Real1ty_15_Over8ed in Adventures From Prison

People these days tend to get far too hung up on the “real world”. They obsess over the news and gossip which pours continuously from their phones, computers and TVs. It has reached a point of constant connectivity to one another and the companies we work for and support. Our awareness of the world at large has formed a pseudo-reality where we can become so involved in the lives of celebrities and complete strangers that we care for them in wildly inappropriate ways.
Now I certainly don’t recommend that everyone disconnect, as that would cause far more problems than that would solve, but I do suggest we stop taking the world so seriously. The reality you live in is a figment of your imagination. Reality, at its core, is nothing more than our definition of the world as we perceive it…right now. It changes for some, like me, in an instant and is never again in synch with everyone else’s.
For the last five years, I’ve lived without interactive technology. The world you all live in is no longer the same as mine and likely never will be again. But it’s really not a big deal. Each day I get up and live. I laugh, I joke, and I tell stories. It’s just done the old fashioned way. At this point in my life the world you live in is no more or less plausible to me than the world of Star Trek or Star Wars. To me the technology you depend on is nothing more than a prop in a post-modern fairy tale. So my question then is which is more real? The answer is they both are. It just depends on where you are standing. Throw in the theory of the Multiverse (which quantum physics has witnessed at a minute level) and the idea of a single reality in which all humans dwell is quickly blown apart. It’s all subjective, even the laws of physics are not unbreakable; we just aren’t capable of traveling to areas of the Universe where we can experience it ourselves.
The entire idea of needing to be grounded in reality to succeed in this world is just laughable to me. Without the dreamers, who look at the limits of reality and laugh, humanity would still be scavengers living in caves. There would be no advances in technology or science if we accepted reality as something unbreakable.
Reality is an overrated idea, one which is quickly becoming antiquated in a world where people are making good livings doing nothing more than playing World of Warcraft and selling the items and resources they have painstakingly collected in cyberspace to the highest bidder. They receive a deposit in a bank account and suddenly a world which doesn’t exist has influenced directly the “reality” in which they live. Humanity can now create for itself entire dimensions with their primary reality only surfacing long enough in the “real” world to take care of their physical needs. I see the possibilities of our society moving in that direction, especially for those who can afford it. (Read the novels Ready Player One and Shovel Ready or the split novel Daemon/Freedom by Daniel Suarez, to see what I’m talking about).
As a prisoner, access to these cyber-realities would be more freeing to me than you could possibly imagine, transporting me far beyond these walls for most of my waking hours. I and most everyone I know, would trade that reality for ours in a heartbeat. I’m pretty sure there are many in your world that would as well.
But since such escapes are not available, I retreat into the written worlds of books and comics. For me, at least, it is just as satisfying. Others spend hours absorbed in the television. Regardless, the desire is the same no matter where you are or what resources you have, we all wish to alter our realities for awhile, to blur the lines between what is and what could be, and to escape.
So I say embrace your dreams and alter everything for awhile. Become someone else for a day or two, it’s good for the soul. Why? Well as I have learned the hard way, sometimes it is not until we walk (or in my case – are dragged) away from all we know that we truly begin to understand how rich our “real” lives are. Without this shift in perspective even the most spectacular can become mundane.
Yes, reality is overrated, but realities well that’s an entirely different story.