Speaking of reality, it is useful to distinguish whether we are talking about objective or subjective reality. Objective reality is the material world perceived by our senses and other tools of knowledge.
Subjective reality is what is perceived by a person as self-evident, unquestioned, as something natural. The common, agreed subjective reality for mentally healthy people is usually the simplest sensations: sound, picture, kinesthetics — are understood by people similarly or in the same way. This also includes social patterns — habitual and approved ways of understanding and acting.
The more similar people are in their upbringing, values and life situation, the more similar their vision of reality. The more different people are from each other, the less similar the reality of each of them. Children perceive the world differently than adults, men differently than women, and two participants in the conflict, describing what is happening, usually draw completely different pictures. On the other hand, in a number of situations (holidays, mass events, trainings with practices of an altered state of consciousness), a variety of people, being in a trance state, fall into a common reality, into a coordinated trance.
If the subjective reality of different people begins to differ greatly, this is not a reason to call a psychiatrist. Is the room cold or warm? Someone will say — warm, someone cold, someone — normal. Here for everyone there is already their own subjective individual reality, their own fairy tale. Reality is 22 degrees Celsius indoors.
However, this reality is also a fairy tale in its own way, because who is Celsius? In America, the temperature will be measured according to another fairy tale — Fahrenheit.
To stay away from individual fairy tales and the subjectivity of human perception, everything that is described in a detached way, as objectively as possible, without evaluations and interpretations, from the third position of perception, can be called reality. Perceiving events at the level of reality is a rather complex skill that requires special training. Such a description is opposed to the Fairy Tale — the interpretation, comprehension and assessment of reality in the form of emotionally rich and socially completed stories.
He insulted me! — this is not reality, but a fairy tale, since there is an interpretation and evaluation. The statement: “He said “You are a fool!”, more loudly than he usually says, and at the same time slammed his fist on the table” is a reality. And the fact that you are offended is a reality. This is a statement of facts that can be measured physically and mathematically (loudness — in decibels, impact force in Newtons, and so on).
The description is objective, detached — it is usually perceived as a positive description, since the usual emotional description, as a rule, gravitates towards natural negativity. Perception of events at the level of a fairy tale is a more accessible and common option.
Dreams and reality
For those who like to plunge into dreams, it is dangerous to begin to embody them: reality usually turns out to be simpler and gooer than lofty dreams. But if you want to live, and not run away from life, you will make your dreams come true, and if you are a strong and creative person, sometimes your embodied reality will turn out to be more interesting than castles in the air and fantasies in the air.
Dreamed of a happy family — made a happy family!
You dreamed of your favorite job — you created such a company and hired employees for yourself, so that your work has become your joy and dream!
If you sit and wait for your dream to come true by itself, you will not wait. A dream comes only to those who earn it.