Marcus Aurelius

"Everything we hear is an opinion, not a fact.

Everything we see is a perspective, not a truth."

-Marcus Aurelius

How can everything we think we know not be true? This quote is asking an awful lot of us in believing: admit that everything you know is only an illusion. But if what you see and what you hear is not real then what is? If I look up and see the sky, walk outside and see the beach and the ocean and the trees, is that not reality? What else is there if what we think we know is not real?

This is terrifying, honestly. I cant imagine a world where nothing exists, because things have always appeared to exist. But what is the definition of existence? I think anything can be called into question if you just change its definition a little. For example, does existence refer to a higher sense, like everyone ever sees everything the same way, or is it if I see it, believe it, and know that it exists for me , does that make it real? If reality is what one perceives as existing, then everything we know is true, for that is what we believe and that is the end of it. But people will always seek out an Ultimate Truth, something that seemingly gives meaning to everything they see and hear. So the question isn't necessarily Is This Real, but What is Real? What is reality to you? To me, what I see and what I've learned through living and what I can experience myself is reality, but other people have different concepts of reality.