Adventures in reality testing
Counselors sometime support their Clients in separating what is real from what is not.
“I am confused. I know you should never trust strangers, but I want to make new friends.” says the Client. “If it could speak, what would the confusion tell you?” the Counselor reply, beginning the exploration of the client’s belief “you should never trust stranger”, probably of parental origins, and factually incorrect: we are always stranger to one another prior to being introduced, and some people do trust some strangers. The exploration of such belief is initiated only because of the contrast with the stated goal of “making new friends”. The end point of such exploration is completely in the hands of the client: maybe he will decide to make new friends in ways which he can consider safe, maybe not; surely the tension between beliefs and goals will diminish.
So what is real? My interest to the question is practical rather than philosophical: I want to have a clear idea of what a healthy perception of reality is, so I can help a Client if needed. I believe that reality is a socially determined construct, evaluated within a moral backdrop, informed by reality testing and by the goals one is pursuing.
Reality is a socially determined construct.
If we all call this object a glass, then for me it is really a glass, regardless of the fact that Theravada Buddhists might tell me it in not inherently existent.
Evaluated within a moral backdrop.
The majority is not always right. For example, many think than a woman should earn less than a man, even when performing the same job: in this case, morality guides me in disagreeing with the majority. There are different sources of morality, probably all culturally influenced, and overall much more stable in time than society conventions (e.g. the gospel still makes sense 2000 years later)
Informed by reality testing.
If someone says that the glass in front of me is broken, I trust my senses with the capacity to examine it and ascertain if it’s really broken or not.
Informed by the concept of usefulness.
Is the glass half empty or half full? Both things are true, so I want to perceive what is more useful for the goals I am pursuing.
“I am confused. I know you should never trust strangers, but I want to make new friends.” says the Client. “If it could speak, what would the confusion tell you?” the Counselor reply, beginning the exploration of the client’s belief “you should never trust stranger”, probably of parental origins, and factually incorrect: we are always stranger to one another prior to being introduced, and some people do trust some strangers. The exploration of such belief is initiated only because of the contrast with the stated goal of “making new friends”. The end point of such exploration is completely in the hands of the client: maybe he will decide to make new friends in ways which he can consider safe, maybe not; surely the tension between beliefs and goals will diminish.
So what is real? My interest to the question is practical rather than philosophical: I want to have a clear idea of what a healthy perception of reality is, so I can help a Client if needed. I believe that reality is a socially determined construct, evaluated within a moral backdrop, informed by reality testing and by the goals one is pursuing.
Reality is a socially determined construct.
If we all call this object a glass, then for me it is really a glass, regardless of the fact that Theravada Buddhists might tell me it in not inherently existent.
Evaluated within a moral backdrop.
The majority is not always right. For example, many think than a woman should earn less than a man, even when performing the same job: in this case, morality guides me in disagreeing with the majority. There are different sources of morality, probably all culturally influenced, and overall much more stable in time than society conventions (e.g. the gospel still makes sense 2000 years later)
Informed by reality testing.
If someone says that the glass in front of me is broken, I trust my senses with the capacity to examine it and ascertain if it’s really broken or not.
Informed by the concept of usefulness.
Is the glass half empty or half full? Both things are true, so I want to perceive what is more useful for the goals I am pursuing.
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