Reality does not force itself upon us - it must consciously be sought and chosen

A lot of modern people who pride themselves on 'realism', harbour the delusion that - sooner or later - reality will force itself upon people. 

But this is not true. 

Unless reality is consciously sought and chosen; then people (both individually, as in masses or as institutions) will never awaken from falsehood to reality; but will instead merely move from one false understanding to another. 

Men of earlier eras who tried to live in a virtual world of falsity used to revert to reality. 

This happened because (in pre-modern times; to varying degrees in different ties and places) Man's consciousness used to live inside-of reality. 

Like it or not; that is how we were made and organized. Consciousness was not (as now) fully-separated from the environment. 

Men were immersed-in their environment; therefore the (real) environment had direct power to impose itself upon our awareness, spontaneously.

In pre-modern times, reality would become conscious spontaneously; and it took effort and choice to reject reality; and therefore there was a tendency for Men living in falsehood to revert to reality. 

However, nowadays, modern Man's consciousness is cut-off from reality. 

Modern Man is alienated. 

And it is exactly this cut-off-ness of consciousness that enables Men of the modern world to live - for decade after decade - in falsehood, in illusion, in a virtual reality.  

Ironically, modern self-described 'realists' often exemplify this cut-off-ness of modern consciousness from reality; by the fact that they reject the divine, the spiritual, the soul, life beyond death etc - all of which used to be spontaneously known - and quite obviously real! - to Men of pre-modern eras. 

These modern (self-styled) 'realists' - like the rest of us - lack the ancient spontaneous and passive realism of consciousness; and mistake their unawareness of phenomena for the absence of phenomena.  

It is our consciousness that provides all the meanings and explanations for the stimuli and perceptions - which makes conscious-sense of the world around us.

All the meaning of which we are aware is therefore separated from reality; therefore (in modern Man) reality has no way of imposing itself upon consciousness.

So long as our consciousness is passive - reality cannot get at it. 

We can only know reality by consciously choosing it; by an active process.

Nowadays, we all consciously choose the reality that we believe, and in-which we dwell. 

The difference lies in whether we choose to discover and believe the one true reality; or one of the innumerable false realities. 

And in this world of now, dominated by evil powers; if we take the path of passivity, and decline to choose; then it is one (or many) of the false realities of which we will become conscious. 

True reality is something each must find for himself; and himself choose.