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~~~Imported from [Wikipedia:Reality%20tunnel Wikipedia] on 2008-02-23~~~ |
[http://www.rawilson.com/main.shtml http://deoxy.org/img/bob_eye.jpg|right12] |
+++'''''Reality tunnel''''' is a term coined by [Deoxy:leary.htm Timothy Leary] and popularised by [Deoxy:raw.htm Robert Anton Wilson].+++ |
The theory states that, with a subconscious set of mental "filters" formed from |
their beliefs and experiences, every individual interprets this same world |
differently, hence "Truth is in the eye of the beholder". |
This is not necessarily meant to imply that there is no objective truth; rather |
that our access to it is mediated through our senses, experience, conditioning, |
prior beliefs, and other non-objective factors. The individual world each person |
occupies is said to be their reality tunnel. The term can also apply to groups |
of people united by beliefs. |
A parallel can be seen in the psychological concept of confirmation bias--our |
tendency to notice and assign significance to observations that confirm our |
beliefs, while filtering out or rationalizing away observations that do not fit |
with our prior beliefs and expectations. This helps to explain why reality |
tunnels are usually transparent to their inhabitants. While it seems most people |
take their beliefs to correspond to the "one true objective reality," Robert |
Anton Wilson emphasizes that each person's reality tunnel is their own artistic |
creation, whether they realize it or not. |
It is believed that through various techniques one can break down old reality |
tunnels and impose new reality tunnels by removing old filters and replacing |
them with new ones, new perspectives on reality--at will. This is achieved |
through [Deoxy:cognitivechaos.htm various processes of deprogramming] using neuro-linguistic programming, |
cybernetics, hypnosis, biofeedback devices, meditation, controlled use of |
hallucinogens, and forcibly acting out other reality tunnels. Thus, it is |
believed one's reality tunnel can be widened to take full advantage of human |
potential and experience reality on more positive levels. Robert Anton Wilson's |
''[Videx:Prometheus+rising Prometheus Rising]'' is (among other things) a guidebook to the exploration of |
various reality tunnels. |