There is this one of many metaphysical views that I cannot get my…

There is this one of many metaphysical views that I cannot get my head around.

It's called idealism.

Its main premise, in simplified terms, is that for their existence, objects need a mind that is perceiving them, be it with the help of senses (seeing or hearing or touching, etc.) or imagination/recall.

In other words, if it is not perceived, is does not exist.

A bit like like the old thought experiment about whether a tree in a forest makes a sound when it falls if there is no one there to hear it.


While I absolutely subscribe to the idea that we all see and perceive what we call reality differently via the feedback loop between our brains and our minds that forms as we are subjected to every bit of our life’s experience, idealism is just a bit too extreme for me.

I feel extremely arrogant, egocentric, anthropocentric and all sorts of other -centric to even entertain as a possibility an idea that the stream does not continue to do its thing when I - or any other perceiving entity - isn’t there to perceive it.

Nope.