Comments on: Are Things Experienced By The Senses Real?

By: The Study of Mystical Experience and Mystical Awareness « Café Philos: an internet café

Sat, 11 Apr 2009 03:06:52 +0000

[...] Are Things Experienced by the Senses Real? [...]

By: msbrown224

msbrown224 — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 00:14:02 +0000

I think of this often, and one of the things that always hits me is that the process of sensory data being collected and interpreted into a model in the brain takes a little time.

So the thing sensed has already changed and moved on–so to speak.

But I think our usage of the word “real” implies the sensed. Can something exist beyond our senses? Sure. But it’s not real to us until it is sensed.

By: Paul

Paul — Sun, 20 Apr 2008 09:54:34 +0000

That’s an excellent point, Faisal. The mere feeling something is real is no sure evidence that it reproduces anything real beyond itself. Even when I’m awake, the feeling I have that I am seeing something real when I see colors is no sure evidence those colors reproduce anything real beyond themselves.

By: Faisal

Faisal — Sun, 20 Apr 2008 07:36:45 +0000

An example of how our senses might trick us is when we dream. When you are dreaming about some nonsense stuff, you feel as it’s REAL, and you see, hear, smell, everything overthere, but once you wake up you notice how ridiculous it would be if that dream was real, but you ALREADY felt it was real when you were dreaming.

By: Paul

Paul — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 09:44:16 +0000

“The interesting offshoot of this is that you could then consider art a celebration of our nervous system rather than the world.”

I think that’s an astute observation, AOS. I suppose that to some extent, the recognition that our senses do not reproduce the world is all the more reason for art to expand beyond the purely representational and literal. I’m going to need to think more about your point. Thank you for such an exciting idea!

By: aos

aos — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 22:08:33 +0000

That sounds right to me and yet it bothers me. I find the world such a wonder that to think of the finest moments being more a product of sodium and chlorine changing densities in channels in my body than some “real” externality is something I prefer to ignore.

The interesting offshoot of this is that you could then consider art a celebration of our nervous system rather than the world.