What is Real? (Three Levels of Reality)

Everything is more complex than we generally think. What we experience daily is thought to be unquestionably “real.” Yet the deeper we look, the more we realize that reality is at least three-layered—shaped by our seeing, sustained by our shared meanings, and rooted in ultimate truth that, according to AI, “precedes us, holds us, and does not depend on our perception to be real.” 

Level one: From the time we get up in the morning until bedtime each night, we have no question that the family members we greet, what we eat for breakfast, the news we read in paper or online, the car we drive to work or to the store, the work we do by our hands or on the computer, etc., etc. are all real.

On this first level of reality, the question of what is real is seldom raised, as there is no need at all to doubt it. But there are other levels that many people do think about, although it seems that there are some who are content to live their lives only on this first level. For them it may be true, to a certain extent, that “ignorance is bliss.”

Level two: Things get more complicated when we enter the realm of thought and reflection rather than remaining in the world as experienced by our five senses. Further consideration indicates that much of what we consider real is actually socially constructed.

Peter L. Berger (1929~2017) was an Austrian‑born American sociologist and Protestant theologian, best known for his work in the sociology of knowledge and of religion. He ended his long teaching career as University Professor of Sociology and Theology at Boston University from 1981 until his retirement in 2009.

Berger’s book, The Social Construction of Reality (1966), co-authored with Thomas Luckmann (1927~2016), is a classic in the sociology of knowledge. It asserts that what we humans experience as “reality” in everyday life is largely a human, social product rather than a fixed, purely objective given.**

In their book, Berger and Luckmann introduce the concept of “plausibility structures,” and Berger further develops that idea in his next book, The Sacred Canopy (1967). That concept was then popularized by the British theologian Lesslie Newbigin in his influential book The Gospel in a Pluralist Society (1989).

In July 2018, I posted a blog article titled “There Really Are ‘Alternative Facts’," and I encourage you to read that important post (here). The point is that on this second level, “facts” are only what the society one belongs to agrees upon as being real or true. For example, for those who are die-hard MAGA supporters, whatever the POTUS says is considered true and trustworthy.

On the other hand, most of the rest of us are painfully aware that every day he says things that are false or misleading. We so often disagree with what he claims to be factually true. Our plausibility structure is based on the anti-Trump Democrats and Independents who think that much of what he says is neither true nor trustworthy.

So, what is “real” in this case? The answer depends almost entirely upon the “society” to which we belong. Thus, what we consider to be real in the realm of religion, philosophy, and politics is socially constructed, formed by our thought-community.

Level three: Finally, we are challenged to consider whether there is ultimate reality, and if so, what that might be. From the ancient past, there have been some/many who have explored the profoundly important metaphysical and religious question of what is ultimately real.

There are those, of course, who don’t acknowledge this third level. But I believe AI is right: ultimate reality “precedes us, holds us, and does not depend on our perception to be real.” Most of us need to spend more time and effort exploring, evaluating, and engaging with this level of reality. While it may or may not be “blissful,” that is where we find the real meaning of life.

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** In addition to this seminal book, Berger is also the author of two significant sociological/theological works: The Sacred Canopy (1967), a foundational text in the sociology of religion, exploring religion as a protective framework for understanding existence amid modernity, and A Rumor of Angels (1969), which examines signals of transcendence in modern society, challenging secularization theories. In addition, he is also the editor of a much later book of interest, Between Relativism and Fundamentalism (2010).