Dear Marion, Thank you for your letter which I printed out and showed to Katenus, who, as you know is still in jail on the Island. He was overjoyed that there was a third person, - Martin Brandes the acolyte of Nancy Drew, Katenus said, he didn't count, - yet a third person who took his ruminations seriously. Katenus said he would have answered you directly, except that in jail he has no Internet access, not even a typewrite, - but he reviewed and approved as accurate, the notes that I made of our conversation. Katenus' first comment was that obviously he hadn't made himself clear. His intention had been not, to equate reality with perception but to derive the hypothesis of reality from consciousness. In passing, he added, one should consider the etymology of that concept. The English word reality derived as it is from the Latin "res" alludes to matter, things, objects as of ultimate validity, whereas the German translation "Wirklichkeit" is an allusion to "wirken", working, functioning. One of Katenus' annoying habits is to quote from Goethe. In this context he couldn't resist citing Faust's translation of John 1:1 (In the beginning was the word) as Im Anfang war die Tat. The point I was trying to make, Katenus explained, is that the notion of reality that which is ultimately real and compelling may, and perhaps should be understood as a projection of the individual's own inward experience into the outside world. How far in speace and time the individual is willing and able to project that inward experience - perhaps to the "outermost limits" of curved space, or to the "Big Bang" beginnings of everything else is a matter of individual discretions and taste, an esthetic rather than an epistemological issue. But let me assure you, Kaytenus said, this jail cell is far from cozy, but out there where space is curved and the Big Bang makes the PANIC button disappear into triviality, life is worse than it is here. Now the Garden of Eden, Katenus rambled on, the Garden of Eden was a vacationer's paradise, like the Catskills or the Poconos. So far as Adam was concerned, Eve was the only reality, die einzige Wirklichkeit, that made any difference. The gardener, - that was God -, took care of everything else. God's function, - and this is very important for you to understand, - is not only to create the world and to maintain it (sie zu erhalten), but not least to serve as custodian of the conceptual reality of the world. God is the ultimate accountant, he keeps track of all the hummingbirds, all the wasps, lady bugs, and all the groundhogs, but he also counts their hairs and makes sure that not a one is missing. 6 Are not five sparrows sold for two farthings, and not one of themr is forgotten before God? 7 But even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not therefore: ye are of more value than many sparrows. (Luke 12) Katenus reminded me of a children's song on which you may have missed out. Weißt du wieviel Sterne stehen an dem blauen Himmelszelt? Weißt du wieviel Wolken gehen weithin über alle Welt? Gott, der Herr, hat sie gezählet, daß ihm auch nicht eines fehlet, an der ganzen großen Zahl, an der ganzen großen Zahl. Weißt du wieviel Mücklein spielen in der hellen Sonnenglut? Wieviel Fischlein auch sich kühlen in der hellen Wasserflut? Gott, der Herr, rief sie mit Namen, daß sie all' ins Leben kamen Daß sie nun so fröhlich sind Daß sie nun so fröhlich sind. Weißt du wieviel Kinder schlafen, heute nacht im Bettelein? Weißt du wieviel Träume kommen zu den müden Kinderlein? Gott, der Herr, hat sie gezählet, daß ihm auch nicht eines fehlet, kennt auch dich und hat dich lieb, kennt auch dich und hat dich lieb. Weißt du, wieviel Kinder frühe stehn aus ihrem Bettlein auf, Daß sie ohne Sorg und Mühe fröhlich sind im Tageslauf? Gott im Himmel hat an allen seine Lust, sein Wohlgefallen, Kennt auch dich und hat dich lieb. Kennt auch dich und hat dich lieb. The postulate of God in the Judaic-Christian tradition, Katenus went on, is a deliberate attempt to secure a reality outside of and independent of individual consciousness. That exactly is what the modern scientist, biologist, physicist, chemist is trying to accomplish. The terminology is different, but the import is the same. My project, Katenus said, now lowering his voice, as if he could escape from the hidden microphones, my project, the demonstration that "reality" is a facet of individual consciousness, is the ultimate rationalization, that iss, the ultimate secularization of thought. Please don't rat on me, because if they find out, they'll set up a stake at which to burn me. Perception, Katenus, continued, is an issue very much distinct from the postulate of reality. It's very important that the two not be confused. The traditional catalogue of perception, seeing, hearing, touching tasting and smelling, is obviously defective, inasmuch as taste and smell are neurologically cognate; while touch ignores position sense, tension and pressure, while hearing excludes perceptions of rotation and gravity. Obviously, there's no substitute for an inductive, empirical description of the various facets of perception. The reality in issue is not the reality beyond perception but the reality beyond consciousness. What happens to the reality of the tree at which I am looking, when I close my eye? The point that Katenus was trying to make is that ones feeling, ones awareness, ones concept of reality derives from ones consciousness; that ones awareness, ones interpretation of remote and contigent realities such as for example the otherwise invisible galaxies revealed by a space telescope is a derivative of the primary reality of consciousness becomes consistently intelligible only as such. Fundamental to our discourse is the presumption of mental identity among us, that essentially our mental processes are the same, that we think alike. Obviously, this is not strictly true. One of the major functions of verbal communication is to induce us to mediate between different minds. Not that there is no "reality" independent of my intuition, but that the reality which is independent of intuition is distinct from the reality which is integral to intuition As we should not be stingy with the use of the word truth, so we should not be stingy with the use of the word reality. As there are different truths, so there are different realities. The reality of the tree which strikes me on the head is different from the reality of the tree which I "merely" see. The reality of the tree which I see through the window of my porch is different from the reality of the tree which is pictured on a photograph on my table. The reality of the tree which is pictured on a photograph on my table is different from the reality of the tree which is described in a botanical treatise on trees. etc.