Reality.

"Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one." - Albert Einstein

While thinking of my next post for tomorrow (I usually try to prepare a subject, and have a deep think about it), I came across the subject of reality. This one really confuses me, as I brought myself to think - "Is anything reality?"

According to the online dictionary, where I generally acquire all my definitions, reality is: "The state or quality of being real", "Resemblance to what is real" or "A real thing or fact."- this brings the question to me, "how do I determine what is real, and what isn't?" 

Why does 1+1 have to equal 2? What is 1? A number? A way of counting? Or just an illusion we have been made to think existed, to help us with our life? Where does the number come from? 

When people show you things, are they showing you a true form of what is real? Or a false piece of information? In our days of extreme technology, it is hard to define the difference between reality and illusion. 

The Pirahã tribe doesn't have a concept of counting at all. They cannot understand the logic behind it. This is really hard for me to understand, being a 'wannabee' mathematician and physicist myself. A life without counting would be weird, it's been drilled into our brains from such a young age. This bring me to the question, are numbers needed in life? Or are they just an illusion?

Once I start thinking, I confuse myself with my own thoughts. 

One definition of reality, as stated before is "A real thing or fact.", do we even know what fact's are anymore? Is anything absolutely certain? Different people have different grasps on things. One fact, in my way of being brought up is that 2+2=4. There is no denying it, at all. But then when we get to the physics part, is it an actual fact that light takes 1.255seconds to get to the moon?

Is everything we understand about out Universe actually correct? There is still much to learn. The simple fact that we discovered Neutrino's (If you don't understand, don't worry. Its not too important - it just defy's Einstein's theories, however gives us the prospect of time travel technology if neutrinos do work this way. So I recommend researching this.) beating the Speed of Light. What is time? Does this exist too? Is it reality? Or just an illusion, based upon our position in space?

To conclude, once you start trying to think about all these questions, or about what is reality at this moment in time - it is hard to stop, for me at least. You should have a think about everything you know, and if it is an actual fact, or an illusion made up to make your own life easier. 

Thanks for reading, Ben.