weirdway

While I was contemplating today I was struck by a curious and funny thought which I want to share.

By convention the idea behind consensus reality is that we can't take a position on anything without first conferring with the others. Since the world presumably exists externally to ourselves, we have to get other people's input to then try to suss out what the world is like, because ours is only one angle.

However, I don't run up to the pedestrians asking, "Hey did you see that car over there driving on the street? Or am I the only one?" "And do you see a tree there and a building there? Or am I the only one?" "Do you see the clouds there? Or am I the only one?" In fact, I am pretty sure were I to begin behaving in this way, I'd be soon deemed insane.

Funny, isn't it? It's like the consensus reality is a thin veneer on top of profound and tacit solipsism. The world doesn't want us to confirm anything fundamental. We're only to argue over trivial bullshit, but anything that's actually important must be assumed and never confirmed with the others. So much for "consensus reality."

The more I think about it the more obvious it becomes to me that everything in this life is bullshit, basically. It's all some really good wool, nothing more. It appears believable only if you never probe it with questions.