“I would like to propose a relatively radical yet at the same time common-sense correction to our common ideas about ‘reality’, ‘the world’, ‘the universe’, and so on. It has become customary for many people to pretend that there is a single world, reality, universe, etc. This problem has two origins: first, language itself, which has the propensity to present complex constellations of subjects and relationships in ‘the singular’, as if they were but a single object or subject, and second, the growing authority of scientific ideas which base their findings on what we refer to as ‘an objective perspective’. In fact, however, objectivity cannot exist, as there are no objective positions of observation or perspective, except where invented as a convenience for the purposes of ascertaining highly specific features of relationships in contexts such as those commonly derived for the purposes of research.

I introduce this preamble to support what I will next suggest: that there is no such thing as reality without minds to invent and examine it. ‘Reality’, then, must refer to mental and physical relationships, and, particularly, the existence of minds. For this reason I find it extremely unlikely that there is ‘a single’ reality, and propose instead that each organism and union of organisms comprises a unique and distinguishable reality. This will introduce conflicts for those whose desire it is to declare ‘the’ nature of reality, as it is impossible to derive any single nature or quality that would in all cases be universal (there may be certain exceptions related to phenomena that are relatively objectively verifiable, yet even these require minds to explain or propose their qualities, activities, structure or meanings).

With this awareness, one might become able to integrate such seemingly disparate views as materialism, theism, and animism, since it is not that ‘there either are or are not Gods’ but rather, there are or are not minds which have developed organ-like relationships with various ideas and perspectives. It is also entirely possible, and I consider it likely, that minds have qualities and abilities we have neither language for nor understandings of… so that a given person might experience the universe, world and context as mechanistic, while another might directly experience it as animistic. This is not to say that mere ideas dictate the nature of reality, but rather that minds have the unexpected quality of being able to co-invent reality in ways that our modern perspectives would find either impossible or staggering.

It is thus my perspective and experience that ‘reality’ varies according to who and what is examining or inventing it, and why. I may have no experience of Gods or spirits, and believe them to be nonsense, yet another person may directly demonstrate relationships with something matching these ideas, while another, having no such experience, refuses to believe in or pursue such relationships, seeing them, perhaps, as nonsensical or absurd. Again, this is not to say that just because someone believes some narrative or description, it becomes true, but rather that it is possible to form kinds of relationships with reality (and the associated minds) that are unlike our ideas or expectations, and there is strong evidence for this propensity throughout the entire history of humanity and in every time and branch of its existence.”

— an anonymous informant