--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: We take that which is unreal to be real…" description: "\"We take that which is unreal to be real and that which is real to be unreal.\" — Rupert Spira" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/544/rupert-spira-27528_being-real_we-take-that-which-is-unreal-to-be-real_28623.png" --- # We take that which is unreal to be real and that which is… ![“We take that which is unreal to be real and that which is real to be unreal.” quote by Rupert Spira](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/544/rupert-spira-27528_being-real_we-take-that-which-is-unreal-to-be-real_28623.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/544/rupert-spira-27528_being-real_we-take-that-which-is-unreal-to-be-real_28623.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/544/rupert-spira-27528_being-real_we-take-that-which-is-unreal-to-be-real_28623.png) > “We take that which is unreal to be real and that which is real to be unreal.” [Rupert Spira](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rupert-spira/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Our perception flips reality, treating imagined constructs as factual while dismissing tangible experiences as illusory. **In simple terms:** Perception distorts reality. Key Takeaway Question what you accept as real. Themes perception reality illusion mindfulness cognition Mood contemplative curious skeptical Type philosophical spiritual psychological When to use this quote - meditative practice - psychological self‑inquiry - creative brainstorming - philosophical debate - spiritual contemplation Key Concepts subjectivity awareness truth Practical Applications - therapy for cognitive distortions - artistic exploration of reality Questions to Reflect On - How do you distinguish between mental constructs and lived experience? - What habits reinforce the belief that the unreal is real? ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Being real](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/being-real/) ## Related quotes > [I think there's more real in the unreal than there is in the real.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-gilbert/i-think-there-s-more-real-in-the-unreal-than-there-is-in-the-real/) [Elizabeth Gilbert](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-gilbert/) > [“Lead us from the unreal to the real. Lead us from darkness to light. Lead us from death to immortality".”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brihadaranyaka-upanishad-1-3-28/lead-us-from-the-unreal-to-the-real-lead-us-from-darkness-to-light/) Brihadaranyaka Upanishad 1.3.28 > [When I was discovered, everything happened like dominos. I don't know how to talk about it now because it's too mindblowing. It's so unreal,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/faye-dunaway/when-i-was-discovered-everything-happened-like-dominos-i-don-t-know/) [Faye Dunaway](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/faye-dunaway/) > [“Ammu's tears made everything that had so far seemed unreal, real.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/arundhati-roy/ammu-s-tears-made-everything-that-had-so-far-seemed-unreal-real/) [Arundhati Roy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/arundhati-roy/) > [There are no hard distinctions between what is real and what is unreal, nor between what is true and what is false. A thing…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/harold-pinter/there-are-no-hard-distinctions-between-what-is-real-and-what-is/) [Harold Pinter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/harold-pinter/) > [What is enquiry into the Truth? It is the firm conviction that the Self is real, and all, other than That, is unreal.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adi-shankara/what-is-enquiry-into-the-truth-it-is-the-firm-conviction-that-the/) [Adi Shankara](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adi-shankara/) > [Once you are real you can't become unreal again. It lasts for always.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/margery-williams/once-you-are-real-you-can-t-become-unreal-again-it-lasts-for-always/) [Margery Williams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margery-williams/) > [What I thought was unreal now, for me, seems in some ways to be more real than what I think to be real, which…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fred-alan-wolf/what-i-thought-was-unreal-now-for-me-seems-in-some-ways-to-be-more/) [Fred Alan Wolf](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fred-alan-wolf/) > [“The more real you get the more unreal the world gets. ”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-lennon/the-more-real-you-get-the-more-unreal-the-world-gets/) [John Lennon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-lennon/) > [The more real you get the more unreal things get](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/the-more-real-you-get-the-more-unreal-things-get/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [No one gives up on something until it turns on them, whether or not that thing is real or unreal.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-ligotti/no-one-gives-up-on-something-until-it-turns-on-them-whether-or-not/) [Thomas Ligotti](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-ligotti/) > [Old age is like an opium dream. Nothing seems real except the unreal.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oliver-wendell-holmes-jr/old-age-is-like-an-opium-dream-nothing-seems-real-except-the-unreal/) [Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oliver-wendell-holmes-jr/) > [Men of broader intellect know that there is no sharp distinction betwixt the real and the unreal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/h-p-lovecraft/men-of-broader-intellect-know-that-there-is-no-sharp-distinction/) [H. P. Lovecraft](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/h-p-lovecraft/) > [The more real you get, the more unreal everything else is.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-lennon/the-more-real-you-get-the-more-unreal-everything-else-is/) [John Lennon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-lennon/) > [The More Real you get, The More Unreal Things will.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tyga/the-more-real-you-get-the-more-unreal-things-will/) [Tyga](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tyga/) ## More by Rupert Spira > [Time is the eternal now, seen through the narrow slit of the mind.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rupert-spira/time-is-the-eternal-now-seen-through-the-narrow-slit-of-the-mind/) [Rupert Spira](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rupert-spira/) > [IF THE TRUE MEASURE OF A BOOK is to be found in the perfume that remains behind when all the words have been forgotten…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rupert-spira/if-the-true-measure-of-a-book-is-to-be-found-in-the-perfume-that/) [Rupert Spira](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rupert-spira/) > [Looking for happiness in the body, mind or world is like looking for the screen in a movie. The screen doesn't appear in the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rupert-spira/looking-for-happiness-in-the-body-mind-or-world-is-like-looking-for/) [Rupert Spira](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rupert-spira/) > [Your Self, Aware Presence, knows no resistance to any appearance and, as such, is happiness itself; like the empty space of a room it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rupert-spira/your-self-aware-presence-knows-no-resistance-to-any-appearance-and-as/) [Rupert Spira](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rupert-spira/) > [Many of our ideas and beliefs about ourselves and the world are so deeply ingrained that we are unaware that they are beliefs and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rupert-spira/many-of-our-ideas-and-beliefs-about-ourselves-and-the-world-are-so/) [Rupert Spira](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rupert-spira/) > [When feeling is divested of the feeler and the felt, it shines as love; when seeing is divested of the seer and the seen,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rupert-spira/when-feeling-is-divested-of-the-feeler-and-the-felt-it-shines-as-love/) [Rupert Spira](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rupert-spira/) > [In ignorance I am something; in understanding I am nothing, in love I am everything.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rupert-spira/in-ignorance-i-am-something-in-understanding-i-am-nothing-in-love-i/) [Rupert Spira](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rupert-spira/) > [Love is the natural condition of all experience before thought has divided it into a multiplicity and diversity of objects, selves and others.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rupert-spira/love-is-the-natural-condition-of-all-experience-before-thought-has/) [Rupert Spira](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rupert-spira/) > [Happiness is simply to allow everything to be exactly as it is from moment to moment.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rupert-spira/happiness-is-simply-to-allow-everything-to-be-exactly-as-it-is-from/) [Rupert Spira](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rupert-spira/) > [The greatest discovery in life is to discover that our essential nature does not share the limits nor the destiny of the body and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rupert-spira/the-greatest-discovery-in-life-is-to-discover-that-our-essential/) [Rupert Spira](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rupert-spira/) > [Love is the experience that others are not others. Beauty is the experience that objects are not objects.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rupert-spira/love-is-the-experience-that-others-are-not-others-beauty-is-the/) [Rupert Spira](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rupert-spira/) > [“It is the self-aware screen of awareness, upon which the drama of experience is playing and out of which it is made, that becomes…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rupert-spira/it-is-the-self-aware-screen-of-awareness-upon-which-the-drama-of/) [Rupert Spira](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rupert-spira/) > [“No formulation of the reality of experience is completely true. Once we acknowledge this, we relieve words of the impossible burden of trying to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rupert-spira/no-formulation-of-the-reality-of-experience-is-completely-true-once/) [Rupert Spira](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rupert-spira/) > [Give your attention to the experience of seeing rather than to the object seen and you will find yourself everywhere.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rupert-spira/give-your-attention-to-the-experience-of-seeing-rather-than-to-the/) [Rupert Spira](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rupert-spira/) > [We don't have to wait for the right circumstances to have happiness.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rupert-spira/we-don-t-have-to-wait-for-the-right-circumstances-to-have-happiness/) [Rupert Spira](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rupert-spira/) [Explore all 20 Rupert Spira quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rupert-spira/) ## More Being real quotes > [Don't be in such a hurry to condemn a person because she doesn't do what you do, or think as you think or as…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/malcom-x/don-t-be-in-such-a-hurry-to-condemn-a-person-because-she-doesn-t-do/) [Malcom X](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/malcom-x/) > [Well, I don't want to be king, I want to be real.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-lennon/well-i-don-t-want-to-be-king-i-want-to-be-real/) [John Lennon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-lennon/) > [Going through unknown people's profiles and judging them by their pictures is totally normal.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pradeep-chandra/going-through-unknown-people-s-profiles-and-judging-them-by-their/) Pradeep Chandra > [When you are important to another person, they will always find a way to make time for you - no excuses, no lies, and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/when-you-are-important-to-another-person-they-will-always-find-a-way/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [When you speak the truth watch the fuck niggas start hating](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/when-you-speak-the-truth-watch-the-fuck-niggas-start-hating/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [I think about everyone in my life that was harsh with me or who gave me tough love and told me things that I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charlamagne-tha-god/i-think-about-everyone-in-my-life-that-was-harsh-with-me-or-who-gave/) [Charlamagne Tha God](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charlamagne-tha-god/) > [Laugh at every mistakes and realize that no one is perfect. We are human. All of us are imperfect, so there's no point judging…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/laugh-at-every-mistakes-and-realize-that-no-one-is-perfect-we-are/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Give yourself a chance to live because nobody will live it for you when you die](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/give-yourself-a-chance-to-live-because-nobody-will-live-it-for-you/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [You've noticed a change huh ? She doesn't text you as often . She never calls you anymore . When she does text you…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/delaney-ridnour/you-ve-noticed-a-change-huh-she-doesn-t-text-you-as-often-she-never/) [Delaney Ridnour](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/delaney-ridnour/) > [I wish that one day you would finally realize that the person that is willing to love you forever is the person you are…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/khat-leen/i-wish-that-one-day-you-would-finally-realize-that-the-person-that-is/) [Khat Leen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/khat-leen/) > [..If you love her/him then why give up, nobody said love was easy and nobody said love was hard... a relationship is what you…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tevin-bostic/if-you-love-her-him-then-why-give-up-nobody-said-love-was-easy-and/) [TEVIN BOSTIC](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tevin-bostic/) > [I learned a tremendous amount about what was important to me as a head coach in that I was not in charge. I didn't…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pete-carroll/i-learned-a-tremendous-amount-about-what-was-important-to-me-as-a/) [Pete Carroll](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pete-carroll/) > [Im loving you not because you're giving me what I need, Instead I'm loving you because you're giving me this feeling I never thought…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bernajoy-vaal/im-loving-you-not-because-you-re-giving-me-what-i-need-instead-i-m/) [Bernajoy Vaal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bernajoy-vaal/) > [Be who you want to be, not what people want to see.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/be-who-you-want-to-be-not-what-people-want-to-see/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [There should be in eloquence that which is pleasing and that which is real; but that which is pleasing should itself be real.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/blaise-pascal/there-should-be-in-eloquence-that-which-is-pleasing-and-that-which-is/) [Blaise Pascal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/blaise-pascal/) [Browse all 1,607 Being real quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/being-real/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "We take that which is unreal to be real and that which is real to be unreal.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Rupert Spira" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rupert-spira/we-take-that-which-is-unreal-to-be-real-and-that-which-is-real-to-be/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Being real" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rupert-spira/we-take-that-which-is-unreal-to-be-real-and-that-which-is-real-to-be/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/544/rupert-spira-27528_being-real_we-take-that-which-is-unreal-to-be-real_28623.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/544/rupert-spira-27528_being-real_we-take-that-which-is-unreal-to-be-real_28623.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/544/rupert-spira-27528_being-real_we-take-that-which-is-unreal-to-be-real_28623.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“We take that which is unreal to be real and that which is real to be unreal.” — Rupert Spira", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Rupert Spira", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rupert-spira/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "We take that which is unreal...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rupert-spira/we-take-that-which-is-unreal-to-be-real-and-that-which-is-real-to-be/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rupert-spira/we-take-that-which-is-unreal-to-be-real-and-that-which-is-real-to-be/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```