There’s a problem with Reality, it doesn’t exist. It’s a bit like the Truth, it depends who you are talking to. If you want to know the Truth there’s always an expert ready to tell you what it is. Credible experts will have a body of material to back up their claims. They’ll be able to quote from experience, research, hard data or statistics, for example.

I know, because I myself am an authority on this, I do it all the time.

But back to Reality. I am not talking about quantum physics, nor the esoteric goings-on of the paranormal. I am not contradicting the power of our senses; trees really are green and the sea in winter is most definitely cold (where I live anyway). Though the bit about colour is open to question; do colours exist at all, since they are just our translation of sensory information? What exists is light, as Dr Beau Lotto explains: “Light is real. You can measure it, hold it and count it (well … sort-of). But colour is not light. Colour is wholly manufactured by your brain.”

He then goes on to explain in colourful detail how we only think that we can be sure that maybe we know what we are seeing… what is real. It’s all about context, which is what I was going to say anyway, but he says it better. He even demonstrates it.

I was thinking about Reality, the way you do, which led to more thinking, some reading, browsing the web… and discovery! That’s when I found the quote above, his TED talk, and a whole lot more besides (I post the video in a few days). I also found that it’s not just me who thinks that Reality is a bit of a myth. Nice feeling, I’m not alone.

This has been the realm of philosophers for ever, and more recently scientists have got involved. That’s a lot of brain power, and still no reliable agreement can be reached. For me, the best working theory came from Einstein: “Reality is just an illusion, albeit a very persistent one.”