Hyper- reality

People like to fantasize but even that fantasizing has some reality attached to it. The fantasy can be about human beings ability to fly in space and experience a world beyond or the fantasy can be about man dealing with mysterious phenomenon or super-human acts etc etc. Some how our fantasy is tied with a human experience in some form or other. These fantasies become very close to our minds when we can realize them through our eyes and ears. Based on this, fantasy story lines are created in motion pictures and draw a large audience. Movies such as Jurassic Park, ET, Star Wars, Matrix, The Lord of the Rings etc etc are fantasy pictures that relate to human feelings and is realized through the eyes and ears. The human experience is enhanced all the more to the degree the fantasy is depicted in a “real” way. The gaming industry is also trying to achieve that perfection of reality in virtual space so man can be controllers in a “real” way within a virtual environment. Hence fantasy is based on reality.

The Vedic literatures, however, state that reality is based on fantasy. The reality that we are caught up in this cycle of birth and death is based on the fantasy that we are this body. Because we eat, interact, evacuate, sleep, and perform myriad of functions thinking we are this material body, we are conditioned to the point that we cannot distinguish between fantasy and reality. Our memories, feelings and emotions are shaped to fit this fantasy. Imagine…we watch Jurassic Park movie so many times to the point where we think we are actually living with dinosaurs. What will happen if we mold our lives thinking we are living with dinosaurs? What will happen if everyone thinks the same? How will our “reality” be transformed based on imaginary dinosaurs? We will be living in a constant fear of being attacked by dinosaurs and naturally create an environment to suit this imaginary fear. Our personal, cultural, social and political environment will change to suit this “realized fantasy” or “hyper-reality” and when the same fantasy is stretched for generations…people will have adapted themselves to the fantasy of living with “imaginary dinosaurs” as reality.

This inability to distinguish between what is reality and fantasy has created so many problems and sub-problems. Sustainable living cannot be achieved based on a “hyper-reality”. It will eventually fail. Our complex system of education and intelligent thinking is based simply on the manipulation of knowledge rooted in this fantasy. Because our reality (all aspects of our practical lives) is based on a fantasy, we are not able to experience the happiness we are desperately searching after. At the end of the day, our quality of life is dependent simply on one thing – our ability to be continuously happy. When we snap out of this fantasy that we are living with imaginary dinosaurs and reshape our lives, we will no longer have fear of dinosaurs attacking us. Similarly, when we snap out of this bodily concept of life and reshape our lives to the fact that we are spirit souls who are part and parcel of the supreme Spirit Krishna, then we no longer have to fear the dinosaurs of material life attacking us in the form of birth, old age, disease and death. We will for ever live in reality of eternal (sat), knowledge (chit) and bliss (ananda) with Krishna.

Hare Krishna