Forums IMPORTANT: PLEASE READ Beyond Human Mindreality.com

When people believed the world was flat, was it really flat?

Did their beliefs make it flat?

How could anyone discover that it was spherical when it was really flat because of everyone's beliefs? How could anyone discover that what they've believed to be true is in fact false if reality conformed to beliefs?

The more I learn about physics the more I realize how provincial our thinking is. How local. Our best minds go beyond the limits of our day-to-day thinking and discover amazing things. Not by simplistic wishful thinking or "believing" but by working things out and facing the facts regardless of what you used to believe or want to believe.

One thing I am fairly certain about is that reality does not conform to your wishes and beliefs. Most of human progress has been a movement away from anthropocentric and narcissistic thinking and toward something more. The earth used to be the center of the universe. Then our notions expanded beyond that. Then the sun was the center. Then we realized that it wasn't. See a pattern here? Contrary to these notions about the mind creating everything, it's the other way around. Everything creates the mind. The universe isn't all about us and our minds. We exist in relation to many, many other things. We aren't the center. In fact, we're just the teeniest part.

This new age thinking is a movement backward, not a movement forward. It's immature.

The universe is not about us. We're a very tiny part of it. What quantum physics and relativity tells us, if anything, is that universe does *not* conform to our beliefs, that the reality of it is very, very different than most people believe. That's why quantum physics is so extraordinary and fascinating. That's why it took Einstein's unconventional and genius-level thinking to come up with the theory of relativity.

Reality is not just what you believe it to be. It is not the product of your mind. What you believe will influence the choices you make and the way you think. But it does not change the entire universe. A new way of thinking can change your world subjectively and can lead to objective changes, but that's not magic, although it can be magical in a way. I mean, when you discover doors suddenly open for you because you've discovered something new, or that you were wrong about sucking at something or believing something was impossible, it's great. It's magical. But reality hasn't changed because of your belief. Rather, your beliefs have changed to become more in accord with reality.

I think these people have it backwards and all wrong.

I think it's sad that people have to believe these fantasies in order to feel they have a chance at happiness. Reality doesn't have to conform to your beliefs in order for you pursue your dreams in a meaningful way. In fact, the worth of pursuing your dreams comes from the fact that reality and your dreams are different things. Otherwise, life would be unbearably boring.