I have a little notes application on my phone that I use to record random thoughts or ideas for stories that I have. It hangs out on the top right corner of the screen and only needs to be pulled out for me to see all my other notes or record a new one.
One of the notes was this: “A realistic view is also a fantasy (on reality)”.
I think I know why I was thinking about this: I had a boss who would say often that he didn’t know if he was smart, he just believed that he was a person who often thought realistically. That was fair for him to say, but I’ll let you know that not a working day went by without him mentioning bigfoot sightings, little gray men, the corona visor, endless streams of conspiracies and first-hand accounts.
He was into things that were not commonly thought to be realistic, I suppose is what I’m getting at. Though, whether or not these things are realistic is not for me to say. There’s a severe lack of research and quite a lot of suspicion revolving around those conspiracies, so any accounts in relation are bound to be discouraged by all sides of the argument. But still, there’s that stinky human bias that gets in the way of investigation in these matters, a bias that stays mounted on disbelief and refuses to give in to irrationality, perhaps only accelerated by the presentation of the materials, and not the materials themselves.
Did that make sense? I’m going to be rereading this once after I finish this chapter, and I know that I won’t understand what I just said.
Anyways, “a realistic view is also a fantasy”. For what is a realistic view, and what is a fantasy? To my understanding, a fantasy is something that is completely detached from reality, pure imagination and perhaps a tinge of speculation. How could it relate to a realistic view?
Well, unless we discover that the reality we indulge in is in fact false and recreated by our brains for the sake of our own survival, fantasy must have a relation to reality in that it is still, at its foundation, based on it. A classic western unicorn, for example, has the body of a horse and a horn on its head. Are there not creatures in reality that share this trait? Rhinoceros, horses, narwhals, deer, there are many things in reality that may have inspired this mythical beast, if they had never existed to begin with. Now, what of the traits of purity, of magic blood, of rainbows and such? Those concepts might have more religious or societal foundations where the ideal of man is often discussed and pressurized into form, for example, virginity, panacea, and godly acts of power, all of which are positive and holy and conveniently attributed to this mythical creature.
Things canonized into religion or society must first be established with time and community, for even if one proclaims the truth, it is not the truth until everyone believes it. At least, within the formation of religion or society. Quiet truth does not need belief to exist, but it is difficult to convey this truth through communication alone, I do think.
So what I’ve established so far is that fantasy is based on reality, or relative settings. Organic or independent thoughts are rare if even possible, for thought must be based within the realm of comprehension in order to have it. In this way, fantasy exists.
Then, how to say the inverse? That a realistic view is also based on fantasy?
I think what I was getting at was similar to the idea that fantasy must be based on reality; therefore, perception of reality must also use some fantasy, or imagination.
…Saying it like this makes me seriously doubt my thoughts.
But then, what do I mean by perception of reality, and not simply using the word reality? I have an aversion to using the word reality because I am not quite sure what reality is. I think that the common understanding of reality is more closer to relativity, not so much reality, but I’ll have to explain that impossible thought another day.
A realistic view should be a mindset that pertains to history based off of personal experience, thus, a form of reality that is tailored to oneself. It is not recorded by word or tedious thought, just the accumulation of experience that one has as they live their life.
Yes, a mindset. If everything one perceived was in fact true and not some result of manipulation by another party, there is still something that blurs reality which is the bias of the all important self. This should generate a trusted set of attitude that one uses to face their life, which may or may not be helpful in the way they believe it is, but still has shown good effect in the past and so then persists to this day. Herein lies the fantasy, that one’s mindset is true and absolute.
Then, to perceive a realistic view in order to calculate outcomes and plan one’s decisions, one relies on their developed attitude to do so. One relies on the fantasy, whether it be true or coincidental in effectiveness, in order to perceive reality.
This doesn’t negate the realistic view, this is just to comprehend what a realistic view might also mean. That one’s experiences and acceptance of certain accounts still dictate what one’s reality is, while, in fact, there is a whole other world out there that would say on the contrary quite easily. Does this contradiction negate one’s realistic view? No. It is just that neither view is wide enough nor required to be wide enough to truly comprehend the full reality of our world.
