Realization: The word "reality" is interesting because it doesn't contain any "real-ness".
It's useful as a descriptor for...well, this paradigm, what surrounds you and me, "this". If I were to use wild arm gestures to describe what "this" is, I'd open my arms in a way to "contain" everything in the room - I'd point to the couch next to me, the shelves and the window, but anyone who understands can see those are not what I'm talking about. It is to me as the confusing blob of "outside world" and "me", that's appearing in......
The outside world?
Me?
Both are the same thing?
Everything is occurring in ME makes sense as the "outside world" is based on MY perception - the body's perception.
Everything is occurring OUTSIDE makes sense too because it is what I identify as myself that makes the (egoic) ME.
I feel that there's a point where the perception of ME/OUTSIDE collapses as one single ...being/condition - the I-am-ness. Which feels like a poor name.
In the way we use this word, Real = This paradigm.
We (or should I say, I) don't even know what "real" in the truth sense means, because it is assumed that there is no paradigm other than what we are living in.
Is there? Isn't there? What qualifies as a different paradigm? I can imagine some alien culture or life as an animal, but while the content can be very different, the core - "separated awareness"- a being that is aware of the difference between themselves and the outside, remains same.