What is "reality"?

Immanuel Kant was right; we cannot know the thing in it self, or the noumenon, as he called it.

That means, we cannot know nature with our senses and our knowledge.



So let's ponder about it; are there things that we cannot understand and cannot see around us.

Yes, there may be....

A bat or a bird, a dog or an insect may view the world in another way and with other senses.
Some animals don't see colors and we cannot see infrared colors.

There may be threads there are spun around us that we cannot see.

There may be events out there that just waits for us.

But we cannot know....

That is maybe the best start for many questions; I don't know.

Maybe you have heard the parable of the Chinese farmer:

Once there was a Chinese farmer who worked his poor farm together with his son and their horse. When the horse ran off one day, neighbors came to say, “How unfortunate for you!” The farmer replied, “Maybe yes, maybe no.”
When the horse returned, followed by a herd of wild horses, the neighbors gathered around and exclaimed, “What good luck for you!” The farmer stayed calm and replied, “Maybe yes, maybe no.”
While trying to tame one of wild horses, the farmer’s son fell, and broke his leg. He had to rest up and couldn’t help with the farm chores. “How sad for you,” the neighbors cried. “Maybe yes, maybe no,” said the farmer.
Shortly thereafter, a neighboring army threatened the farmer’s village. All the young men in the village were drafted to fight the invaders. Many died. But the farmer’s son had been left out of the fighting because of his broken leg. People said to the farmer, “What a good thing your son couldn’t fight!” “Maybe yes, maybe no,” was all the farmer said.
But if we try to live an answer we will after a while probably know.

One question can be; is there a moral guide in me?

Don't be to quick to answer. It may bee better to look at your own actions.

Especially when no one sees  what you are doing.

But it also may be possible to repair a wrongdoing by doing good to someone else.

Thich Nhat Hanh once advised a former US soldier i Vietnam who had killed children there to take care of other children, maybe in his homeland, maybe in a poor country.

But as we have no essence it can be hard to have a moral compass. We may have to change it because of circumstances.
Its probably wrong to say that it is our compass, as it is made of our heritage and our upbringing.
But as it is not really fixed, it may be enlarged, even by suffering.

Maybe yes - maybe no....






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