What do you see in the picture above? It is the source code of my Facebook page. It is the source of the reality that we call the Internet. Servers and computers transmit this data to each other before an Internet Browser, such as Google Chrome, interprets this data and displays the page you read. Even when we get to the bottom of this source code, we see each of the characters is just a combination of zeros and ones. A zero means the circuit is closed and there is no electrical current, while a one means the circuit is open and current flows. In other words, the spirit of all this is provided by electricity. The newer and smarter our browser is, the faster and more accurately we can surf the Internet. If we use an older browser, however, such as Internet Explorer 4, we cannot see the things presented to us as they were intended. Sometimes it becomes necessary to improve the perception of our browsers, such as by installing the Flash plugin or enabling JavaScript. This is the essence of the Internet.
The world we live in is also like this. It’s made up of light energy and sound vibrations, a mixture of energies. Our sensory organs receive this data and transmit it to the brain for interpretation. According to the abilities of our sensory organs, the data they transmit may vary. For example, the data transmitted by the retina of a colorblind person is different to that of a “normal” eye. The brain interprets the data it receives and builds a reality, much like how Google Chrome renders a web page, and the world we live in emerges. In our daily lives, more than 4 billion bits of data are submitted to the brain, and our brain can process only a tiny fraction of it. In other words, we create our reality based on a tiny fraction of what the world presents to us. We live in a story we have chosen from the tens of thousands of possible options. The experiences we carry from the past then affect the data processing of the brain. When it detects any sort of gap, the brain usually completes its created reality with memories from the past. It’s kind of like using Photoshop to fill in a gap in a photo.
As you can see, none of us see and experience the same world as anyone else. Although there are countless scenarios for us to choose from, we continue with the one we already live in, believing that there is no alternative to it.
Meanwhile, the billions of pieces of data outside are the very definition of the “Soul.” We live in the Soul, but spiritual development is not the development of the Soul. The Soul is already infinite and perfect. Spiritual development is about making the effort to improve our brains to perceive more of the Soul, interpreting its data not just in the context of past memories but with a broader perspective. This way, the reality our brains create is altered, converted, and refined.
It will probably never be possible to fully comprehend the reality of this world, at least with our current physical perception, but it is always possible to perceive more, interpret it more clearly, and create a new reality and scenario.