Real gravity

Christian Century, April 20, 2004

REAL GRAVITY: Some literary theorists claim there is no reality outside the self, and that anyone who believes there is an independent reality beyond the subjective self is a naive realist. Essayist Scott Russell Sanders suspects, however, that these subjectivists "hug their own children as precious beings rather than as clever fabrications; ...

they fill their bellies with food, just as if they needed nourishment to stay alive; ... they avoid jumping out of windows for fear of falling; ... [and] they count on being able to withdraw money from their pension funds after they retire." Although we might think we can make of reality anything we want, most of us live as though "the world stubbornly resists manipulation by our minds" (The Force of Spirit, Beacon).