The Subjective Reality Metaparadigm is a model which states that reality is subjective, meaning that it is within oneself. Moreover, not only is reality influenced by consciousness, but consciousness is the fundamental "stuff" that it is made of. Apparently, reality is a virtual, holographic simulation that is run by consciousness.
This model is best presented in the works of Thomas Campbell, Bashar, Michael Raduga and Vadim Zeland. The idea is that everything is holographic - us, the Universe, our entire reality. Furthermore, we contain within ourselves all possible (holographic) versions of our reality and it is up to us to consciously or (more often than not) unconsciously select the version that we prefer to experience. In the Transurfing series Vadim Zeland writes about the space of variations - an infinite metaphysical space which contains all possible configurations of reality and all possible ways things could go. If we turn to video games, this would be like an infinitely powerful server which contains all possible game maps, textures, meshes and scripts.
Thomas Campbell - a brilliant physicist who has worked on various programs and projects at NASA - has created the first real Theory of Everything. He compares our reality to a MMORPG (Massive Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game) like 'World of Warcraft' or 'Grand Theft Auto: Online'. At the beginning of his presentations he usually mentions the double-split experiment. In short, it shows us that electrons can behave as both particles and probability waves, depending on the way it is carried out. The Copenhagen statement offers a very interesting take on what this means. It states that physical systems do not have definite properties prior to being measured and that the act of measurement reduces the set of probabilities to only one of the possible values. Later on, this became simply one of many interpretations, as physicists weren't very comfortable with the idea of reality not being objective. Many scientists suggested that the act of measurement may influence the system/process and thus distort the results.
This is why a different experiment, called the Delayed Choice Quantum Eraser, was carried out. It is specifically set up in such a way that the measurement process does not interfere with what's really happening. The results were the same - the usual particle/wave duality. More interestingly, it turned out that it's not the act of measurement that defines how the electrons would behave, but the presence of the data about the results of the experiment in this (virtual) reality. This means that as long as the data is stored in any usable way, shape or form, including in the mind of a person, the results always show a duality [particles/waves]. If absolutely no information is present at the moment of observation, then 100% of the results show a wave pattern.
Thomas Campbell comes to the conclusion that reality is statistical and probabilistic and not objective. He goes on to explain that reality is in a state of flux and that it gets rendered only during the act of observation. Of course, as with every virtual reality, it has to follow a defined rule-set. This sounds exactly like a video game. If you have ever seen game developers working on a game, you may have noticed how as long as the main point of view is aimed at something, it gets rendered, so that it may be seen. But the moment you look away from it, it disappears. This is done for the sake of efficiency (saving valuable resources).
Campbell also explains how our intention influences the probability, so we can consciously and deliberately change the outcomes.
It is really easy to observe this in lucid dreams. If your intention is clear and focused, the manifestations follow suit. Because the rule-set is different there, things happen much more quickly. One of the characteristics of lucid dreams is that they are not as stable as waking reality. For example, you can look at a picture, look away, then look back again and discover that it has changed. What happens here is that while you're not looking at the picture, it simply isn't rendered. It's in a state of flux. As soon as you look again, "the wave function collapses" and you get one possible version of what might be there. This is the nature of lucid dreams - they are much more fluid and dynamic. But the underlying principles are the same. Michael Raduga talks about the relationship between everyday reality, lucid dreams and quantum physics in his book "The Phase: Shattering the Illusion of Reality".
Let's say you're having a lucid dream and you are flying over a large mountain range. You are amazed by how realistic it looks. Even the tiniest details are perfect. The sun is just setting behind the mountains and the sky is painted in vibrant colours with hues that you haven't even seen in waking life. You hear the sound of the rushing wind as you fly above the peaks and you marvel at the feeling of acceleration that you experience when you change directions.
You wake up absolutely excited about what just happened. You stand up, take your dream journal and you write down everything - to the smallest detail. You even paint a little map of the place. Now, let me ask you - where are the mountains that you flew over? Can you point to them? Can you travel to these mountains in waking life?
Most people would respond that it all happened in their head. Well, here's my next question - what makes us think that waking reality isn't all in our head as well? Does the fact that we spend most of our time here necessarily mean that it isn't? What if lucid dreams and waking life were simply different data streams (as Thomas Campbell calls them) and we choose (consciously or unconsciously) which one to tune ourselves to. What if both worlds are actually in our "spiritual heads", i.e. in our consciousness? If that is true, then the same way the dream scene is 'inside' of us, so is waking life.
So let's look at life as a virtual reality video game. In order for our consciousness to experience the virtual reality from inside, it needs a vehicle. That is our body-mind system. It is our in-game 'character' which allows us to directly interact with the virtual environment.
What about other people? Are they simply NPCs (non-player-characters) generated by the virtual reality? No, this worldview is called 'Solipsism' and, as I've already mentioned previously, it is not a subject of these posts. The Subjective Reality Metaparadigm gives us a very interesting answer - every person is a spiritual being which uses a 'character' to play the game of life. Furthermore, each person actually creates (at a higher level) the whole Universe he/she lives in and all the people that he/she interacts with.
Here is a subtle nuance - we create others' 'game characters', not the beings themselves. It is exactly how 'World of Warcraft' works. Let's say you and me are playing WoW together and we meet in front of Ironforge. Now, in my case, everything that I see on the screen is created by my computer exclusively. Including your character. From your perspective, everything you see on your screen is created by your computer. It's just that the server allows us to meet each other in the game by syncing up both virtual realities.
That is how it works in waking life as well - every one of us lives in his/her own world and by collective agreement decides to match the consensus reality so that we can all have a mutual virtual experience.
According to Bashar, there are four universal laws. Later, for the sake of clarity, he added a fifth law to the description. These laws have been elegantly described by The Biggest Picture and I will quote parts of the text here.
1.You exist.
"... Which means that you will never cease to exist. You have always existed and you always will. You only ever change form. Only the perspective of the structure changes; the structure itself already is. ..."
2.Everything is here and now.
*"...it seems to follow therefore that everything exists simultaneously, here and now, which means that reality (existence) doesn't have a beginning or an end; it simply is. All experiences, all beginnings and endings, happen within existence. Reality doesn't "come from" anywhere; it simply is, and the experience of it, which is the eternal now, goes on infinitely.
Thus, every moment is really the same moment from a different point of view — a different perspective that All That Is has of itself.
All That Is experiences itself (or, more accurately, the nondual One experiences itself as All That Is), subjectively, within itself, infinitely. ..."*
3.The One is the all, and the all are the One.
*"... The One experiences itself subjectively as All That Is, within itself, from different points of view, in endless forms.
All That Is contains positive and negative, and also the balance point in the center of polarity. That is why the experience is not a duality, but rather a trinity. ..."*
4.What you put out is what you get back.
"... Give it a positive definition, get a positive effect back. Negative definition in, negative experience out. Or "like vibration to like vibration" — simple energy physics, described from the physical perspective as the Law of Attraction. ..."
5.Everything changes, except the first 4 laws.
*"... As Bashar has phrased the 5th Law of Creation: Change is the only constant, and everything changes, except the first four laws.
Thus even the "laws of physics", defined by "constants", are not really laws, but rather habits (as Rupert Sheldrake points out from within the objective reality metaparadigm). ..."*
You can say that these laws are part of the objective reality. This does not contradict the statement that reality is subjective. What's subjective is the virtual reality, the playing field. But there still is an objective reality outside of the simulation. It's just not what we are talking about here.
As I already mentioned in my previous post, the Subjective Reality Metaparadigm doesn't exclude the objective reality experience. It supports it and explains how it is simply one possible viewpoint. It is like a subset of the subjective reality set. If we think of it in IT terms, then we could say that subjective reality is the operating system and objective reality is a program running on it.
By understanding the fourth law ("What you put out is what you get back") we come to an interesting conclusion - the feedback that we get from reality in the form of experiences is in no way a reward, nor a punishment. It's simple physics. Many times when we do kind things for others, we feel like 'mom and dad' will hopefully praise us and reward us for our good behavior. But this is not accurate. The truth is that there is an underlying mechanism of how things work and by aligning our actions (mental and physical) with the fundamental principles, we get the respective results.
Furthermore, because everything we put out is what we get back, when we refuse to believe in a subjective reality and we buy into the mass belief of an objective one, then those are the kinds of reflections that we get. So, in a sense, everyone gets to be right. The cool thing is that if we make a new choice and start acting as if reality is subjective, it will support our new decision and mirror it back to us.
This way of thinking comes with the realization that the solutions to our problems are always inside of us. How to make use of these solutions is the topic of this series and will be described in the next posts. :)