Friends of reality,
with apologies, and in contradiction of the home page setup, is not an actual organization. Not yet. We’re not ready. Too much infighting these days. But maybe someday?
Rather ‘friends of reality’ represents an attitude — a way of viewing and relating to the world — an ontology with consequences. This one happens to be distinctly positive. Yes, most of us most of the time, suffering a not so favorable view of reality, find the idea of being its friend absurd. But this is the greater point: Cherishing what it is that brought us to the dance is indispensable for anyone hoping for a good relationship with existence.
One might get the impression that this is a philosophy blog. But it most certainly doesn’t qualify, and is in fact something more annoying — and dangerous. Messing around with any human’s world view is the quintessential example of fraught. So to be transparent, and perhaps cautionary, the ideas presented here are all about (and can trigger) affective psychology. The better term is psychophysiology — the interrelationship of thought and emotion and how this guides our behavior; and whether our mood trends positive or negative. The whole purpose here is to help a person improve their attitude toward, and consequently their experience of, reality. And again, only in our shared reality could human psychophysiology be steered in a positive direction — should this be our disposition.
The writing is to the person reading — not their mind. This also could present a problem as the human mind, conspiring with emotionality, too often negative, typically wants to be the judge of whether the reading is worthwhile; or if an idea is good or bad, true or false, based on if-or-not it serves the mind’s own interests — and will preemptively reject an idea before recognition of its veracity might be of worldly benefit to the reader.
So our profound hope is that these ideas, and the attitude they foster, be given a chance to prove their positivity. Then maybe we all could truly be friends of reality — and form enduring clubs and societies and put on festivals celebrating our existence.