I recall being told, by a professor during class, in the very first month of my very first semester in college, something along the lines of the following: It is assumed that there is an objective reality. But knowing what that reality is is a challenge.
Believe it or not, that actually made sense to me at the time. But upon further reflection, I am not so sure. I do think that it is difficult to know what reality is, but whether there is in fact a true, objective reality is debatable. I am not so sure that it is just a matter of divergent perceptions or perspectives. I am no longer convinced that reality itself is real.
Berger & Luckmann (1966) suggested that everything that we know may be a product of collective creation and imagination, and a compelling product at that. If this is the case, then how can it be that one could argue that an actual, “objective” reality exists? Reality itself is not even real.
When one person believes something, almost nothing comes of it. When a few believe, no waves are made. But when large numbers of people truly believe something, it becomes “reality” – whether it is real or not. And the power that it holds causes it to be reality even for those who do not believe.
{Reference: Berger, P.L. & Luckmann, T. (1966). The Social Construction of Reality: A Treatise in the Sociology of Knowledge. Garden City, New York: Doubleday.}
