Reality is a relationship. It’s in the root of the word. It is a mishmash between an observer and the object that is observed. We are under the impression that things are objectively the way we see them, registering 1’s and 0’s and transcribing things “as they are”. You think you’re watching a movie when you’re actually making one. Reality is constructed somewhere between you and the object. Reality is relative to the observer. When you, the observer, disappear, reality comes to a halt. When you sleep, or die, or reach a deep meditative state, reality as you experience it now does in fact cease to exist. 

Your reality is uniquely yours. No one can experience it exactly the way you do, although there are commonalities. It is the way you see red, the way you feel love, the way chocolate tastes in your mouth, the way music tickles you, the things that annoy you, your memories, scars, hopes, quirkiness…the way maybe your left hand hurts when you feel lonely, or your seasonal allergies.

Your reality is a product of your observation. Observing is more than just “seeing”. Observation is an interpretation. It has intention. The entity that interprets? Your ego. Your observation is dictated by your mood, what happened yesterday, what you ate, how tired you are, who’s around, how cold it is.. Because of that, you don’t experience one reality, but strings of them. Think of before and after the death of a loved one. A moment when “reality comes crashing down”. Suddenly, a whole new one. Or maybe, an intense jolt of pain. How does your world differ from 3 seconds ago? All the petty things that were on your mind disappeared, superseded by the most pressing one.  

 When I am hungry, my reality shapes up around food. When I am lustful, every person, object, and situation is seen through the lens of sex. When I am frustrated, everything becomes a way to channel my anger. You see red. When you fall in love, well, it’s la vie en rose. Your current “state of mind” shapes and determines your reality at all times. 

Your reality, like all the processes that make you up, is a product of a lengthy, adaptive evolution. 

Truth is… something else. Truth does not require interpretation. Truth is not relative, it does not depend on a mind to observe it, it does not evolve, it is indifferent to time and space and all other variables. Truth is undifferentiated, it does not break down into components and subcomponents. It remains Truth whether you live or die. It does not have any equals or opposites. It does not multiply or degrade. Truth lies somewhere outside of the observable, outside of space and time, but it underlies everything, including you. 

Truth is to reality what our genes are to our phenotype, what a Constitution is to a set of laws. It is not directly observable, but there are many ways for Truth to become manifest. 

Does God exist? Is God real? Yes and no, depending on who’s asking. Does Light exist? Technically, you can’t see light. Not until there is an object for it to illuminate. And even then, you only see an illuminated object, never light itself. Likewise, you only see Beauty and Truth and God as reflected in people, in things, in landscapes and colors, tastes and textures, networks and connections, stories and dreams.

Does red exist? Not if you’re born blind. Or maybe color blind. Or somehow managed to have lived without ever stumbling on the color red. For the ones who do see red, do we all see the same thing? Almost certainly not. There are millions of ways to see it, and yet we more or less agree. A red object is a reflection. It is red because light tickles the electron just the right way. Likewise for Beauty to exist, it has to strike a part of you that resonates with it. Does that part exist in you?

Does God exist? Only if you see It. And when you do, it exists in a million different ways. 

The matter of existence, then, is a matter of perception, experience, and precedent. It is a relationship. To exist is to be “outside of”.  

The matter of truth has nothing to do with observation. The matter of truth is no matter at all. Truth, like Light, propagates infinitely and illuminates all that it touches. It is the precursor of all things regardless of where you stand. 

You cannot destroy Light, or Truth, or Beauty. You can, however, deny them. You can build a skin that does not reflect, but in fact covers up the Light, thus obscuring all its manifestations. The most opaque cover is a boisterous ego. And Ego, when left to roam freely, always becomes boisterous.

If you cannot see God, it says a lot more about you than about God. About God, and Truth, not much can be said.