Blog #2: Orthoreality and Metareality
(The first part of this Blogpost is rather heavy stuff. Skip to the end of this post, if you prefer something lighter.)
When I look at life from a detached or elevated Standpoint–which is what philosophers do, after all–I can divide (analyze) the totality of my experience (aka Tef) into a seemingly unlimited number of humongous dyads. Thus, I can find in Tef a host of Major Dyads (or dualisms, binaries, pairs, couplets–call them what you will). For example, there is the Outer Experience/Inner Experience Dyad; the Self/Not-self Dyad; the Earth/Sky Dyad; the Past/Future Dyad; the Harmony/Disharmony Dyad; the Material/Spiritual Dyad; and so on, and on. Each Major Dyad splits Tef, or a vast region of Tef, into two, contrasting members. Many of these Major Dyads partly overlap with each other.
In today’s Blogpost I want to aim the spotlight upon the Orthoreality/Metareality Dyad (O/M Dyad). Using this dyad, I find that the totality of my experience (aka Tef) has the following descriptors.
Orthoreality: more intense, more vivid; nonrepresentational (nonsymbolic); authentic; Actual; Original; Given; Sensible; firsthand; the Outer, plus some Inner; roughly coincident with the Sensation Sector and its Material World, which is to say, coincident with “This World”; Herenow.
Metareality: less intense, paler; representational (symbolic); faux; Inactual; Additional; Mental; secondhand; entirely Inner; roughly coincident with the Intuition Sector and its Story World, and with the Intellection Sector and its Idea World, and with the Archives of Memory, which is to say, coincident with the “Other Worlds”; Therethen.
Examples?
Orthoreality: all Outer, Sensible percepts, such as light, sound, touch, smell; Outer material things, such as ice and stones, water, air, human flesh; Inner Body experiences such as a full stomach, fear of injury, hallucinations, and pure, nonrepresentational fantasies.
Metareality: Inner, Mental percepts, such as my thoughts and realistic daydreams, my symbols and names for things; empathized other souls; inferred other Bodies and things; reconstructions (the Past); predictions (the Future).
Roughly, then, Orthoreality is my Body and my emotions, whereas Metareality is my thoughts and visualizations. But when I cease being the philosopher and go ahead and live my life, I find that my Orthoreality and my Metareality are intertwined, even merged, making reality into an alloy. And I also discover that I often treat my Metareality as being as real as (or even more real than) my Orthoreality. For instance, your Inner life may become for me as real as my own (orthoreal) Body, even though my experience of your Inner life is solely metareal for me. This is a shocking realization! Perhaps some people never achieve this realization: They have never heard of the O/M Dyad. Nevertheless, I recognize that we all must believe–we must believe–in the Inner life of others, for doing so is necessary if we want a strong sense of community. And we do want, and need, community. Thus, we live a perceptual “lie”, often giving to Metareality the status of Orthoreality, simply because we are social creatures.
Don’t fault yourself for living this perceptual “lie”. I certainly don’t. Just be prepared to see through it for what it is–when you need to.
***
Okay, enough heavy stuff! I am feeling Glad today for my breaths of fresh Winter air; feeling Grateful to my loving, caring wife; feeling Good Will toward environmentalists (unsung heroes!) around the world; feeling like doing some Good Works, that Harmony may prevail, as in writing this Blog. Despite much Disharmony in the world, I still hold that we–every one of us–heeds the Vector of Value, prefers Harmony, seeks the Good. It’s just that my own heeding and preferring and seeking may sometimes harm myself, or you, or the world. Thus, I need to learn how to be a Tefist who actually increases the H/D Ratio. This learning, I have found, is lifelong and not always easy.