What is Reality?

What is reality? At first glance, this questions seems like a “no-brainer.” Reality is what is real. But when we push into this question, it becomes complex and complicated very quickly. People have lost their minds pondering this question.

Before we take this journey toward possibly insanity, let’s define some key terms that are used in these types of discussions.

Etiology – the study and philosophy of beginnings

Ontology – the study and philosophy of BEING

Epistemology – the study and philosophy of KNOWING

Eschatology – the study and philosophy of the end of things

The term “philosophy” often has a negative connotation for some. Here, I am using in the literal sense: the love of wisdom. True, philosophers have often hijacked this term to refer to ideas that are far from truth and wisdom, but I want to reclaim the word for purposes. Ultimately, we are pursuing not just knowledge but also wisdom – good and true knowledge of reality worked out in our lives. Now that we have a few key definitions, we can get to the harder issues.

Which Comes First? Being or Knowing

Being First, Knowing Second

As we have already discussed, at a very basic level, our thoughts begin with either
1) there is a god (something or someone who transcends the physical world), or
2) there is no god (no transcending reality, the physical universe is all there is).

These starting points can also be expressed in terms of which comes first: ontology (being) or epistemology (knowing).

The Bible begins with ontology – God exists. Even more than that, God exists and He has revealed Himself to us. As Francis Schaeffer famously stated, “He is there and He is not silent.”

In Exodus 3, Moses meets the LORD God at the burning bush. When Moses asks for His name, The LORD says,

God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM.” And he said, “Say this to the people of Israel: ‘I AM has sent me to you.’”
God also said to Moses, “Say this to the people of Israel: ‘The LORD, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you.’ This is my name forever, and thus I am to be remembered throughout all generations.

– Exodus 3:14–15 (ESV) –

The significance of the LORD’s name is both informative and mysterious. The Lord does not give Moses a typical name; He gives him a verb. The Lord is. This name is represented in the Hebrew letters YHWH. Although there is debate over the pronunciation of the NAME, it is generally pronounced as Yahweh (Yah-Way). Nevertheless, the meaning is clear: GOD IS. He is the foundation of reality.

I AM is not be equated with anything within the created order. He is not the god of war or the moon goddess or the spirit of the Nile, one among many. He is single and sole. He is what it is to be.

—James W. Sire, Naming the Elephant, 53

It is beyond the scope of this study to delve fully into the significance of this name. I would highly recommend reading this insightful post by John Piper: Yahweh is The Sweetest Name I Know.

In the New Testament, we hear this:

Now the Word became flesh and took up residence among us.
We saw his glory—the glory of the one and only, full of grace and truth, who came from the Father…

No one has ever seen God. The only one, himself God, who is in closest fellowship with the Father, has made God known.

John 1:14, 18

The Scriptures present the Trinitarian reality of the One True God – Father, Son and Holy Spirit. It far beyond the scope of this study to dig very far into the glorious mystery of the Trinity. However, we will develop two key ideas that are linked to the way the One True God reveals Himself in the Bible:

1. He is transcendent – that is, He is above and beyond the physical world.
2. He is immanent – He has chosen to reveal Himself to us and be involved in the world and history so we can know Him.

The Scriptures make it clear that Jesus has come from the Father to make God known to us. He can do this because He Himself is God and knows the Father.

The Holy Spirit has also been sent to reveal the reality of God to us. We will return to Him in a future session.

So if the existence of God comes first, then we see that the root of reality – what James Sire calls “prime reality” – is God Himself.

If prime reality is the biblical God… then it is neither what anyone imagines it to be nor what scientists say it is; the cosmos is what it has been made to be…

We can understand the universe because an understanding God made it to be understood.

—James W. Sire, Naming the Elephant, 55, 57

Knowing First, Being Second

At this point, we introduce a name that you may have heard before: Rene Descartes (1596-1650). Descartes made the famous statement, “I think therefore I am.” Descartes believe in God – he was a Catholic philosopher. But he wanted to find a way to show, or prove, that his thoughts about reality were true. He decided to push into radical doubt in order to “prove” his faith.

So Descartes reasoned, God may not exist; the physical world may not exist. BUT I can think these thoughts so, I must exist: “I think therefore I am.” There is endless debate about the meaning and veracity of Descartes reasoning. One thing is for certain: his observation is based solely on human reason (thinking, knowing) and not on revelation – something revealed from “outside” Descartes’ consciousness.

Descartes shifted the point of reference for reality from ontology (being) to epistemology (knowing). In the years that followed, West culture and philosophy was shaped by an elevation of human reason over and above revelation. If we can apprehend reality from the singular reference point of our minds, then nothing else is NECESSARY – even God.

The legacy of Descartes observation has been disastrous in the Western world. We will consider some of that aftermath in the Session, “What Went Wrong?” The main point we want you to see now is that there are two basic starting points in thinking about reality and our world:

1. God comes first and He reveals reality to us.
2. We begin with our observations of the world and figure things out on our own.

Using Our Commonsense

In the wake of Descartes, a multitude of visions of the world and the universe sprung forth. Beginning with human reason and knowledge, many were trapped on the path that leads to despair and insanity.

James Sire has suggested a commonsense approach to reality built around three basic ideas:

1. Reality is OBJECTIVE in essence

This means that “reality” is not defined by the viewpoint of the observer. Reality is real in and of itself. Because the Creation has the roots of its existence in the reality of the Creator God who has created it to be understood, we can know what is really real.

Truth reveals reality,
and reality can be described as
what we humans run into when we are wrong,
a collision in which we always lose.”

– Dallas Willard, The Allure of Gentleness

2. Reality is SUBJECTIVE in apprehension

Even though reality is objectively real, we always process it through our biases and “mental filters.” Sometimes we may not fully “get” what is going on. Sometimes we may misunderstand what we are experiencing. Reality is real, but our perception of it may be flawed. We will discuss the ways we process reality in the next session.

3. Reality can be MEANINGFULLY COMPREHENDED and COMMUNICATED in language.

Finally, we can talk about reality in a meaningful way. If this were not true, it would be impossible to connect or relate to another human being. If we begin with the God who “is there and is not silent,” then we can see that language and communication have been given to us so that we can know and understand.

Next, we will turn to the question of “What is Truth?”