Real or Unreal

Just read these lines carefully. “I am, I exist, I think, therefore I am; I am because I think, why do I think? I don’t want to think any more, I am because I think that I don’t want to be.” Who’s this and what is this person speaking about. What is he trying to imply! He is Jean-Paul Sartre, a renowned french philosopher. What is he known for? Existentialism. Well, what? Yes, you have not read anything wrong. He was awarded a Nobel for his contributions in the area of literature and philosophy. He rejected the prize. Sounds hard to believe isn’t it. Someone rejecting the honour of being recognized for scholarly work! But that’s true. Reason was very simple. Sartre believed in freedom as primary objective of life. He felt uncomfortable (and rather trapped) to limit his identity (as Nobel Laurate) through the lens of world. He wanted to be himself just himself and not somebody labelled as somebody by others. Beautiful and strange. But that what he wanted to be. That’s what reality meant to him. To him a prize was not an expression of his highest aspirations. It was indeed a bondage.

So, I just kept thinking is there honestly something called as ‛real’ or its just our individual view of world around us? I mean I can always say that everything that has physical existence is real but then what about a wireless network right above my head. That’s equally real. Same applies to our thoughts. Our ideas about people whom we see and talk to, we think, are real. But we often label our ideas about spirits as unreal. How can we! ‛A’ can be seen ‛B’ can’t be. We agree that wireless world does exist because we (humans) have built it. What about spiritual world. Aren’t we products of some spiritual activity that occured billions of years ago. May be world came out of nothing. Where did tjose  gases that caused Big Bang appear from? How did the very first particle came into existence? Perhaps there is no answer. Our perception is our reality. There is nothing unreal. That is what keeps us interested in living. There is no one right answer. It’s just about less chaos and more chaos. So next time you hear your friend say, “you live in an unreal world. Wake up kid. Its a fantasy that doesn’t exist”, you know what to say. Say, “I love this dream and so I love everything that goes around here. This is my world.”