The real world

When one goes on retreat — whether into nature or some other place designed for such things — there comes an end to the experience when participants rerun to the “real world” … one that is presumably filled with noise, distraction, and burden.

It’s curious that we use this phrase, “returning to the real world”. As though one of these worlds is real and the other is not. And besides, which is which?

At times, we may have it backwards.