Prajna: 12 Universal Wrong Conceptions: 4. Reality
- Apr 1, 2025
- 15 min read
Updated: Dec 14, 2025
«Of course I’ll hurt you. Of course you’ll hurt me. Of course we will hurt each other. But this is the very condition of existence. To become spring, means accepting the risk of winter. To become presence, means accepting the risk of absence.» ― Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, "Manon, Ballerina".
Taxonomy of Existence
4. Reality
In its broadest sense, Reality (from realitas, meaning "thing") encompasses everything that exists, whether or not it is perceptible, accessible, or fully understood by philosophy, science, or other systems of thought. In common usage, reality refers to “all that exists”, the existencial side of Uno (whether be a desert of Emptiness or a abundance of Being, whether Material or Imaterial, whether Monistic, Dualistic, Idealistic, Non-Dualistic, or else).
Reality is not a single block of existence; it is a layered, dynamic, and relational field in which internal and external domains arise together, interdependently. What we call “the real” is always a meeting point—a conjunction—between what exists independently of the observer and the way this existence is interpreted, filtered, measured, or lived.
Reality thus emerges as a composite phenomenon organized through multiple distinctions: internal/external, subjective/objective, fabricated/natural, aligned/conflicting, material/immaterial, present-existing/past–future inexisting. These distinctions do not divide reality; they illuminate its modalities of appearance.
Traditionally, the real is understood as that which exists outside of any individual mind—an objective reality. However, reality can also include the internal experiences and constructs that exist within the mind. Concepts like memory, illusion and imagination, equation and reasoning, and language, though not always manifesting in the tangible world (extra mentis), exist ontologically (ontically, referring to beings, as discussed by Heidegger in Being and Time), meaning they exist within the mind (intra mentis)—an subjective reality.
These internal experiences are real in their own right, even if they are illusory. The illusion, by existing, is real and true to itself. It does not deny its nature; it affirms its own existence. The internal world of ideas (or spirits), while existing as fictitious entities of the mind (ens fictionis), holds its own reality. These ideas may or may not also exist in the external world, but their status as ideas does not invalidate their reality as mental constructs. An imagined or idealized entity, even if it remains within the realm of thought, has a form of reality.
The external objective reality is the natural world, resistant to interpretation: mountains, stars, oceans, atoms, organisms. The external subjective reality is the interpretation of these facts through culture, ideology, language, and emotion.
The internal objective reality is the measurable physiological and neurological substrate of experience. The internal subjective reality is the domain of thoughts, imagination, desires, fears, dreams, and meaning—unmeasurable from the outside, yet undeniable from within.
Reality is thus both what is and what is seen, both the independent world and the dependent arising of interpretation.
But a full account of reality also requires understanding the conditions under which a point of view arises—because every lived reality is a reality-from-somewhere, a reality observed by some “A” in relation to some “B.” And this relation itself becomes a constitutive dimension of what reality is for that observer.
Perspectives, Points of View, and the Structure of Reality
A point of view only exists when certain conditions are met. These conditions illuminate the relational nature of experience and reveal why “reality” multiplies into countless overlapping versions.
Consciousness and the Possibility of a View
To have a point of view, there must be:
awareness of oneself (the subject),
perception (a way to receive data),
memory (a context for interpretation), and
conceptual capacity (to organize experience into meaning).
Without these foundations, nothing that could be called a “view” emerges—only unprocessed stimulus or unconscious existence.
The Relationship (A->B) is the "Point of View"
As in the topographer analogy, the "point of view" or "reality" is the measurement—the relationship between A and B.
Point of View := f(A,B)
Even if two people (A1 and A2) look at the same objective target (B)—say, the Prime Minister on TV—they process it through a unique A.
The Necessity of A (the Subject) and B (the Target)
A point of view always requires two poles:
A: the observer, with a unique configuration of memories, emotions, assumptions, state of mind, and biological/neurological conditions;
B: the object, event, or idea toward which attention is directed.
...a view is not A alone, nor B alone. The view is the relationship between A and B.
This relationality is beautifully illustrated in the analogy of the topographer:
A is the exact position from which the observer stands.
B is the point being measured.
The “point of view” is the measured relation (angle, distance) connecting A to B.
Change A, and the measurement changes. Change B, and the relationship changes. Thus, every point of view is the result of a specific configuration, never repeatable or universal.
Interpretation as the Generator of Countless Realities
Since A is always unique—shaped by:
internal/external conditions,
subjective/objective filters,
natural/fabricated constructs,
emotional and cognitive states,
cultural frameworks,
pathologies or clarity,
memory and imagination—
then the resulting A→B relation is also unique.
If two people watch the same event on television, the event (B) is shared, but the internal filters (A) differ. Thus, the external objective fact becomes two external subjective realities.
If a person dreams, A and B are both internal, but the dream is still a reality-from-somewhere—an internal subjective reality.
If someone suffers a cognitive distortion, their A changes, altering even the interpretation of internal objects (B), generating a different lived reality.
Infinite Overlapping Realities
When reality is understood as the relationship between A and B:
Reality(A,B) = f(A,B)
then the possibilities become infinite.
There are infinitely many configurations of A and B, producing infinitely many realities—internal and external, subjective and objective, natural and fabricated, aligned and conflicting. These realities overlap because many observers look at the same B from different A’s, and they multiply because even a single observer changes from moment to moment.
Philosophical Implications
This framework does not dissolve the external world into mere subjectivity; it clarifies that what is real for an observer is always mediated by a unique position. Reality is not only what exists independently, but also the way existence is lived, interpreted, and related to.
Thus, the structure of reality is:
the world-as-it-is (independent),
the observer-as-they-are (subjective), and
the relationship that arises between them (the point of view).
Reality is never one thing; it is always a meeting.
The Collision of Realities
However, conflict arises when objective reality (the external, shared world) collides with subjective reality (the internal world of ideas, emotions, and interpretations). When the inner narrative—the individual’s constructed sense of meaning, memory, and perception—diverges too greatly from the external order of things, a state of cognitive and existential dissonance emerges.
This divergence can occur in varying degrees:
In mild forms, it produces confusion, doubt, or emotional distress.
In deeper forms, it can destabilize the sense of identity, truth, and coherence of experience itself.
When persistent and unresolved, such divergence becomes a seedbed for psychological and psychiatric disturbances.
In this collision, the internal world attempts to impose its structure upon external reality—a struggle between inner conviction and outer evidence. If the subjective world grows rigid or inflated (for instance, through obsessive thought, delusional certainty, or exaggerated self-reference), perception becomes distorted. The individual no longer adjusts perception to reality but tries to bend reality to perception.
Conversely, when objective reality becomes oppressive or overwhelmingly painful, the mind may retreat into its internal world—a compensatory act of preservation. In both cases, balance between the subjective and objective planes breaks down, and the individual’s connection to Ultimate Reality—the ground of Being that harmonizes both inner and outer—is obscured.
Psychological and Health Consequences
The persistent tension between subjective illusion and objective fact is not merely philosophical—it has profound psychological and physiological implications. When the mind cannot reconcile what it perceives internally with what it encounters externally, it generates sustained mental friction, emotional suffering, and energetic imbalance.
Such dissonance contributes to a range of pathological conditions:
Anxiety arises from the uncertainty between imagined futures and present reality.
Depression often manifests when inner ideals collapse under the weight of outer impossibility.
Paranoia grows where the inner world projects fear onto neutral outer phenomena.
Psychosis or schizophrenia may emerge when the boundaries between internal and external realities dissolve altogether.
These conditions represent, at their root, distortions in the relationship between realities—when the subjective ceases to correspond harmoniously with the objective and loses awareness of the Ultimate. Healing and mental well-being therefore depend on restoring the equilibrium among the three planes:
grounding perception in objective reality,
cultivating clarity and flexibility in subjective reality, and
awakening insight into Ultimate Reality, which transcends and reconciles both.
In this harmony, reality ceases to be fragmented; the internal and external are seen as reflections of a single continuum—an indivisible field of Being in which truth and illusion coexist as complementary dimensions of consciousness.
From the inner psychological consequences, we now expand to the external and collective processes that build, conceal, and interact through our shared perception of Reality.
Creation and Construction of Scaled Realities and Perceptions
Reality, for the human mind, is not a fixed object but a continual act of construction. Every perception, every memory, and every word participates in the ceaseless creation of the world as it appears to us. The simplest sensory event — the color of a leaf, the tone of a voice — already contains layers of translation: from sensation to recognition, from recognition to meaning, from meaning to belief. We do not see the world directly; we assemble it.
This assembly begins microscopically — in the neurons, in the cells, in the vibrations that stimulate sense and thought. Each impression becomes encoded in the nervous system, associated with emotions, and finally clothed with words. A small-scale perception thus becomes a large-scale “truth.” This is how the private moment of awareness transforms into the public structure of belief. One person’s fear, repeated through stories, becomes collective anxiety; one person’s vision, shared through symbols, becomes a civilization.
Human societies have always built grand architectures of reality from these small impressions: religions, political ideologies, markets, and sciences. Each is a reality-production system, an organized field of shared perception. The machinery that sustains them includes language, repetition, authority, and emotional resonance — the same mechanisms that, at the psychological level, form habits and fixations. As the scale of creation expands, imagination can become doctrine, and hypothesis can harden into 'positive' law, shaping the behavior of millions.
At the heart of this process lies intention: the conscious or unconscious direction of attention and meaning. To create a reality is to decide what counts as real. A civilization that exalts competition will build cities and economies that mirror struggle; one that reveres cooperation will structure itself around care. In both cases, physical structures follow metaphysical images. The invisible molds the visible.
And yet, the larger the construction, the more fragile it becomes. Large-scale realities depend on consensus — on the repeated act of collective belief. When that belief weakens or fractures, what once appeared as solid truth begins to dissolve. The world changes not because the underlying nature shifts, but because the shared lens through which it is viewed is replaced. Civilizations rise and fall through the collective reorganization of perception.
Every word, therefore, is a seed of a possible world. - Used carelessly, language hypnotizes entire populations into mistaking abstraction for substance. Used wisely, it liberates the mind from confusion.
To understand the creation of large-scale realities is to regain responsibility for the worlds we weave — from the smallest thought to the most encompassing cosmos.
Background and Hidden Realities
Behind every visible order operates an invisible one. What we call “background reality” is not another world apart from ours, but the underlying field of conditions, relations, and causes that silently sustain appearance.
The human mind, limited by attention and language, perceives only the surface—what is foregrounded by habit, interest, and emotion. Yet beneath each event lies immense complexity that remains unseen but never inactive.
Modern science calls this realm hidden variables or underlying fields.
Psychology calls it the unconscious.
Philosophy calls it the noumenon, the thing-in-itself.
Each points toward the same insight: that what we see is a partial emergence of a deeper totality.
These hidden realities are not sinister; they are simply unmeasured. They hold the potential forms not yet perceived. In physics, dualities remind us that two seemingly incompatible descriptions can express one and the same phenomenon. The quantum particle is both wave and point, depending on the lens of observation. Likewise, a human being is both individual and collective, both body and field, depending on where attention is placed.
The background also includes the forgotten causes and cumulative effects that condition the present. Much of what we experience now is the visible tip of long biological, cultural, and emotional histories. The hidden dimension thus includes both cosmic and personal pasts, constantly active in shaping the now.
To approach the hidden is not to speculate but to perceive more deeply.
Awareness can be refined until it senses subtler gradients of reality—the relational field that unites what we usually divide. The invisible is not unreachable; it is simply ignored.
However, when the background becomes too opaque, the mind fills it with projections: invisible enemies, conspiracies, divine privileges, or demonic powers. These are shadows cast by ignorance upon the unknown. The wise response is not denial nor blind belief, but quiet inquiry—to illuminate the background without fearing it.
The great task of intelligence is to harmonize the visible with the invisible, to know that every manifestation is only one side of a greater totality. What we call hidden reality is simply the part of the Uno not yet seen by the eye of our understanding.
Own Reality, Neighboring Reality, from Daily Experience
Each person lives within a private atmosphere of perception—an own reality shaped by experience, memory, language, and emotional tone. This is the immediate world of our senses, the “here” that surrounds and feels real. Yet even this intimate world is an interpretation, not an object. It changes when we change, expands when we learn, darkens when we fear.
Beyond it lies the neighboring reality—the worlds of others. Every being constructs and inhabits a slightly different universe, formed by unique patterns of attention and belief. When we meet another person, we encounter not only their thoughts, words or body, but the cosmos they inhabit—their meanings, their emotions, their gravity. To live together, we must build resonance between these worlds. Language, empathy, and compassion are those bridges.
Conflict arises when one’s private reality is mistaken for the only one. The inability to recognize multiplicity hardens perception into dogma. Conversely, genuine communication requires the humility to know that every view is partial. Reality, in this sense, is relational—co-created at the interface of minds. The space between you and me is where the living world happens.
In daily experience, this interplay shows through ordinary events—misunderstandings, coincidences, unexpected kindnesses. Each reveals that the real is not singular but interactive. What we think we know is constantly negotiated through encounter. The smallest act of attention—listening instead of assuming, observing instead of reacting—can dissolve the boundaries between private and shared reality.
To see through one’s own constructed world is to awaken to a more universal consciousness, one that perceives without defense. This awareness no longer insists on ownership of truth; it participates in reality as a living field. From this openness arises natural compassion: the recognition that every being’s perception, however different, is an attempt to orient itself toward meaning and existence.
Thus, daily life becomes the training ground for higher understanding. In the market, the home, the conversation, we continuously build, test, and refine the worlds we live in. The ultimate realization is that all these realities—personal, collective, hidden, and universal—are interpenetrating expressions of one luminous ground in a corner of the Ultimate Reality. The world is many, yet its essence is one.
Local and Contextual Reality
In everyday experience, reality is often treated locally, relative to specific circumstances, places, or moments. Reality, in this sense, is the sum of all existing causes (effects) at a given time and space. It includes everything present in a certain neighborhood, whether perceptible or comprehensible, or not.
Reality is a dynamic, evolving set of phenomena, defined by interactions, interpretations, and temporal sequences.
Ultimate Reality
From the perspective of Uno, Ultimate Reality at any given moment of a motion, Now, is the current state of all Existence and Non-Existence. Reality emerges from the Void, forming through chains of causes that give rise to the present configuration. Each moment’s reality is a fluid manifestation of prior events, interactions, and potentials.
When perceiving external reality, the mind interprets and approximates it. This raises fundamental philosophical questions:
Is perception an accurate reflection of reality or merely a mental construct?
How closely does subjective experience align with objective truth?
These questions highlight the intimate connection between perception and reality: humans never experience reality in isolation—they interact with it through mental frameworks, senses, and interpretations.
Integration of a New Paradigm
According to T.Z. Kalanov in his article The Doctrine of Reality: A New Paradigm of Science:
"Reality is the unity of opposites: the controlling (governing) aspect and the controllable aspect. The controlling (governing) aspect is God (Uno), and the controllable aspect is the Universe (Relative Material Universe)."
This view aligns with the concept that reality is an interconnected system, where the material universe is governed by an overarching, non-material principle (God). This paradigm seeks to reconcile both subjective (internal) and objective (external) realities into a cohesive Whole.
Kalanov also offers a precise definition of reality in his conclusion:
“Reality is a universal philosophical category that denotes the unity of the material world and the spiritual world. The material world is represented by matter, energy and interactions, and the spiritual world is represented by consciousness (mind, thought). The unity of these worlds manifests itself in the form of the objective laws of nature, society, and thinking.”
This understanding reinforces the idea that reality is not purely physical or mental but
a unified entity that includes both aspects of existence.
The material and spiritual realms are inseparable, each influencing and governing the other, and this duality forms the complete picture of what reality is.
This integrated perspective offers a holistic view where reality is seen as
a dynamic, interconnected system governed by both physical and spiritual principles.
The Role of Verifiable Factual Reality (B) and The Role of Ultimate Reality
Verifiable factual reality is necessary for Tactical Success.
Function: It governs immediate action and risk management. It deals with the "now and here" and the local facts (e.g., Is the bridge structurally sound? Is the food poisoned?).
Consequence of Misalignment: Choosing a subjective reality that misaligns with facts leads to immediate failure (e.g., walking onto the unsound bridge).
Ultimate Reality is necessary for Strategic and Sustainable Success.
Function: It deals with the fundamental, non-negotiable tautological truths of existence (e.g., Life is finite; cause and effect are linked; matter cannot be created from nothing). It sets the boundaries for all possible factual realities.
Consequence of Misalignment: While you might get away with ignoring a factual reality temporarily (a lie goes undiscovered), you can never escape ultimate reality. Ignoring it leads to strategic, long-term failure and distress.
Example: A person might successfully run a fraudulent business using fabricated facts (local success for a time). However, this subjective reality inherently violates the ultimate reality of cause and effect (i.e., every action has a consequence) and the nature of society (i.e., systems collapse under deception). Eventually, the entire subjective reality will collapse.
Conclusion
Therefore, for the goal of surviving and thriving moment by moment (local success) in a sustainable and meaningful way:
Factual Reality tells you what you can and cannot do right now.
Ultimate Reality tells you what must and must not be true in the long run.
The complete and best-chosen subjective reality (A -> B) must successfully integrate your immediate interpretation with the timeless laws of existence.
Misunderstanding Reality
Illusions of Internal Reality — Mistaking mental constructs for external reality can lead to repeated errors, misjudgments, and false conclusions. Decisions based on faulty perceptions amplify separation from external truths.
Overlooking Non-Existences — Ignoring what does not exist—either internally or externally—leaves one vulnerable to unforeseen events, including rare, high-impact disruptions (“black swans”). A lack of awareness of non-existences results in fragility and unpreparedness.
Disconnect Between Perception and Reality — When subjective experience diverges from objective conditions, cognitive biases, distorted interpretations, or delusions may arise. This disconnect impairs decision-making, practical adaptation, and existential understanding, making it challenging to navigate life effectively.
Is this a puzzle? How to reconcile the various realities?
Tell about your sense
0%I align completely with the text
0%I don't know, i'm not sure of several aspects in the text
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Thank you for seeking knowledge, wisdom and spiritual growth.
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