Escaping reality

[Maniceureka]

The world kinda sucks, and it tends to suck really bad at times so i like to escape reality.
I feel more alive when i'm playing in my imaginary world inside of my head, and i'm often more happy and satisfied in there.
I guess there's several ways to escape reality, but music does it for me. I can at any time start playing my music and close my eyes to shut away reality (putting my head in the sand). Being an introverted person this really helps at school (even though it make's me look like an outsider).

So what are your thoughts on this? Do you do the same? What do you do to escape reality? And when are you escaping reality too much?

 

[ashitaria]

First off, I want everyone to know I'm an INTP. Check my signature.

Alright, here's my thoughts. You are running away from reality. Reality isn't as bad as you think, as long as you get out and do something.

I remember that when I was in grade to middle school, I was hated by the vast majority. I was spat at, hit at, verbally abused, yet, I fought back verbally and physically. I can sympathize with you.

But when I came to High School, I tried a different approach. I said Hi to everyone, I asked their names. That was all it took. I met people that I could relate to and people I enjoyed being with (well, sometimes. have yet to meet a fellow INTP). I started to work a little harder and tried to compromise with my parents more. The quality of my life turned up-hill. Of course, there are times when I feel that people don't know me for who I am. When people call you smart, you feel fake. When people laugh at you, you feel fear. But in all cases though, try to develop a bit of extroversion. I can assure you how much better your school life will become.

On the other hand, when it comes to my own world, I lock myself in my room with the computer and internet set. I listen to my MP3 at full blast and I visit the school library. Books are a good way to withdraw too. I bring a book everywhere I go.

 

[Anthile]

I never fully understood [the label of 'escapist'] till my friend Professor Tolkien asked me the very simple question, 'What class of men would you expect to be most preoccupied with, and most hostile to, the idea of escape?' and gave the obvious answer: jailers.
~ C. S. Lewis, "On Science Fiction"

 

[Maniceureka]

First off, I want everyone to know I'm an INTP. Check my signature.

Alright, here's my thoughts. You are running away from reality. Reality isn't as bad as you think, as long as you get out and do something.

I remember that when I was in grade to middle school, I was hated by the vast majority. I was spat at, hit at, verbally abused, yet, I fought back verbally and physically. I can sympathize with you.

But when I came to High School, I tried a different approach. I said Hi to everyone, I asked their names. That was all it took. I met people that I could relate to and people I enjoyed being with (well, sometimes. have yet to meet a fellow INTP). I started to work a little harder and tried to compromise with my parents more. The quality of my life turned up-hill. Of course, there are times when I feel that people don't know me for who I am. When people call you smart, you feel fake. When people laugh at you, you feel fear. But in all cases though, try to develop a bit of extroversion. I can assure you how much better your school life will become.

On the other hand, when it comes to my own world, I lock myself in my room with the computer and internet set. I listen to my MP3 at full blast and I visit the school library. Books are a good way to withdraw too. I bring a book everywhere I go.

I think that you missunderstood me, im not a bullied kid without friends, its just that i choose to be alone at times and that people in general can be very exhausting.
You see, it's not that i have social issues (maybe a little though). I just wanna know what people think about escaping reality and what they do to escape it.

 

[ashitaria]

I think that you missunderstood me, im not a bullied kid without friends, its just that i choose to be alone at times and that people in general can be very exhausting.
You see, it's not that i have social issues (maybe a little though). I just wanna know what people think about escaping reality and what they do to escape it.

I guess I was reading too much into your post.
I thought it would have meant more than the literal sense, most INTP posts are like that. Oh well.

Hm...I have my alone time as well. I frequently have those "leave me alone" bouts that people usually recognize, though for the most part I make people laugh a lot.

If you want quiet though, I suggest you go outside or go to the library. The outside is usually much more quiet than the inside, especially in the corridors after lunch. Since the library is a public place, there is always a chance it could be noisy.

A good set of earphones and an MP3 player works well. I suggest you buy those big leather earphones- they block out noise tremendously, as compared to the smaller white plastic ones.

A book is good too. When you are reading a book, people usually are reluctant to talk to you. After all, who would like to be interrupted suddenly?

 

[Cognisant]

On weekends I'll occasionally go for extended walks around my hometown (Brisbane) and think about anything & everything, by the time I get home I'll have lapped the CBD two or three times, with little to no memory of my travels.

I highly recommend it.
(just keep in mind it's not an exercise regime, it's a leisure activity)

 

[Pythia]

I just wanna know what people think about escaping reality and what they do to escape it.

I do it often, sometimes without noticing. In the absence of a book or music, usually thinking of hypothetical situations does the job.
I'm not sane...

 

[Irishpenguin]

It is fairly easy for me to accidentally fall out of reality, especially when I have nothing in particular focus on. I too love my imaginary world that I have with it's seemingly endless boundaries, and listening to music is just like shooting steroids right into that imaginary world. However, I recently read a quote someone said on this forum that put things into perspective for me a little bit,

"A preconceived world can never be as fruitful as a world full of unpredictable events"
(or somewhere along these lines)

The member was quoting someone else and didn't actually upfront tell somebody that. (just in case it was confusing)

Now don't get me wrong, I'm still lovin' it up in my own world up there, but I just thought to myself

"Hmmm.....he has a point.."

 

[warryer]

I like going for walks. Sometimes I just walk around town at night because it is so much more peaceful, very little traffic. It's especially nice when it's a summer night because I absolutely love the sound of crickets and frogs.

There is this one park that has kind of a peninsula with a gazebo at the end. The lake is an old filled in quarry. The view sitting with your back to the gazebo is stunning. I like going there to read or just be by myself.

Believe it or not I find something oddly calming about busy city subways and airports (back when you could go just about anywhere). Also driving is a big one. When I am feeling like shit taking my car out with a pack of cigarettes and the music blaring to explore new areas is my thing.

Being alone in any environment (natural or man made) in a place where you can't be bothered- just perfect.

 

[Da Blob]

You know i do wonder whether it is an escape from reality or an escape to reality. I mean music is real, somehow the world as seen on foot is a bit more realistic, than the blurred and restricted vision of the same scenery as viewed from a speeding automobile. Many of the things that have been described as escapes, are not really escapes at all. I really wonder at society in general. The values, behaviors and priorities strike me as being rather surrealistic or at best primitive - a shared fantasy of some sort.

I think there is a great deal of pressure to be what others want us to be, to play the role in their fantasy, that they have assigned to us, "irregardless" of who we really are and what role we could perform if given a chance.

This escape from reality can be seen as escaping from a shared fantasy of those around us and a return to our own reality of our own making.

 

[Maniceureka]

You know i do wonder whether it is an escape from reality or an escape to reality. I mean music is real, somehow the world as seen on foot is a bit more realistic, than the blurred and restricted vision of the same scenery as viewed from a speeding automobile. Many of the things that have been described as escapes, are not really escapes at all. I really wonder at society in general. The values, behaviors and priorities strike me as being rather surrealistic or at best primitive - a shared fantasy of some sort.

I think there is a great deal of pressure to be what others want us to be, to play the role in their fantasy, that they have assigned to us, "irregardless" of who we really are and what role we could perform if given a chance.

This escape from reality can be seen as escaping from a shared fantasy of those around us and a return to our own reality of our own making.

Have you ever felt that your life seems like a movie and that you are just sitting there watching it, as you in real life do all these daily stuff, y'know as if you've lost your free will?

 

[Da Blob]

Have you ever felt that your life seems like a movie and that you are just sitting there watching it, as you in real life do all these daily stuff, y'know as if you've lost your free will?

I think so, there have been prolonged periods of my life where i felt as though I was just "going through the motions" of being alive. I saw myself as some kind of half-dead zombie, being manipulated by some off-stage Zombie Master, a Puppeteer. A Puppeteer's performance where I was both the puppet and the audience.

 

[warryer]

Interesting concept Blob. Society does feel very ritualistic and fake. You can look at such things as political correctness for proof.

Has anybody had a core-shaking, reality shattering "what the fuck!?" experience? It happens occasionally to me when I'm going about my usual day. Something will happen that strikes me as odd. I stop whatever I'm doing and look around at everything thinking how messed up all of this is. Only to become comfortably numb again.

(Manic I like your sig)

 

[violetblue]

i don't know. i guess it depends on how you define "reality." in some ways, i think someone could accuse me of escaping reality by burrowing in with some topic of interest or idea (or computer game, or set of puzzles---or whatever my current obsession is.) but is that any less real than what goes on outside my door?

that having been said---i do need to do something a little more interactive. depression can set in if isolation goes on too long. i think it's a balance: being in the world and having one's own (internal) corner of it.

 

[Luminates]

Music is my ultimate way to escape or enter reality, whichever one you find suitable for the moment. here is an idea. On a clear decent temperature day, go and set on your roof, listen to your favorite music and just stare out into the sky. I did this quite frequently during summer last year, and it was just the best.

 

[Cavallier]

I would walk around at night in my little town since it's actually pretty safe but...well, I've come face to face with a raccoon before and now I know they can take me. Raccoons are scary as hell.

I think that the phrase "escaping reality" is a misnomer.

It isn't so much that we are escaping reality as we are forcing our heads to ponder something other than those things which are currently bothering us. We are short circuiting our angst/worry. I don't understand how "reality" is a part of this phenomenon.

Okay, that's a lie. I understand that we are escaping reality in that we need a way to ignore the shit happening in our lives from time to time. We aren't always in a position to fight against the things that suck in our lives so in order to stay sane we "escape reality" for a few hours by listening to music and what not.

Alright, so now that I've disputed your claim and then backed up your claim with my own logic I'll just shut up.

 

[Adymus]

Cavallier: I don't know about you, but I certainly don't need to "force" myself to drift off into the ethereal, that just happens naturally.



I never understood why Escapism has such a bad connotation.

"Alcohol is bad because people drink it to escape reality"
"Drugs are just an escape from reality."

Why is it so wrong to want to be away from the here and now every so often? If reality is a state of constant labor, as they seem to be proposing it is, and you want to escape that from time to time, you're not a slacker, you are a human being. There is no sense in dwelling on problems that cannot be helped at that moment, and a life of constant work is not a life worth living. Indulgences come as naturally to people as hunger does, I don't see why we are supposed to be resisting this.


Enough ranting...

So yeah, music also does it for me, reading is another good one. Going out to raves used to be a huge one for me, and it was a literal escape, from not just reality but society. Like for a short moment in time I got to be in a world where nothing mattered except for what was happening at that moment, and all social norms and rules were gone... I miss that.

 

[Cavallier]

Cavallier: I don't know about you, but I certainly don't need to "force" myself to drift off into the ethereal, that just happens naturally.

Sure. But that's not escapism is it? More like day dreaming...except that since we INTPs put so much thought into it it's more like unfocused intellectualizing.

See, this fuzziness in the definition of escapism is what I was attempting to explain earlier...though I did so poorly.

I never understood why Escapism has such a bad connotation.

"Alcohol is bad because people drink it to escape reality"
"Drugs are just an escape from reality."

Why is it so wrong to want to be away from the here and now every so often? If reality is a state of constant labor, as they seem to be proposing it is, and you want to escape that from time to time, you're not a slacker, you are a human being.

I think it becomes a problem when someone does it all the time and never deals with their problems.

 

[Adymus]

Sure. But that's not escapism is it? More like day dreaming...except that since we INTPs put so much thought into it it's more like unfocused intellectualizing.

See, this fuzziness in the definition of escapism is what I was attempting to explain earlier...though I did so poorly.

I think it becomes a problem when someone does it all the time and never deals with their problems.

I don't really see the distinction... Daydreaming is practically a recreational activity for me. While some people play video games, I pace around my kitchen.

I understand that the definition of Escapism implies that it is not in moderation. However the context that I usually hear it in seems to consider how much moderation is put into it as irrelevant. For instance when I used to argue with people on other forums whether drugs should be illegal or not, I had "They make you escape from reality, and that's bad!" used on me over and over again. Or an even better one I got one time was "The time a spends being high is time they are wasting not working." As if it is wrong for people to have free time for recreation.

But, I'm just going to go out on a limb and say that these people I was arguing with were either kind of just grasping at straws, or regurgitating something they heard somewhere else and probably didn't put very much thought into their argument in the first place.

 

[Cavallier]

I don't really see the distinction...

Hmmm...I think it's a matter of intent. That is the distinction. Is your intent in daydreaming to escape reality or is it to explore the intricacies of a theory or idea?

If it is the former then it is escapism. If it is the latter then it is...well, daydreaming. I daydream when I'm happy and have no need to escape reality. I daydream when I am depressed and do have a need to escape reality. The act of daydreaming itself isn't escapism. It's merely an activity I use for my purposes. Sometimes, like art, it has it's own purpose. I daydream for the sake of daydreaming.

 

[Maniceureka]

So, would you consider using drugs to be a valid way to escape reality?
I'll just add that i have never used drugs, but i don't have anything agains't drugs either.

 

[Cavallier]

So, would you consider using drugs to be a valid way to escape reality?
I'll just add that i have never used drugs, but i don't have anything agains't drugs either.

Yes. In so much as alcohol is. I think that things like weed and the odd psychedelic are great for escaping reality in a way that's healthy if not overly used.

 

[amorfati]

I've been an absent minded day dreamer for as long as I can remember and it's only gotten worse over time.

Videogames were my escape when I was a kid, and then whatever obsession took over next. Then when I was a teenager music was my escape, and then it was alcohol for many years.

These days I don't need to do anything external to escape reality. I think my mind has habitually been escaping reality since I've been a kid and now I'm constantly in my head without even being conscious of it. Music is still a huge escape for me, but the difference these days is that there is so much music playing in my head all the time that I don't even need to listen to actual music. I'm more tuned in to the music in my head than I am to the world around me most of the time.

EDIT - By "reality" I simply mean the material world. Most of my life has been lived in my mind; in thought. I don't think the material world is any more "real" than the mind, but for better or worse, the material world is what is usually referred to as "reality".

 

[Beat Mango]

You know i do wonder whether it is an escape from reality or an escape to reality. I mean music is real, somehow the world as seen on foot is a bit more realistic, than the blurred and restricted vision of the same scenery as viewed from a speeding automobile. Many of the things that have been described as escapes, are not really escapes at all. I really wonder at society in general. The values, behaviors and priorities strike me as being rather surrealistic or at best primitive - a shared fantasy of some sort.

I think there is a great deal of pressure to be what others want us to be, to play the role in their fantasy, that they have assigned to us, "irregardless" of who we really are and what role we could perform if given a chance.

This escape from reality can be seen as escaping from a shared fantasy of those around us and a return to our own reality of our own making.

As your favourite guy Nietzsche said, "to many, solitude is the escape of the invalid. To others, solitude is the escape from the invalids".

Anyway, I daydream and fantasise about possibilities that haven't manifested yet, that's how I "escape"...

 

[Beat Mango]

Yes. In so much as alcohol is. I think that things like weed and the odd psychedelic are great for escaping reality in a way that's healthy if not overly used.

Unless your brain is unstable like mine in which case they completely fuck with you.

 

[Cavallier]

Unless your brain is unstable like mine in which case they completely fuck with you.

Slightly unrelated: I used to swear that pseudoephedrine made me borderline psychotic for at least 48 hours after taking it in cold medicine. Doctors and relatives all told me I was being silly. Recently they've discovered that in high doses it can cause paranoid psychosis. Once I got over feeling validated I realized that I never took more than the recommended dosage...

Note to self: Don't ever do meth.

 

[White Rabbit]

Alcohol, drugs and long period of isolation. If I haven't gone through this period, I am pretty sure I would have never learned to appreciate the world I'm part of. Escaping reality is not interesting anymore. Messing with it is.

 

[Agent Intellect]

Every once in a while I start to get scared that I spend too much time in my own head, and that I may be losing my grip on reality. I am only a notch or two away from having imaginary friends (which, at my age, is probably only another leap from dissociative identity disorder), particularly at work which is mind numbing activity surrounding by brainless automatons. I sometimes find myself forgoing real world upkeep in favor of my fantasies and daydreams. I have entire recurring characters in my head that I will have imaginary discourse with (hasn't evolved into talking out loud... yet) and in a lot of cases, I prefer their company over human contact. Sometimes while driving my car, I have to keep reminding myself to pay attention to the road because I am so lost in my thoughts (I've made some people behind me angry when I'm driving 40 in a 55 zone, unaware of how fast I'm driving). So, as far as escaping, I think I pulled a "Shawshank Redemption" on reality long ago. Perhaps this is why I need the credo emblazoned in my avatar.

 

[snafupants]

first, i think by escaping reality, one means escaping boring conventions of modern living. because obviously whether reality is in your head or in a park or in academia, thats all reality.

second, the world doesnt suddenly change when you feel great. sorry, it doesnt. you change, which makes everything seem rosier. dont get me wrong, nothing wrong with feeling good.