The facts vs 'the facts'

I have a couple of friends whose views of events seem deeply distorted by their own perceptions. I'm not talking about world events reported through the media; I mean the events in their own lives, and life as it happens around them and to them. By the time the details are filtered through their own biases, presuppositions and issues, their version of the facts seems to be significantly at odds with what the rest of us would call reality. This distortion is significant enough that it impairs their ability to function in society.

(And no, I'm not talking about you. Why are you so paranoid?)

We all do this to some extent, don't we? In fact, what we call 'reality' is just a general consensus among us all based upon our various imperfect views of our surroundings.

So, I have to ask myself: "How good is my grasp on reality? How severe is my distortion of events around me? And if I have it wrong, how can I find out?"

This gets back to what I said the other day about what we actually know versus what we think we know. Part of what I did in therapy for two years was compare my perceptions to generally accepted views of reality and see for the first time where they were different –– so different in a few places that other people wouldn't even recognize the 'reality' I saw.

Now I'm studying Eastern belief systems where the most fundamental views of reality are widely divergent from those of our culture.

And I want to know where my views of reality are so far off the mark that they affect my ability to lead a happy, contented life. Is this discoverable?