Irreality

Reality and irreality are both important for one's psyche.

It is the 15th of February of 2015, on Lulu Island. I still immerse myself in speculative fiction. I watch lots of new anime. I sometimes watch my old sci-fi video collection. Irreality helps explain reality. I do not now meet people with this interest as I easily did in high school and in university. Back then, friends with this interest were really common.

In elementary, high school, and a bit later, I studied irreality in the forms of fantasy and science fiction. When I voyaged to Japan, I found out that there was reality that was really interesting that I could not find elsewhere, and I learned about Buddhoanimism. Nevertheless, even as a child, I already had a tendency towards Buddhoanimism. My Philippine nickname was "Nonong." With this nickname, I intuitively learned Zen without knowing the concept really existed, and I learned about actual Zen only later as a teenager and beyond.

Looking at my artwork generated by Midjourney AI and Bing AI, I would say that often, irreality looks better than reality.

The analysis of gender in religion or spirituality is an esoteric theme. I for one am attracted to Buddhism, because of its masculine viewpoint about reality. Buddhists accept prevailing discontent as a condition of this illusory world, the Māyā hiding true reality, but paradoxically, they promote equanimous joy. They do not believe in sulking, like a happy boy. The portrayal of the woman is very interesting in the rendition of Dàodéjīng by Ursula K. Le Guin: Chapter 6 says, "The valley spirit never dies. Call it the mystery, the woman. The mystery, the Door of the Woman, is the root of earth and heaven. Forever this endures, forever. And all its uses are easy." Chapter 28 says, "Knowing man, and staying woman, be the riverbed of the world." Chapter 61 says, "By stillness the woman may always dominate the man, lying quiet underneath him." Such is Daoism. I know some who might think that turning to religion might be a "girlie" gesture, but it is not necessarily so. Some sci-fi buff friends of mine think that all I need is sci-fi as an exercise in understanding reality through irreality, something I have been doing since reading Dr. Seuss imaginary books in Grade 1. I analyse that it may have been originally Dr. Seuss books that encouraged me to pursue the sci-fi imaginarium throughout my life. Some sci-fact buffs, however, incline away from sci-fi, which they may think is childish, frivolous "hypotheticals." I believe also in sci-fact, invigorated by sci-fi excursions.

Some sci-fi buff friends of mine think that all I need is sci-fi as an exercise in understanding reality through irreality, something I have been doing since reading Dr. Seuss imaginary books in Grade 1, in my private school of La Salle Green Hills in Metro Manila in the Philippines. I analyse that it may have been originally Dr. Seuss books that encouraged me to pursue the sci-fi imaginarium throughout my life. Some sci-fact buffs, however, incline away from sci-fi, which they may think is childish, frivolous "hypotheticals." I also believe in sci-fact, with which, dwelling in sci-fi, I become more stimulated. I am inclined both to sci-fact and to sci-fi, and if I had to select a spiritual path, it would be Syncretic, leaning towards Eastern and Indigenous traditions, but not necessarily dismissing other traditions. I am open-minded. For many like me, reality is not enough...

Fictional stories, such as in fantasy genre and sci-fi genre, are not "lying." They are literary and cinematic art forms. Ancient peoples such the Australian Aborigines and Red Indians transmitted oral traditional animistic stories from one generation to another. The line between reality and irreality became blurred. The Japanese have a wider scope than Westerners about reality, irreality, and "betwixt."

It's the 10th of August of 2025, here on Lulu Island. Just before midnight, I eat a yellow-green apple, whilst reserving the salty sushi-chorizo rice with nori sheets and bitter-melon mung-bean soup in the refrigerator for my morning meal, later. These recent days have been uncomfortable for me due to a bad cold: How anachronistic for such blue-sky sunny days! At Tim Hortons café, I have been joking with Michael the ufologist about Trekker things such as the "Live Long and Prosper!" Vulcan greeting, the Romulan greeting "Jolan tru!" for "May your day be filled with peace!" and the Klingon greeting "nuqneH?" for "What do you want?" Michael liked The Original Series, but none of the new ones, unlike I. He watched also movies with Shatner and Nimoy. Michael doesn't read sci-fi, but pseudoscience about UFOs. He's like my other friend Bratislav who looks for reality in UFOs. I, on the other hand, accept that sci-fi is irreality for understanding reality. Sci-fi in various languages is what I read and watch. I'm still agnostic about UFOs.

But then the vision swamps that awareness, and he’s digging in the earth again, trying to prove its irreality to himself. It is rough and grainy on his palms, as real as anything he’s ever felt.