Alternative Reality

People often joke about an alternative reality. That’s the place where up is down, light is dark, solid is opaque and, much like a fun-house mirror, is totally disorienting. It’s where people can look at the same thing, the identical set of parameters and facts, and come up with two diametrically opposing realities. A parallel universe, if you will, where everything is flipped on its head.

I’ve always wondered about this. I completely understand opposite viewpoints. Like one person standing at the back of a house and one standing at the front, their views are different. What they are looking at is not the same. But, when both are standing in front of the house and one sees a home, and the other a car, how does that happen?

In my mystery books, I deal with the alternative reality of the murderer seeing his victim (s) through a different lens. This ‘logical only to him’ view dictates his need to kill. 

Then I started flipping the entire thing in my head. Can this be a positive thing? A starving man might see a piece of toast and one egg as a feast, while a millionaire might call it garbage. Same meal, alternative reality.

Since one’s belief apparatus is at the heart of their vision, is there a way to for us to find the ‘feast’ more often than the ‘garbage?’

In the climate of our world today with all the violence happening around us, mass shootings and the like, people bullying each other, even those they don’t know, I really want to find that answer. Any thoughts?

Ciao for now.