By Rebecca Fowler
Staff Writer

I’m going to try to make as much sense as possible, so bear with me.

I often think about the concept of reality, specifically the reality of people.  I have a difficult time grasping the fact others are as real and alive as I am.

Have you ever thought about that?

When someone is speaking to you, you see them talking, and your own thoughts are running through your mind.  Do you ever stop to wonder what their perspective is like?  What it is like to be looking at you and talking?  It is mind-boggling to think you are not very real to other people.

It sort of creeps me out, actually.

Because no one knows what it’s like to be anyone but themselves, I think it is physically impossible for us to fully realize other people are as real as we are, that their thoughts are just as vibrant and important to them.

In the novel Atonement by Ian McEwan the protagonist, Briony, thinks, “Was everyone else really as alive as she was?”

Briony comes to understand the reality of people through her writing, saying of stories, “There did not have to be a moral.  She need only show separate minds, as alive as her own, struggling with the idea that other minds were equally alive.  It wasn’t only wickedness and scheming that made people unhappy… it was the failure to grasp the simple truth that other people are as real as you.”

This beautiful concept is striking to me.  By coming to the awareness that others’ thoughts are as equally valuable and lively as our own, we can come to understand many more things as well.

I think about my parents, for example, and consider their reality.  They are living too, and are they living the life they always dreamed of when they were my age?  Because I am going to be in their shoes soon and will have kids who won’t understand me.  And the cycle begins again.

These thoughts help me relate to my parents and understand that, though they are adults, they are just as alive as I am.  In the same way, I think this realization can help us all be more selfless and less judgmental towards everyone.

Our world is based on perception, and without grasping the fact that people may not see you just as you see yourself, it is easy to slide into the habit of judging others and putting yourself first.  Our gaze is always subjective, and this makes it very difficult to grasp the fact that other people are as alive as we are.

This can be extremely overwhelming.  How do we treat others when we cannot physically comprehend the way they think, feel and see things?

For me, it helps to know God is not subjective like I am.  While I see the world from one small perspective, He can fully understand everyone.  I know He knows the thoughts of every person and views the world with an objective lens.

And He knows I am real, even when others don’t.