The great philosopher, Parmenides, used some pretty good logic to arrive at the conclusion that reality is a homogeneous sphere that was somewhat like a fog throughout, with no difference within it. From this he further concluded that all that we observe, such as individual objects and motion, is but mere illusion.
The problem with his philosophy is that his reality is completely useless, while his illusion is useful and all that we know. All that appears to consciousness must be real, whether mental or material, because this is all we know. Even if all of our experiences were a distortion of something else, nevertheless, our experiences would be our only reality because that is all we know and all that is useful to us. So much for all philosophers, such as Kant, who theorize about hidden realities because even if their logic is right (and Kant was a great logician) their conclusions can only be wrong. Not saying that Kant was not right about many other conclusions, one being his discovery that the powers of the mind are real.
This means that all that appears to us must be real exactly as we experience it because even if it is a distortion of something else, we cannot know the something else and that makes it irrelevant. Also, those philosophers who contend that reality can only be a product of sense experience, and that all that we experience solely in the mind must be to some extent unreal, are wrong as well. Literally everything that we experience; everything that comes into the light of our consciousnesses, whether material or solely mental, must be real exactly as we experience it because every bit of it is useful to us in one way or another. All abstract thoughts, ideas about the powers of the mind, fleeting emotions and sense experiences; all are real to consciousness because they all have proven useful to us to some extent. Even consciousness itself is real to itself as a useful idea. As a matter of fact, it is quite impossible for consciousness to experience anything except reality.
Philosophers theorize about ideas, thoughts, rationality, will and imagination; but these are all merely the products of consciousness, Where reality is concerned, consciousness is the bottom line. The only known power in the universe that can bring reality into true existence is consciousness.
The idealistic philosophers are quite right when they assert that finite consciousness establishes reality, but they are wrong to maintain that finite consciousness creates the contents of reality. There has to be material objects outside of consciousness to be experienced, but these objects cannot be real until experienced by finite consciousness. Any object in the universe which has never been experienced by finite consciousness cannot be real because its existence is equal to nothing. The most that can be said about such an object is that it possesses potential reality.
For example, an astronomer looks through his telescope at a black spot at the extreme edges of the universe. Unknown to him, this black spot hides a galaxy that cannot be seen because its light has not yet reached earth. To this astronomer, this galaxy is equal to nothing because he has not yet experienced it. This galaxy is not real to him. This hidden galaxy has only potential reality. Finite consciousness establishes only a finite reality. Only an Infinite Consciousness can create an absolute reality because only an Infinite Consciousness can know absolutely everything.
All that finite consciousness experiences must be real exactly as experienced, but all that it does not experience can only be unreal because it always equals nothing. Any object or abstract idea or emotion which has never been objectified by finite consciousness can only be unreal to finite consciousness.
This truth is reflected in the way we use language. For example, when we say that a certain plan that someone has invented "will not work," we do not mean that "the production of a useful result" is in-itself unreal. We have all experienced plans that work. We simply mean that we mentally and temporarily equate "will work" with nothingness as far as this particular plan is concerned. We separate "will work" from the plan by the mental use of nothingness. Like the black spot that hides the galaxy from the astronomer, we mentally hide "will work" behind a black spot in order to exclude it from the plan under consideration. This constitutes one of the uses of the idea of nothing which is real because it is known to consciousness and useful to consciousness.
The materialists are right to maintain that there has to be an objective something separate from consciousness for consciousness to objectify, at least as far as sensory perception is concerned. But the materialists are wrong to assert that material objects are real in the absence of consciousness or that the mind is somehow unreal. Consciousness can only be that necessary power that causes reality to appear in any known universe, and all that appears to consciousness must be real whether mental or material. For these reasons, potential reality within a universe devoid of consciousness could never evolve consciousness to make it real because such potential reality would forever remain equal to a nothingness which is non-existent. Since a universe without consciousness could never evolve consciousness, then the only way any such universe could become real were if consciousness were added to it from the outside. Potential reality cannot become conscious of itself because nothing cannot be separated from something in the absence of consciousness. This means that consciousness must be something completely different from anything material.
The Skeptics are right to maintain that nothing can be known to be real, but wrong to assert that reality cannot be known for certain. The truth is that all that finite consciousness knows must be real for certain including the idea of nothing.
One may object that all of this speculation must be wrong because we do experience unreality don't we? But the true answer to this question is: No, we never experience unreality except as hidden by the idea of nothing. To illustrate this truth, we will return to the plan of which the judgment was made that it "will not work." Suppose this plan were put into operation to solve the problem and it worked just fine producing the desired result. In this case, the plan would prove itself to be real because of its usefulness. But the judgment "will not work" will have been shown to be a false combination even though each idea in the judgment is real: "will" meaning an expectation, "not" meaning the real idea of nothing and "work" meaning the desired result. The judgment has proven itself to be not real as far as this plan is concerned. But where is this unreality? It does not adhere to any of the real elements of the false judgment. It seems to be nowhere and at no time. Apparently, it non-exists as hidden behind the idea of nothing. On the other hand, suppose the plan were put into operation and true to the judgment about it, it did not work. In this case, the plan would prove to be the false combination and not real even though every element of the plan was real. The judgment would have proven itself to be a true combination and real because of its usefulness. In either case, unreality does not appear to consciousness, but seems to non-exist as hidden by the idea of nothing. This reveals a universal rule: Unreality never appears to consciousness but always non-exists as hidden by the idea of nothing.
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