ON REALITY
When I wake up in the morning
I come back to my conscious state
and recognize things familiar again.
I have returned to a real world
from which I had receded for a while
during my sleeping state.
My experiences during sleep,
such as I recall, seem to have been
fantastic and illogical, even impossible,
but they strike me as such only now
when I compare them to the happenings
in this normal world of my waking hours.
My dreams have included winged elephants,
the walk on ground of giant-sized fish,
a performance by me at the Met Opera
and a debate between philosopher Shankara
and physicist Niles Bohr
on the nature of ultimate reality
at which I was the moderator.
Oh, it all was all so believable then.
I had no the wits, and no commonsense
to doubt their reality then,
for as the Dryden said “dreams are
but interludes which fancy makes
when Monarch-Reason sleeps….”
I have read philosophers
on Appearance and Reality.
Each one seems to be sure
in his or her own way
about the thesis that’s expounded.
They explore such questions as:
What is real? What is illusion?
What is imaginary? What is trustworthy?
What is deceptive? What is truth?
And what is falsehood?
These are fascinating inquiries,
but only when I am reading or writing,
or presenting a paper in a meeting,
or arguing with opponents.
Aside from making me feel good
while I am playing those games,
these questions don’t carry me far.
Yet, though remote from daily concerns,
the quest for Reality
is not at all a trivial matter.
Many take it quite seriously,
not just as lively topics
for debate and discussion.
Philosophers as reflections,
mystics for spiritual fulfillment.
Answers to such questions
May impinge on life and existence.
Some express their visions
through painting, music, and literature.
Some even given up life’s joys and comforts
to know what it’s all about.
Prince Siddhartha of ancient times
renounced wife and child
in his restless quest for Truth,
and started a new religion
that is now called Buddhism
which has touched millions over the ages.
The quest for the nature of Reality
is not trivial pursuit:
It has had significant impacts
on the course of human history.
Spurts of Thought 