The Greatest Experiment: Inhabiting Reality vs. Inhabiting Delusion

It may seem strange to ask it, but one way to put the most important question for humanity right now is this: Can we learn to inhabit reality?

By implication, this question suggests we currently inhabit delusion. That’s what the wisdom traditions of the world—including many indigenous traditions—try to make rather clear to all of us living in, or infected by, the dominant culture.

This divergence from reality appears in many ways and in a variety of forms. One of the most crazy-making forms comes to us in the economic and political realm, when business and political “leaders” tell us that our need for a thriving and just world isn’t “realistic”. When it comes to justice and ecological health—on which our personal well-being depends—the “leaders” tell us that reality itself isn’t “realistic”. 

When reality itself becomes “unrealistic,” we face the potential for grave catastrophe—not to mention general unwellness. Sadly, we have become rather accustomed to thinking of reality as “unrealistic”.

The greatest experiment of our time will is the one to find out if inhabiting reality is possible for us, before it's too late.