Pleitez 1

Erika Pleitez

Prof. Kane

English 115 MW

29 October 2018

E1.2 The Knowledge of Reality

Reality is an abstract concept of the world. People use perception to interpret their reality

which functions as a way to motivate someone to advance as an intelligent individual;

furthermore, it provides a sense of identity by creating a changing purpose for each individual to

follow. Perception plays a role in creating the “worlds” that most individuals linger around in as

that there are not one but many realities that exist within each and every single mind in the

universe. In other words, there is no such thing as one reality because people are not mere copies

of one another so they each have different cognition skills and perceive the world differently

which materializes into a single world. The minds of people project certain realities that become

the gateway to becoming successors in their own area or purpose within life; although, by

attaining that success, gaining the sense of knowledge of reality assists in developing a world and

the certain aspect of cooperation. Obtaining the knowledge of reality, what reality is, and

containing your own version of reality signifies that you discovered “self” of the individual and

development as a person. Groups of people come together to productively interact with each

other to become something greater, more analytical, and through interaction, they achieve a

higher degree of cognition as well as sophistication of communication while hoping to avoid

falling victim to delusions.

A group of individuals may come together to productively work in more efficient ways as

realities are combined together and people will know that when such event occurs, there is
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harmony and unity within teamwork and work ethics. This can lead to reaching a greater sense of

cognitive skills, in other words, people learn from one another and these cognitive skills that are

obtained are utilized in everyday situations whether it be at home, school, or someone’s house.

An example of a group where realities are combined to create one magnificent world is a group

of artists working on an animated film. In an animation team, there are multiple artists working

in different areas, such as, the concept artist, animator, storyboard artist, character designer, 3D

modeler, director, producer, or lighting director and each person determines different aspects of

the film, for example, color, characterization, background, story, dialogue and much more. In

other words, every artist envisions his or her own version of the film’s reality in conjunction with

parts to the project; furthermore, the act of creating reality they collectively envision assists them

in communicating with each other by giving them a sense of direction and a specific jargon.

Thus, everyday people are able to work productively together to achieve a new reality made up

of many. The use of language in creating realities is important when detaching from delusions, in

other words, removing confusion in a way where everyone can understand one another or what

reality is being projected through their eyes. By following the example of animation teams, the

artists use attitudes from the real world, which determines which is the right logic of fiction or

what fictional reality really is (Crittenden). Fictional realities or characters are completed

logically based on what situations each one is put into.

Utilizing language is an important factor in a productive group because it guides each

person to understand a different perspective. Sentences are developed by the worlds within the

minds of each group member and from the attitudes they display toward the realities outside each

mentality, in other words, to successfully communicate, group members need to be sensitive to

how the others might interpret their words. Language is what guides people to have a more
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logical way of thinking that may define their tone which can create a sense of compassion to

their surrounding work area with the other members involved. According to the Buddhist point

of view, “...this is to be regarded as a series of...events in which we are interested, and about

which we can make true and false assertions and even have knowledge, but to which we are to

remain ‘detached’ in a certain way,” and becoming “detached” means that people do not lose

focus on what is in front of them (Crittenden). Becoming detached signifies that people need to

remove themselves from the false assertions caused by misinterpretations of their own language

by other people who do not understand their own version of reality. This may cause rifts between

multiple mindsets in a productive group and causes each person to become corrupted with

ignorance. Ignorance causes a break within a productive group because one person may be blind

to what the knowledge of reality is and might stay within a “fiction” of their own, believing in

nothing but their own egotistical views without opening the door to different possibilities to

evolve their skills in interpretation by learning from others around them.

A productive group of people might be dysfunctional if the reality of one person is

trapped within the ignorance of their own false assumptions, accusations, or if they are unwilling

to compromise his or her own vision with others. Individuals are defined by the social norms of

other people's realities that do not belong to them. People who are ignorant will agree with

claims by others who display a rash attitude that deems them childish rather than intelligent. An

example of ignorance within a group of people is in Plato’s “Allegory of the Cave” where Plato

envisioned men held captive in a cave where light from a bonfire casts shadows of people,

animals, and objects against a cave wall, and those shadows are all the prisoners' knowledge of

reality; additionally, the figures that cast shadows pass through the cave on a “raised way”.

These men symbolize those who cooperate in the real world where people come to agreements
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because in this, they determine whether or not the shadows would appear again. Although,

ignorance is real and can be present in many peoples’ heads in the real world and they are people

who cannot cooperate in social gatherings as they only refute with nonsense towards those who

vocalize valuable knowledge and the hidden conscious much like Plato mentions, "Men would

say of him that up he went and down he came without his eyes, and that it was better to not even

think of ascending; if anyone tried to lose another and lead him up to the light, let them only

catch the offender and put him to death.” Ignorance in gatherings are caused by the impulsivity

of the body and the mind combined together and when one wants to discover one’s own identity

and reality, one needs to detach one’s mind so that it will guide the intellect to notice the beauty

and naturality of the outside and hold compassion towards others. Attaining the knowledge to

further ascend to greater heights and spirituality will aid people to project their interpretations of

the information they learned throughout their own lives and “...is also inferred to be the universal

author of all things beautiful and right, parent of light and of the lord of light in this visible

world,” (Plato). It is known as enlightenment and who fail to demonstrate the common decency

or prove that they have a greater sense of knowledge, especially if they are working in a group,

will most likely “...have his eye fixed,” in other words, their views will be corrected by those

around them. (Plato).

An important factor for all people in a group to be able to work efficiently is that

everyone must come to a realization that every living thing experiences suffering within

happiness. This is a necessary aspect because coming together to make compromises isn’t always

on good ends because it may be along the lines where, let’s say, the truth hurts but is logical at

the same time; furthermore, it means people would be better cooperating with an open eye rather

than looking naïve where they think nothing ever goes wrong or everything is right. Each person
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goes through events of happiness but being “whole” as a human involves the balancing of both

happiness and suffering together for as long as a “self” exists. In Buddhist views, there are three

different types of suffering people experience which are “...'ordinary suffering' which is the

experience of pain and unhappiness in an everyday context; ' suffering through change ' which is

the feeling of unsatisfactoriness caused by the impermanence (and thus necessary decay) of

everything; and, finally, the suffering caused by the fact that our existence is conditioned,”

(Mellor). After experiencing all three types of suffering, people are able to isolate “I” from “...the

world,” and that is the first aspect to keep in mind before working in a group (Mellor).

An individual must experience “self,” or in other words, solipsism, the idea that self is

all that exists before combing all realities together to form something that would appear to be

like a utopian consciousness. People experience the “self” and suffering in isolation. Like Rene

Descartes as he sought to discover the doubting self, every member of a group will think “I find

here that thought is an attribute that belongs to me; it alone cannot be separated from me. I am, I

exist that is certain; but for how long? As long as I think...” (Bramann). Discovering “self” leads

to gaining self-knowledge, which will allow the individual to transform their basic knowledge to

something much greater to contribute to groups but to do that, according to Hindu claims, they

must discriminate between the real from the unreal, give up the unreal for the real, have self-

control inside the mind, and have “...intense longing to be free from the bondage of ignorance

and delusion by seeking self-knowledge” (Dhiman). If all fails, there is no self-realization and

those who do not have that might disregard their own views in order to follow the leader’s ideas

in the group. When a group productively work together as realities are brought together, each

reality may be different but might also be similar based on the experiences each person went

through and the idea that “...Birth is suffering (dukkha), decay is suffering, death is suffering;
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sorrow, lamentation, pain, grief and despair are suffering.’ This means...that all forms of

existence whatsoever are unsatisfactory and subject to suffering,” is what makes an individual

know they exist and know that they are human (Mellor). By working together, people need to

acknowledge their “self” which materializes into knowledge and protects them from being called

ignorant and simple-minded.

There is no such thing as there being only one reality present. The world as we know it is

assembled by multiple realities created by people who have set principles of discovering “self”

within the happiness and suffering they experience over the course of the ever-changing

population. Realities can become something greater in a working group, and to achieve such

combinations of realities from multiple people, knowledge is the key factor all must gain before

proceeding. Without knowledge, there would be no existence because knowledge comes from

the mind and it has caused such evolutionary differences to become the world today.

Works Cited

Bramann, Jorn K. “Descartes: The Solitary Self –Abridged.” (from The Educating

Rita Workbook).

Crittenden, Charles. “Everyday Reality as Fiction – A MāDhyamika Interpetation.” Journal of

Indian Philosophy, vol. 9, no. 4, Dec., 1981, pp. 323 – 333. https://link-springer-

com.libproxy.csun.edu/article/10.1007/BF00164314

Dhiman, Satinder. “Who Am I: Self-Knowledge According to Advaita Vedanta.” Interbeing,

vol. 4, no. 1, 2010, pp. 17-28. https://search-proquest-

com.libproxy.csun.edu/docview/820610825/fulltext/725F241774844EFEPQ/1?accountid

=7285

Mellor, Philip A. “Self and Suffering: Deconstruction and Reflexive Definition in Buddhism and
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Christianity.” Religious Studies, vol. 27, no. 1, Mar., 1991, pp. 49–63. https://www-jstor-

org.libproxy.csun.edu/stable/20019452?seq=1#metadata_info_tab_contents

Plato. “The Allegory of the Cave.” The Republic.