Reality As An Ideal Construction

Reality is an ideal construct; beings possessed of what we call "consciousness" create Reality. This is not to say that all existing things are somehow dependent upon Mind or Consciousness. This asserts that a conscious being's awareness of itself existing in a Real life in a Real universe is an awareness not of something external called Reality but of a construct of that being's consciousness. Hence, when Samuel Johnson refutes Berkeley and kicks the paving cobble, his foot does not hit an ideal cobble, but rather a very "real" cobble, durable and painful in its inertia. When, however, Samuel Johnson appeals to some objective truth, such as prevails in the "real" world, he appeals to something constructed by consciousness: an ideal within an ideal; the consciousness of Reality is not simple and brutishly direct- as in kicking the stone- but rather is complex to a great degree and dependent upon Johnson's history, his memories, his beliefs: the entire range of his consciousness. When we experience an earthquake, we experience Reality in its independent and overwhelming existence. When we discuss religious beliefs, we experience Reality differing within the minds of every discussant; almost like (forgive the flippant simile) a funhouse filled with myriad mirrors reflecting light each in its own way.