Reality Is not what we think it is

Philosophers, theologians, mystics, and even physicists are wont to return to the etymological background of certain key words to garner support for their theories de rerum natura. It is as if the root meanings of words like “reality,” “truth or “sin” provide a kind of archeological record of the mind, revealing profound insights based on a primordial and pristine perception of things. We can briefly observe how this etymological digging works in the excavation of that most controversial word, “reality.” “Reality” derives from the Latin noun res: thing, circumstance, condition, affair, etc. Res itself is cognate with the Latin verb reor, reri: to think. A philosopher who gets a hold of this last root meaning may suggest that “reality” is what you are able to think about. He may go on to argue that reality is a concept that mediates between the known and the unknown and, indeed, points beyond itself since what can be thought about and what is known are on principle always limited. Some Zeno, delighting in paradox, may argue that reality is precisely not what we think it is.