Reality

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Reality (Latin: realitas, from res "thing"; French réalité) is in general usage the term used to describe the totality of object-like, spatially extended being, as Descartes, for example, understood it under res exentensa. Only that which also exists outside of thought, i.e. which has a real existence in space and time independently of being merely thought, is considered real. The contents of ideas, feelings, desires, perceptions are not initially counted as reality, nor the existence of the spiritual.

By translating the Latin concept into German, Meister Eckhart emphasised more clearly the component of effect that is essential for the correct concept of reality: what is real is what acts, i.e. produces effects. For this, he coined the German term Wirklichkeit (Greek: ἐνέργεια energeia; Latin: actualitas, realitas; English actuality; French l'actualité[1])

Appearance and Reality

According to Rudolf Steiner, one of the basic errors of philosophising is to regard the sensory world as a finished reality. A way of thinking, which penetrates the perceptions, which uncovers their form and structure and, with the appropriate conceptualisation, also their inner laws, without which they could not exist, can only lead to a full grasp of reality. Without thinking, perception would remain an incoherent, diffuse aggregate of objects of sensation that cannot be grasped any further.

„This is the fundamental error of 19th century philosophising, that the world of the senses is always simply taken as finished. We have not become aware that man belongs to true reality, that that which arises in man, especially in thought, splits itself off from reality, in that man is born into reality, that reality is at first hidden, so that it confronts us as an illusory reality; and only when we penetrate this illusory reality with that which can come to life in us, do we have the full reality before us. But this would characterise from the outset, philosophically, from the point of view of a certain theory of knowledge, all that which in turn later constitutes the basis of my Anthroposophy. For it has been attempted from the beginning to prove that the world of the senses is not a reality, but that it is an illusory reality, to which must first be added that which the human being brings to it, that which lights up in his inner being and which he then works out. The whole of Kantian and post-Kantian philosophy basically assumes that we have a finished reality before us and that we can then ask the question: Yes, can we recognise this finished reality or can we not recognise it? - But it is not a finished reality, it is only half a reality, and the whole reality only comes into being when man adds to it and pours into it that which arises in his innermost being.“ (Lit.:GA 255b, p. 41f)

Literature
References to the work of Rudolf Steiner follow Rudolf Steiner's Collected Works (CW or GA), Rudolf Steiner Verlag, Dornach/Switzerland, unless otherwise stated.
Email: verlag@steinerverlag.com URL: www.steinerverlag.com.
Index to the Complete Works of Rudolf Steiner - Aelzina Books
A complete list by Volume Number and a full list of known English translations you may also find at Rudolf Steiner's Collected Works
Rudolf Steiner Archive - The largest online collection of Rudolf Steiner's books, lectures and articles in English.
Rudolf Steiner Audio - Recorded and Read by Dale Brunsvold
steinerbooks.org - Anthroposophic Press Inc. (USA)
Rudolf Steiner Handbook - Christian Karl's proven standard work for orientation in Rudolf Steiner's Collected Works for free download as PDF.

References

  1. ↑ English actuality and French l'actualité are more accurate translations of the German word "Wirklichkeit", which refers to a mental or spiritual activity and not to an objective reality.
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