Reality has always been the same. It's the Observer who is different and they change over time. The Universe has been following the same rules it always has, and always will. The Observer projects an understanding onto reality based on their own experiences, state of mind, values, belief systems, needs, and desires. Sometimes the world feels scary; other times, it's beautiful. Some people view it with pessimism, while others are eternally optimistic. Some feel helpless, while others manifest their goals and change the world.

When you interact with others, read books or articles, or watch videos, you'll notice that everything is analyzed from many perspectives—points and counterpoints, theories and alternatives on everything from math to physics, philosophy to morality. This diversity reflects the differences in human thought and experience throughout our history. If you view the world through the lens of right and wrong or moral and immoral, you'll perceive that dimension. If you look at it through fear, curiosity, pessimism, or optimism, you'll find those dimensions, but those are just some of the infinite dimensions at play.

How each Observer resonates with reality differs based on how they are wired. We all want to survive, and we want our values, beliefs, cultures, and loved ones to endure. So we constantly reframe the world to support that survival. As we learn and change, we reframe our experiences and perceptions to match our idea of reality. When reality doesn't align with that, we experience conflict—a conflict we resolve either by changing ourselves or by trying to change the world.

Our understanding of reality starts with our senses: vision, touch, smell, hearing, taste, and internal sensations like proprioception, vestibular, and interoception. These senses are limited compared to other creatures: we don't have the reflexes of a cat, the vision of an owl, the smell of a dog, or the radar of a bat. We also haven't seen much of the world—we aren't dolphins exploring the ocean with their unique perception. How we interpret the information we gather from our senses depends on our genetics, experiences, values, and conditioning. This conditioning comes from where we grow up, the time in history we lived in, our socio-political environment, family, friends, books, jobs, challenges, successes, and failures.

Each of us has a story about how reality is and how we wish it to be. These stories are never going to completely align with each other because they reflect our individual needs, values, and dreams. We project these stories onto the Universe to ensure our survival—not just physically, but also in terms of our values, cultures, hopes, and dreams. We experience the world in a relative sense, responding to changes and gradients, much like how cells in our body react to shifts in hormone levels or how parasites navigate a host by sensing chemical gradients. Our perception is shaped by fluctuations, rather than any absolute state of being. In a stable state, we perceive nothing and call it peace. But when there's a shift, we respond. If it's positive, we're happy. If it's negative, it brings pain.

As the saying goes, if you are a hammer, everything looks like a nail. If you go to a doctor with a particular specialty or certain knowledge, they can only diagnose based on what they know, so they will diagnose the issue as related to their specialty; as an engineer, I see reality as a series of building blocks, all interacting together to create the complexity we experience. To truly understand reality, you need to understand yourself—your senses, limitations, values, and conditioning. You need to step back from your personal biases, be open to other perspectives, and learn from other forms of life.

Reality can be beautiful, scary, tragic, cruel, or kind—sometimes all at once. When you read someone’s thoughts about the world, remember that they are speaking more about themselves than the world itself. In the same way, your thoughts about the world are a reflection of you. Understand and accept your own reality, be curious about others, and choose how you want to evolve.