The Power of Realism
Dear Chris, Quick thoughts – to provide perspective – contrast – full range of experience from which to choose – options – ability to choose, especially ethically. Helps develop Discernment, important for understanding others, necessary for Awareness.
The problem for me lies in the habit of thinking in opposites. The tendency to classify according to the extremes of those opposites. For instance the classic example of positive and negative perspective, or optimist and pessimist, when it comes to how we see the glass with liquid in it.
To the positive optimist it’s half full, to the negative pessimist it’s half empty. But to the Realist, it’s not glass partially full or partially empty, it’s glass always full. Full of liquid and air, full of possibility, full of opportunity, full of choice. A key fact the Realist also remembers is that no matter what’s in the glass, we still have the glass itself.
Possibilities and Choices
Consider the matter if we only had one side. Would that lead to a distorted perspective of reality? Even worse, would that not lead to a forced perspective of life? If we only have one side we don’t get to choose how we see matters. Without free choice, are we not in effect robots?
There’s More… we tend to assume that positive and negative are fixed, are the same for everyone. But this is most absolutely not so. For some the rain is negative, for some it’s positive. Perhaps rain is a poor example, but we can easily find many examples of the exact same thing viewed from different ends by people. Politics is a particularly good example.
However, usually our perceptions are not polarised at the extremes. Typically it’s some mixture, with positive or negative predominating. Having the range of perspective allows us to fit matters into how we personally wish to choose to relate.
Not only does this spectrum of possibility allow for individuality and some measure of freedom of choice, there’s More. We like to think in dualities, it makes things simpler. In the case of Positive and negative, there’s Realism also, a third perspective. Going back to my rain example, maybe why it came up, when we consider rain, and I believe this applies to most people, if we ask for a bit more, our question usually leads to Realism bringing in additional perspectives. Such as if the person had responded that rain to them is a negative, they will almost always agree that despite their dislike of rain, they also believe it to be Good, which is a Realism Perspective
As to why we have these sides, a simple answer would be those sides lead us to choose. Through choosing we become Aware that we can choose. Realising we have this option leads us to be aware of the possibilities contained within choice, eventually causing us to Choose our Path, to Choose Awareness, as that can only come from personal inner decision, and thus, we come to the ultimate consequence of having those apparently opposing sides, we get to be able to choose true Freedom in full Awareness and consciousness.
Real Choice
It’s only because of free choice that we can be truly free. We have to choose that freedom with a free Awareness. If it’s simply given to us, how can we be sure we are truly free? Won’t we always be dependent to whoever gave it to us? Or at least have the suspicion that it’s not truly free. Not to mention the problem of having freedom without true Awareness. All of this is dependent on the ability to choose, which started with choosing between positive and negative, choosing how much to combine them, choosing alternatives such as Goodness and Realism. it all starts and begins with choice, with the necessity of Choice.
Biella
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A Contemporary Philosopher and Writer, who exercises a glorious intellectual mind that is most admirable for its profundity and sharpness. Often offering multiple sides of an argument, and provoking self-introspection. Their aim is to uncover Appropriateness, Awareness, Attention, Application, Attunement, and more, with a unique, high-level understanding of the profound intricacies that interlace these concepts.
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