“Reality is for those who lack imagination” – Unknown

It is not unusual for neophytes in the world of self-improvement to get a little uncomfortable when talks about the vagueness of reality comes up. As far as they are concerned, reality is what it is, period. Any attempt to evaluate that reality from a different perspective is seen as shady in the best possible scenario and downright deceptive in the worst cases.

The truth is that nothing is either black or white. There are only different shades of grey. Reality does exist but our perception of it is never completely accurate. All that we have is our interpretation of reality. An interpretation that is highly colored by our state of mind, our a priori and our bank of references.

We were given free will at birth and along with that freedom came the right to evaluate reality under different lights and from different perspectives. That right does no imply deception and has nothing to do with being delusional. It is simply the recognition that reality has many facets from which it can be observed, interpreted and accepted.

Albert Einstein said, “Man tries to make for himself in the fashion that suits him best a simplified and intelligible picture of the world.” which is another way of saying that we are the ones who ultimately get to define our world and our reality.

That is an awesome tool that gives us incredible power. We get to choose what things and events mean for us and we get to decide what we will do about it. That, above anything else, is what true freedom is all about. That is where the true sanctity of man can be found.

Viktor Frankl, a Holocaust survivor and author of the famous book, Man’s Search for Meaning, has given us tales of people who were able to remain quite serene and hopeful even in the atrocious conditions that they had to endure in the concentration camps.

Nelson Mandela served 27 years in prison. Political prisoners were kept separate from ordinary criminals and received fewer privileges. Mandela describes how, as a D-group prisoner (the lowest classification) he was allowed one visitor and one letter every six months. During all that time, he never gave in to frustration or despair. His reputation grew and he became widely known as the most significant black leader in South Africa.

Proofs positive that outside circumstances can have little or no influence on a person’s state of mind so long as the person chooses to decide what his reality is and what it means as far as he is concerned.

We live mostly in a world of our own making. Outside circumstances are seen either in a positive or negative light. By themselves, those outside circumstances have no inherent meaning. As Shakespeare so aptly said, “There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so” We are the ones who decide, we have the faculty and the capacity to chose.

Controlling our perception of reality has nothing to do with self-deception unless we voluntary accept to lie to ourselves. And, so long as we are aware that reality has many faces, it does not affect are capacity to analyze it rationally.

We can only grasp a tiny part of a gigantic reality and even that tiny part has many facets. The overall picture completely escapes us and leaves us with the dilemma of creating our own reality. Given that choice and those limitations, what would the wisest choice be? Create a reality that is pleasant and comfortable or one that would bring us on the brinks of despair?

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