Ultimate Reality
QUESTION: What is ultimate reality?ANSWER:It is said that ultimate reality is the absolute nature of all things. Some people define ultimate reality as
- A personal being (personal and loving God),
- An impersonal being (as origin and target of all personal beings), or
- An eternal truth or principal that governs the universe.
Some people have considered that all three definitions are just different manifestations of the same reality.
Ordinary reality is the product of the individual conscious mind. Ultimate reality is independent of observation existing without man’s help. Most religions attribute existence of our species to a Master Designer (theistic). The religions that do not believe in a Master Designer are said to be non-theistic and believe in ultimate reality.
It comes down to the question, “What is real?” Thinkers, throughout history, have tried to supply an absolute answer but we are limited by our powers of reason and experience. We have based most of the answers upon our capacity to adequately grasp and truly understand the nature of existence.
Scientists feel we have enough brain power to comprehend reality, and religions base their beliefs upon faithful acceptance of revealed truth that exceed our human mentality. Since our lives, world, and universe are exquisitely designed down to the most minute atom (could be smaller, if we only knew), the explanation of our existence has to come from Someone with a plan.
Ultimate reality has no claim to a Higher Authority. In the Bible, it says “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” (Genesis 1:1). This is the reality of Higher Authority for Christians. Faith is believing in that which is not seen. But the reality of a Christian’s Higher Authority, which is God, is the distinct and proven response to prayers and answers of miracles. Man cannot answer their own questions; if that were so, we would know all there is to know.
