Why the World Is Just a Great Mirror

As my brother and I are having dinner, I am chewing over an interesting idea. I suddenly blurt out, “You know what, you are truly in control of your world. I then add, “Heck! This will make an amazing article.”

My brother, with a spoon in his mouth, looks up. “Wait, what? Your world? It’s the world right?”

“No, there is no “the” world, it is your world and my world and they are different from each other.”

Visibly intrigued, he says, “But the physical world is real, right? I mean, the spoon I am holding is real, the food I’m eating is real, you are real, so am I.” and mutes the TV.

“No, they aren’t and that’s the beauty of it.”

“Yes but “our world” isn’t the physical world. It is just our perception of it.”

“Bah! they are the same, what’s the difference then?”, he retorts with a triumphant look on his face.

A smile forms on my face as I slowly say, “No, they aren’t and that’s the beauty of it.”

There Is No Objective Reality

I ask, “Let’s say you were color blind. How would the world seem to you?” to which he almost instantly replies, “Well, maybe like a black and white movie?”.

“Spot on. Now let’s take it up a notch. What if you were blind?”, I play on.

“Umm, pitch dark, something like the dead of night with all the lights out?”

“Now the extreme. What if you lost all five senses?”, I say with a gleam in my eyes.

After a momentary pause, “Well, wow! I see what you are getting at. A complete void and absolute nothingness.”, he says with a look of awe and realization.

What Our Worlds Really Are

“Bingo! If you think about it, our worlds are nothing but what our minds spit out as output after receiving the information from our senses as input.”, I articulate with an elaborate gesture of my free hand.

“We think we cease to exist when we die when it’s actually the other way around, our world ceases to exist when we die.”

“Well, that’s a rather crude way to put it but yes I guess so. Now let me get back to the movie.”, he says and proceeds to unmute and tune into the TV.

Left with quite some food for thought, I ruminate.

I chuckle in silence as I realize something pithy — We think we cease to exist when we die when it’s actually the other way around, our world ceases to exist when we die.

A Powerful Realization

Heck! This was a powerful line of thinking. The fact that my world was nothing but the result of my senses and my mind meant that I could control my world!

“The senses are physical and not controllable but the mind is.”

The senses are physical and not controllable but the mind is. If I overhear someone bad-mouthing me behind my back, I can’t control or change what I hear but I am in complete control over how I decided to interpret it.

So no matter the situation in life, we are completely in control of how we perceive it. As Viktor Frankl said,

Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of human freedoms — to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.

The Inside Dictates the Outside

When I was bullied in middle school, the world seemed dark, ugly, and meaningless. When I fell in love, the world seemed carefree, colorful, and beautiful. When I experienced heartbreak, the world seemed drained of color.

“As much as the outside world affects our internal state, our internal state affects the outside world.”

How I felt inside dictated how the world seemed to me. It’s the same for the rest of us.

When feeling unhappy, miserable, ashamed, or anything negative, the world also seems dark and negative, and when feeling happy, elated, loved, or anything positive, the world also seems bright and positive.

It’s just that as much as the outside world affects our internal state, our internal state affects the outside world.

Causality

I’m a Deist and Deism, in a nutshell, is “God exists. God created the world and beyond that, God doesn’t interfere. The world functions on its own.” So how does the world function?

Through causality or “cause-effect”. The entire world works on the basis of cause and effect. The first cause was the creation of the universe by God and its effect became the cause for other things, the effects of which became causes for yet other things and so on.

“The entire world works on the basis of cause and effect.”

It’s just a theory and neither can it be proved nor can it be disproved — as with any other thing that tries to explain creation.

Karma Is Real

In my first relationship, I made a lot of mistakes with the major ones being staying in it just for the physical aspect and making false promises. When I finally jilted her, I left her in a mental mess that took a long time to recover from.

In my last relationship, I found myself on the other side, not exactly but close enough. I was head over heels in love with her while she was uncertain and it seemed like she was in it for only the physical aspect.

“She moved on pretty quick, it was I that was left in a mental mess now.”

The breakup was painful, she cried, I cried. But it had to happen or at least she thought so. She was passing out of college and moving abroad while I was still in my sophomore year.

What about a long-distance relationship you ask? I asked and it was out of the question for her. She moved on pretty quick, it was I that was left in a mental mess now.

“It’s like sitting in a circle of dominoes and pushing the first domino. Each domino pushes down the next and before you know it, the last one comes crashing down on you.”

Karma is real. It’s simple in fact.

What I did in my first relationship was a bad cause which led to a bad effect which became the cause for some other bad effect, on and on until it led to a bad effect with me as the victim.

A Circle of Dominoes

It’s like sitting in a circle of dominoes and pushing the first domino. Each domino pushes down the next and before you know it, the last one comes crashing down on you.

“Would I be fine with being on the receiving end of the same action or thought?””

Everything we say or do is reflected in some or other way back at us. Ever since I became a strong believer in causality, I started asking myself a simple question before doing or thinking something — “Would I be fine with being on the receiving end of the same action or thought?”

If the answer is “No”, then I won’t perform the action or harbor the thought. As simple as that. Am I being a saint? Heck no. I am being selfish.

The sole reason is that I don’t want to be on the receiving side of the action or thought.

“Am I being a saint? Heck no. I am being selfish.”

Why Pretending Won’t Work

Can you just pretend that you are good? Force yourself to harbor good thoughts and do good deeds? Fool causality?

So it’s akin to pushing not one but two dominoes upon yourself!

The problem with pretending is that it requires self-deception and self-deception is the worst kind of deception — you are both on the giving and receiving ends of it.

By deceiving yourself, you introduce a bad cause into the system and by being deceived by yourself, you introduce a bad effect into the system so it’s akin to pushing not one but two dominoes upon yourself!

“Self-deception is the worst kind of deception — you are both on the giving and receiving ends of it.”

Genuinely harbor positive feelings and emotions. Genuinely desire to and do good deeds.

Introduce good deeds and thoughts into the system, push the right kind of dominoes. There’s nothing saintly about it, it’s all for yourself, for your own selfish end.

A Tiny Deed Can Go a Long Way

One of the habits I have had for quite a few years is greeting, asking after, and making small talk with people, especially the working class, and in college, this included — the security guards, sweepers, bathroom cleaners, mess cooks, etc.

“Introduce good deeds and thoughts into the system, push the right kind of dominoes.”

It would make their day brighter and I would be rewarded with the occasional slight curfew time laxations, a tad cleaner room, and an extra ladle of the special dessert.

A win-win situation.

One day it so happened that late in the night, well past the curfew time, I arrived at the college gate. I had lost my wallet so didn’t have any ID or money on me. I tried to beg my way through but I was repeatedly denied entry. To make matters worse, it started drizzling.

“Sometimes, a small domino can trigger the topple of a much larger one.”

As I stood, shivering in the cold and at a complete loss as to what to do, another guard, a familiar one arrives, recognizes me, greets me, upbraids me, and then lets me in. A tiny habit had acted as an almost lifesaver!

Sometimes, a small domino can trigger the topple of a much larger one. So even a tiny good deed can return as a massive favor.

It Ain’t a Perfect Mirror

While I am sitting in the comfort of my home and writing this, there are kids dying of starvation, babies being born with disabilities, pre-pubescent girls being sexually abused, etc.

And most of them facing these effects have done nothing to trigger its cause. The world is a mirror but not a perfect one, in fact far from perfect.

The Need to Be Grateful

Most of us are born able, decently gifted, and into well off families that make sure that we never go a day without food, shelter, or love. Some are born extremely gifted and into ridiculously wealthy families.

“It’s only when we look at those less fortunate than us that we can truly appreciate how fortunate we are.”

Some are born disabled, into dysfunctional families that make their lives hell, or into poor families that can barely make a living.

We have absolutely zero control over the consequences surrounding our birth and that’s exactly why we need to be grateful for them. It’s only when we look at those less fortunate than us that we can truly appreciate how fortunate we are.

The Faulty Domino Game

Some people wallow in wrong deeds all their life and yet seem to live a happy and long life while some only good deeds but live short unhappy lives. Life is unfair that way.

“The only thing we can control is the kind of dominoes we push.”

Sometimes a good domino can trigger a bad one, a bad one can trigger a good one, or both the good and bad dominoes fizz out without triggering anything. Sometimes the dominoes can’t catch up with life.

So an entire life of only wrong or good deeds can whizz by and the person dies before getting to experience the consequences.

How life or “the dominoes game” plays out isn’t in our control. The only thing we can control is the kind of dominoes we push.

Maybe that’s all that matters,

Just pushing the right dominoes and not caring about the rest.

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