How many times have you looked at an apple and wondered, is my red same as anybody else’s? How many times have you wondered, what if reality as we know it, is just a dream? Never? Ah well, worry not happens to the best of us!
According to neuroscientist, Anil Seth, we’re all hallucinating all of the time. Hold your breath, a good explanation coming along your way!
Eyes are just projectors, you actually see with your brain. So, when you turn around to take a good look at an attractive person with your friend and wonder, “Are they real?” The answer, is NO.
When do you agree to something being real? You touch it, you see it, you smell it and so on. That is to say, you rely on your “senses”. Here’s the catch, What if your senses are lying to you?
Brain is the Culprit
Right now, millions, nay, billions of neurons are firing up together to fabricate what you call “reality”. Counter-intuitively, one may wonder, can reality be “fabricated”? Your brain is conjuring up reality, meaning, with all the thoughts lurking in the corridors of your grey matter and the surroundings combined, your experience is custom made for you, like a fine Rolls Royce in your garage. You are the only one feeling the way you are.
Seth says that all of your experiences can be called hallucinations it’s just that when we, meaning our brain agrees on it being real, it is reality. Perception is not just a reflection, it is interpretation. You don’t see things as they are, you see them as your brain wants you to see them.
So, What is Hallucination, as we know it?
All that is fine and dandy, but what about the hallucinations in hallucinations? What about the hallucinations in the so called Real world? Like we mentioned earlier, eyes are just windows to this objective experience we call reality. It provides the brain with sensory information, that it does, no doubt about it.
The brain interprets this information and gives you an enchanting experience; There’s a delightful balance. However, when this balance is disturbed like for example, by using psychedelic drugs, the brains begins interpreting the information in a way that is different way and that when you experience Hallucinations.
Speculations, Speculations
I think, Sherlock Holmes was as a good a detective as he was because he had the uncanny ability of seeing things exactly the way they are, which helped him solving crimes. I say uncanny, because your brain actually alters the images around you. You can’t stop hallucinating. All of this may sound like a plot of a cult classic, but who’s to say you’re not living one?
This makes one wonder, what if our perception of reality is the only thing exists. What if all of this existence, is just a hallucination. Solipsism is a belief that self is all that can be known to exist. Read more about solipsism for what it is, without the jargon, here
Further Reading: