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Solipsistic Experiences
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In a solipsistic experience, there is only me in the world. Even though others exist, their existence cannot be confirmed. The reality in front of me, that of other people and the world, exists only in my own mind. Even though there are many people in the city, I may feel that I am the only one there, and that the people walking down the street are created by my own mind. This is probably because I perceive the world with a sense that is different from the normal senses. We perceive the world through our sensory organs, but in order to perceive something, we need time to perceive it. It is said that it takes at least 0.3 seconds from sensing the object of observation to recognizing it. So, for us, perceived reality is always 0.3 seconds in the past. The perceiving entity, "I," is in the present time. Everything in this world other than "I", including my own body and other people, is 0.3 seconds in the past. There is only "I" in the present. The present cannot be recognized as the present. For perception requires time, and time makes the present the past. All that is perceived is the past. The present "I" cannot be recognized, because "I" recognized is the "I" 0.3 seconds in the past. The perceived "I", considered as "I" such as body, mind, etc. is not the "I" of the present, but the "I" of the past. The other people and the world that I perceive are perceived by my sensory organs, and therefore exist within my mind. Other people and the world are objects of observation. Their existence can be confirmed by "I" observing them. Those things whose existence has been confirmed exist in the mind of "I," 0.3 seconds in the past, separate in time from "I" in the present. We can say that people who have "solipsistic experiences" are people who perceive the phenomena of this world in an abnormally normal way. "Solipsistic experiences" can not be enlightenment, but the point of "the present" must be itself "enlightenment."
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