THE PRINCIPLE OF CONCEPTUAL LIMITATION WITHIN PERCEIVED REALITY (PCL-PR)
We receive all information from the external world through our senses. These signals are transmitted to the brain, where they are “filtered,” processed, and transformed into a format that the brain can comprehend before issuing a response back to the environment.
This process is similar to how a radio device captures invisible waves and converts them into audible sounds we can understand.
From this, an undeniable truth emerges: the reality we perceive is inherently “limited” by the brain’s filtering mechanism.
It’s like standing at the bottom of a well, where the sky we see is only a small fragment, while the true vastness of reality remains far beyond our view.
This leads to a crucial issue, which I call the Principle of Conceptual Limitation within Perceived Reality (PCL-PR):
The conceptualization of a phenomenon can only occur within the scope that a conscious entity is capable of perceiving. Phenomena that lie beyond this range of perception cannot be fully conceptualized.
This is why, for thousands of years, despite the relentless efforts of humanity’s greatest minds—from philosophers and scientists to enlightened sages—many fundamental areas such as consciousness, awareness, enlightenment, the universe, and the soul still reside within a zone of ambiguity, interpreted in countless different ways.
Some may argue that the inability to fully conceptualize these phenomena does not significantly impact daily life.
However, in truth, it sets fundamental limits on humanity’s advancement, especially in cutting-edge technology.
The most evident example is our ongoing struggle to define the nature of consciousness:
If we cannot clearly conceptualize what consciousness is, how can we determine whether an AI system has achieved consciousness?
And how can we create an AGI (Artificial General Intelligence) that truly “lives,” unlocking technological leaps toward the “singularity” humanity dreams of?
When we attempt to study consciousness, we inevitably fall into a self-referential loop:
Using consciousness to perceive consciousness, like placing a mirror before another mirror and creating infinite reflections.
Thus, concepts like “consciousness,” “self,” “enlightenment,” “pure awareness” cannot be fully captured by language or logic, because they transcend the current framework of human brain and sensory perception.
These matters belong to what can be called the “supra-reality” — realms beyond our ordinary reality.
It is time we humbly acknowledge the limits of our cognitive and conceptual capacities.
Persisting with the traditional methodology—trying to define that which lies outside our perceptual boundaries—is like attempting to photograph an object that does not reflect light: the endeavor will always be in vain.
Moreover, accepting these limitations brings an extraordinary benefit:
It can reconcile the endless philosophical, religious, and cosmological debates that have divided humanity for millennia.
With humility in our awareness, and with the understanding that there exist layers of “supra-reality” beyond the reach of language, logic, and current conceptual tools, we can open the door to entirely new approaches.
These approaches could involve non-traditional modes of thinking, or the development of technologies that expand the horizon of human perception itself.
Only then can human civilization truly evolve—not merely in accumulated knowledge, but in our fundamental awareness of ourselves and the universe.
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