Your own private universe

[nowhere]

Can you prove the universe exists outside your perceptions of it?

Everything you experience of the universe comes through your perceptions or takes place in your imagination. Everything. All that you perceive to be scientific or logical or objective still comes through your senses and thoughts — people, places, events, dreams, … everything.

Here are some questions to consider:

How do you know you aren’t inside a simulation where everything you perceive is being fed to you, including the memories you claim as your own?

How can you be certain you even existed a year ago or a minute ago? If you came into being just now with all your memories, how would you know?

How do you know any of the other people you encounter are actually conscious themselves and aren’t just projections, like NPCs in a role-playing game? Have you ever experienced anyone else’s consciousness but your own?

How can there be any validity to claims of the existence of an objective universe outside yourself when you have no way of escaping your own limited viewpoint?

How can you prove the existence of anything outside your simulation without reference to the simulation itself?

When you aren’t perceiving or thinking about something, does it still exist? Can you even prove that a rock still exists when you aren’t actively perceiving it? Do the people in your life continue to exist when you aren’t with them? Or is the simulation more efficient than that, only generating what you’re experiencing right this instant?

When you have a dream, are the characters in your dream conscious, or are they projections of your own mind?

If you dream you’re in a room, does anything outside that room exist? Does your dream world bother to simulate what you cannot perceive?

Why do you think your waking world is any different than your dream world? Why do you think one occurs in your mind and the other outside it? Is it possible that both are occurring only within your mind?

Are you perhaps the only conscious being that exists in your universe? Is this a more or less valid assumption than to conclude that all the other characters you encounter are just as conscious as you are? Do you make this assumption when you dream?

You’ve been taught that you are a thinking object walking around in a material world. But is it possible that the material world is only a simulations that exists within your mind?

What if the entire universe only consists of what you perceive right now in this moment? What if outside of what you perceive lies nothing at all?

Have you ever seen glitches in your simulation?

Have you ever tried consciously directing your thoughts to make changes in the simulation (i.e. acting upon the simulation itself instead of within it)? Are you aware of what happens when you do this?

When your thoughts become incongruent with the simulation, which one of you adapts to the other?

When you focus on something intensely, does its presence in your universe increase?

Do you simulate a past and future for yourself to create the illusion of time? Do you project your past onto your future? Are you aware that you don’t have to do that?

Does your simulation teach you what to think about, or do you teach it what to simulate?

Why do you become tired the longer the simulation runs continuously? Why do you need to sleep? What happens to your simulation when you do?

What does your belief in objective reality do to your simulation? What would happen to your simulation if you believed it was totally subjective?

Are you free to think whatever you want?

When was the last time you created a thought that was not a reaction to some part of the simulation?

How often do you turn off the simulation? How does it feel when you do this? Do you even know how to turn it off?

Thought for food….

http://www.stevepavlina.com/blog/2005/04/your-own-private-universe/

[sevenworlds]

Can you prove the universe exists outside your perceptions of it?

It can never be proven.

How do you know you aren’t inside a simulation where everything you perceive is being fed to you, including the memories you claim as your own?

This reminds me of when I was about 8. I used to have this strong feeling that I was inside a dream. I said to my grandad, "How do we know we are real? What if we are all just part of a dinosaurs dream?"

We can never know we aren't inside a simulation but are we prepared to accept that and stop dead there?

How can you be certain you even existed a year ago or a minute ago? If you came into being just now with all your memories, how would you know?

You can't. The only thing that tells you otherwise are memories. Whatever is in front of you now is all that exists. Even that doesn't exist.

How can there be any validity to claims of the existence of an objective universe outside yourself when you have no way of escaping your own limited viewpoint?

This is the absurdity of what the scientists are doing. They keep trying to set up ways of monitoring things objectively but they miss out the act of observing itself. The observing itself is always subjective no matter how neutral they try and make the conditions.

When you aren’t perceiving or thinking about something, does it still exist? Can you even prove that a rock still exists when you aren’t actively perceiving it? Do the people in your life continue to exist when you aren’t with them? Or is the simulation more efficient than that, only generating what you’re experiencing right this instant?

We never see things as they are, especially people. If I'm in a room with a friend and they walk out of the room, they no longer exist for me. I may still hear noises or indications that someone is in another room, but that in itself is not proof of their existence. If I deal with what is actually happening, I might hear a door close or a bag rustle. As they are, these are only sounds. I have to interpret using memory to come to the conclusion that it is my friend making the noises. Even the noises themselves are interpreted. Why do I need to tell myself "that is the door closing"?

That is a very specific example but we all do the same in general life without realising. When I look at my dad, if I recognise him as "dad", that brings into play all the past ideas I have about "dad" and I adjust my behaviour accordingly. When I look at my girlfriend, if I recognise her as "girlfriend", there are all these presumptions about what that means. So I adjust my behaviour again. I can say certain things to my "girlfriend" I wouldn't say to my "dad", I can tell my "friend" this but not that, I must respect my "boss" but I can get away with talking down to the "cleaner". How can we ever be ourselves when we are always adjusting our behaviour according to these labels, which have no reality other than as memories of a past that never happened in the first place.

Why do you think your waking world is any different than your dream world? Why do you think one occurs in your mind and the other outside it? Is it possible that both are occurring only within your mind?

The waking world is no different to the dream world. The only difference is there seems to be agreement from others that the waking world is real and that appears to make it harder to 'wake up from'. If you consider that those others telling you this is real are also part of the dream then where does that leave you?

Do you simulate a past and future for yourself to create the illusion of time? Do you project your past onto your future? Are you aware that you don’t have to do that?

You are Thought and Thought is Time. As soon as you use thought you bring time into the picture. You don't want this timeline to be broken because that will be the end of you. So cause and effect become crucial, you have to keep reminding yourself of you, what you have done that has led you to this point, and what you will do that will lead you to a future point.

The future is the past. There is nothing you can say about the future that isn't from the past.

Why do you become tired the longer the simulation runs continuously? Why do you need to sleep? What happens to your simulation when you do?

You become tired because it requires an enormous amount of energy to keep the timeline of yourself going. Everyday you are reminding yourself in all sorts of ways that are not necessary. Life doesn't need reminding to live.

When you are in deep sleep (not dreaming), you are not there. You can't say anything about that. That is the only time you are at complete rest and that is why sleep is so vital.

What does your belief in objective reality do to your simulation? What would happen to your simulation if you believed it was totally subjective?

This is where the writer falls back into the trap. He's raised some good questions but believing your reality is subjective is no different to believing it is objective. A belief might influence things for a short while but belief is thought and that brings the timeline and all the effort involved back into play because you need to keep reminding yourself of your belief.

What happens if you throw both out? There is no objectivity and no subjectivity to any of this. What are you left with then?

[lala_says_so]

Isn't that called Solipsism?

Anyway, as interesting as the theory is; thinking like that will either land you in jail, or on strong anti-psychotics (or possibly both).

[revolutionary_jam]

Can you prove the universe exists outside your perceptions of it?Very Cartesian, but the burden of proof lies on you to provide some evidence that it doesn't exist :D

[branjo]

The Matrix does it again, thanks Keeanu :rolleyes:

:p

[zero1]

Can you prove the universe exists outside your perceptions of it?

No.

Everything you experience of the universe comes through your perceptions or takes place in your imagination. Everything. All that you perceive to be scientific or logical or objective still comes through your senses and thoughts — people, places, events, dreams, … everything.

Yes.

How do you know you aren’t inside a simulation where everything you perceive is being fed to you, including the memories you claim as your own?

I don't know that I'm not inside such a simulation. I could believe that I am inside such a simulation, though.

How can you be certain you even existed a year ago or a minute ago? If you came into being just now with all your memories, how would you know?

I cannot be certain that I only came into existence a minute ago. If I did come into existence just now with all my memories, I could not know if my memory had no record of coming into existence spontaneously in such a way.

How do you know any of the other people you encounter are actually conscious themselves and aren’t just projections, like NPCs in a role-playing game? Have you ever experienced anyone else’s consciousness but your own?

I don't know that other people are real, but that could extend to include myself (less solipsistically). I think consciousness is everywhere, I have experienced that, but other people's lives? I have not experienced that.

How can there be any validity to claims of the existence of an objective universe outside yourself when you have no way of escaping your own limited viewpoint?

There cannot be validity to such claims given this limitation.

How can you prove the existence of anything outside your simulation without reference to the simulation itself?

It cannot be done. There is probably a mind-trick in there though...

When you aren’t perceiving or thinking about something, does it still exist? Can you even prove that a rock still exists when you aren’t actively perceiving it? Do the people in your life continue to exist when you aren’t with them? Or is the simulation more efficient than that, only generating what you’re experiencing right this instant?

Things may exist when I am not perceiving them or thinking about them, but I can only speculate. I cannot demonstrate that a rock exists when I'm not actively perceiving one. I believe people in my life continue to exist when I am not with them, but I could be wrong; again, it would absurd to make a positive claim that they do, because it would only be speculation. I do not believe the simulation would be efficient at all if it didn't generate what I am experiencing right now this instant...

When you have a dream, are the characters in your dream conscious, or are they projections of your own mind?

They appear to be conscious, autonomous even, until I wake; then they are either forgotten or dimly recalled, and when dimly recalled, I am impressed that they were not conscious or autonomous; the opposite of how I perceived them in the dream.

If you dream you’re in a room, does anything outside that room exist? Does your dream world bother to simulate what you cannot perceive?

If I dream I am in a room, I am not aware of anything outside the room, and if the dream world simulates something which I cannot percieve, I will not know that thing. It will not exist for me.

Why do you think your waking world is any different than your dream world? Why do you think one occurs in your mind and the other outside it? Is it possible that both are occurring only within your mind?


I consider it unlikely my waking world is any different from my dream world.

I do not think one occurs "in my mind" and the other "outside it", they both exist because of Mind, therefore my reality must lack any real distinction between "inner" and "outer" worlds.

Are you perhaps the only conscious being that exists in your universe? Is this a more or less valid assumption than to conclude that all the other characters you encounter are just as conscious as you are? Do you make this assumption when you dream?

I am probably not the only conscious being that exists in my universe. It is a valid assumption, I believe, that the other characters I encounter have some degree of consiousness, if not being as conscious as I. It is also a valid assumption that we might actually share the same consciousness, at some higher level.

You’ve been taught that you are a thinking object walking around in a material world. But is it possible that the material world is only a simulation that exists within your mind?

Yes.

What if the entire universe only consists of what you perceive right now in this moment? What if outside of what you perceive lies nothing at all?

By default, I would suppose that the entire universe does only consist of what I perceive from moment to moment. If nothing exists outside of what I perceive, then there is nothing at all but whatever I am generating, or what the simulation is generating through me.

Part II to follow...

[zero1]

Have you ever seen glitches in your simulation?

Anomalies, yes. Glitches? The anomalies may be glitches, I don't know.

Have you ever tried consciously directing your thoughts to make changes in the simulation (i.e. acting upon the simulation itself instead of within it)? Are you aware of what happens when you do this?

Yes. I am aware of what happens when I do this.

When your thoughts become incongruent with the simulation, which one of you adapts to the other?

I cannot say. If I say I adapt to the simulation, then it becomes less "real" - if I say it adapts to my thoughts, it seems to become more "real" when it really is neither real nor unreal in the imagined way.

When you focus on something intensely, does its presence in your universe increase?

Yes.

Do you simulate a past and future for yourself to create the illusion of time? Do you project your past onto your future? Are you aware that you don’t have to do that?

The illusion of time may be generated by simulating a past and future, but I am not sure that I am doing that independent of any causal factors. I guess I do project my past onto my future, but I am aware that I don't have to do that.

Does your simulation teach you what to think about, or do you teach it what to simulate?

I don't know who is inputting who. That's probably the whole idea of the simulation; uncertainty.

Why do you become tired the longer the simulation runs continuously? Why do you need to sleep? What happens to your simulation when you do?

I don't know why I become tired when the simulation runs continuously. Is it work? That is, "work" as in energy? I don't know why I need to sleep, I wish it wasn't mandatory. I would imagine/suppose that the simulation continues on when I sleep, but that is just speculating again.

What does your belief in objective reality do to your simulation? What would happen to your simulation if you believed it was totally subjective?

I don't harbour too many beliefs that could be described or categorized as "objective reality" beliefs, so I don't know what it does to the simulation; though I perceive the reinforcement of a common "reality" in other people who claim there is such a thing as "Objective reality".

If I believed the simulation was totally subjective, I would perceive that I was all-powerful as both the beginning and end of it; I would then END the simulation once and for all just to see what there is beyond it.

Are you free to think whatever you want?

I believe I am, but that could be a false belief. All of my thoughts and actions could be deterministically generated by the simulation itself, in which case my thoughts are not my own and I probably do not exist at all.

When was the last time you created a thought that was not a reaction to some part of the simulation?

I cannot distinguish what thoughts are a reaction to some part of the simulation, and which thoughts are not a reaction to some part of the simulation.

How often do you turn off the simulation? How does it feel when you do this? Do you even know how to turn it off?

I do not turn it off, I do not know how to turn it off. No-one does.

[forza nascosta]

What a lot of questions in the original post!

There is some interesting reasoning in the replies. This is not an area I have looked much into but it's given me plenty to think about :)

[infinite tea]

I can catagorically state - this is a dream only you exist,you are everything and every thing is an aspect of yourself. Jesus and Buddha are just highly evolved aspects of yourself and they were right - ALL IS ONE - YOU ARE IT :-)

[branjo]

I can catagorically state - this is a dream only you exist,you are everything and every thing is an aspect of yourself. Jesus and Buddha are just highly evolved aspects of yourself and they were right - ALL IS ONE - YOU ARE IT :-)

He he! quite true indeed. :)

[mane]

aye, such is that one creates reality. Life is

for my purposes, life is art...amongst everything and nothing.

[smariot]

When I was little, I decided that if I was god, I would make all the sinners into gods.

Some punishment, eh?

They would each be responsible for their own private universe. If they think that I am wrong or unfair, and and that they could run the universe better than I, then so be it. They would be free to prove it. If and when their universes went to pieces, and they understood why things had to be the way they were, they would be free to return to me.

I thought that was a much better solution than 'eternal hellfire'.

[socrates]

ALL IS ONE - YOU ARE IT :-)

But I don't want to be IT!

[branjo]

Too bad , Tag your it .....woo hoo:p

[themime]

Too bad , Tag your it .....woo hoo:p

Doesn't count, being God he was standing on high.

Everyone knows there's no tuggy on high.

[nowhere]

bump... ! :)

http://www.booooooom.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/anatoly_zenkov_02.jpg

[arty2000]

I can catagorically state - this is a dream only you exist,you are everything and every thing is an aspect of yourself. Jesus and Buddha are just highly evolved aspects of yourself and they were right - ALL IS ONE - YOU ARE IT :-)

I second that motion:D

[les_paul_robot]

...it feels like nothing matters in our private universe
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P0yfkYDAcuk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P0yfkYDAcuk

[om_tat_sat]

Very Cartesian, but the burden of proof lies on you to provide some evidence that it doesn't exist :DYou can't prove a negative.

[revolutionary_jam]

You can't prove a negative.

looks like I win then :D

[nowhere]

When your thoughts become incongruent with the simulation, which one of you adapts to the other?

I remember being 10 years old and chasing my friend around the house.
I bumped my toe against the wall as I was turning the corner and wanted to cry because of the pain.

All of a sudden a thought occurred to me. What is pain?
My curiosity took over and I went deep into this feeling and wondered.
How is pain different from pleasure? Yes, pain feels "bad"... but why?

Within a minute the pain disappeared as if nothing ever happened.
I thought how "cool" that was and continued chasing my friend.


What if the entire universe only consists of what you perceive right now in this moment? What if outside of what you perceive lies nothing at all?

This boggles my mind.
So... the only thing that exists at this very moment is just me typing on my laptop in my room... NOTHING MORE! :eek:

How can you be certain you even existed a year ago or a minute ago? If you came into being just now with all your memories, how would you know?

I love the thought of that! Though it scares me in terms of
"Who am I" (??) if I go from one existence to another without any clue.

[alison]

" ..... Have you ever tried consciously directing your thoughts to make changes in the simulation (i.e. acting upon the simulation itself instead of within it)? Are you aware of what happens when you do this?...."




Yes I have... I just get a headache and pi**ed off. Then again I cant even use the quote tag so its probably me!!!

[alison]

just trying to work out the quote thing:o

[alison]

:confused:Have you ever tried consciously directing your thoughts to make changes in the simulation (i.e. acting upon the simulation itself instead of within it)? Are you aware of what happens when you do this?

[alison]

I'll give up!!!

:o

[consciousness]

When your thoughts become incongruent with the simulation, which one of you adapts to the other?

I remember being 10 years old and chasing my friend around the house.
I bumped my toe against the wall as I was turning the corner and wanted to cry because of the pain.

All of a sudden a thought occurred to me. What is pain?
My curiosity took over and I went deep into this feeling and wondered.
How is pain different from pleasure? Yes, pain feels "bad"... but why?

Within a minute the pain disappeared as if nothing ever happened.
I thought how "cool" that was and continued chasing my friend.


What if the entire universe only consists of what you perceive right now in this moment? What if outside of what you perceive lies nothing at all?

This boggles my mind.
So... the only thing that exists at this very moment is just me typing on my laptop in my room... NOTHING MORE! :eek:

How can you be certain you even existed a year ago or a minute ago? If you came into being just now with all your memories, how would you know?

I love the thought of that! Though it scares me in terms of
"Who am I" (??) if I go from one existence to another without any clue.

You are always your soul. Your soul is in the moment. Whatever you do outside of that is the mind. The soul does store memories. That's why you can regress past lives.
Your private universe/local multiverse/local universe is and has always been your soul. You are always in the moment as long as you realise you are your soul and your soul is your existence.