Reality What is the reality of our experience? How do we know what is real? We know that a dream is not real because on waking we realise that the reality of the objects that appeared in the dream was not what it seemed to be. The reality of tiger in the dream was not matter. Its reality was mind. The waking state also seems to be comprised of objects but if we explore these objects we find that their reality is also only mind. For instance the visual world consists only of images and these images appear only in the mind. The substance of the seen is seeing and seeing is itself a quality of the mind. If we explore all our senses in this way, we find that we have no experience of a world beyond our perception of it. But what then is the reality of the mind, of sensing, seeing, hearing etc? None of these can stand without Consciousness. Consciousness is the permanent background of all perception. It is their support and, if we look more closely, also their substance. Therefore Consciousness is the reality of all that is perceived. Consciousness, that is, the experience we intimately know as ‘I am,’ is the reality that is present behind and within all experience. It is the reality without which no experience is possible. It is the essential ingredient of experience. Consciousness is that part of an experience which does not come and go, and that does not move or change. It is also the knowing principle in every experience. Everything that is known is known by Consciousness, but Consciousness is not known by anything other than itself. Consciousness is ever-present, unchanging and self-knowing. It depends on nothing and therefore is its own reality, but everything else depends on it and it is therefore the ultimate reality of everything else. To read a further essay on reality, click here*.