Post 14

Even though it may be argued that there exists no objective or absolute reality, in the sense that there is no reality without a perceiving subject, I believe we have to assume that there exists some absolute universal stuff which is, fundamentally, the same for everyone.

When two people experience an object they will undoubtedly experience it in different ways, ways which are relative to how each person has been brought up to view reality. But the basic fundamental stuff or substance of which the object is composed and constituted remains the same for each individual.

All the objects of our conscious experience are coloured by our past, by our cultural and social upbringing. We thus abstract from the universal substance, of which everything is composed, and structure our own realities, including our own views and ideas of what reality is. To keep this in mind, to internalize this view, is to my mind exceedingly important, for it encourages individuals not to impose their views of what reality is onto other people. All dogmatic, absolutist and essentialist attitudes are alleviated by keeping this relativistic insight in mind.