I ask, “You mention ‘consensus reality.’ What is that?”

Zohar answers, “Consensus reality is that reality you share with other people. It is the collective of perceptional generators such as objects and living organisms that you all perceive in a similar way. For example, you can put a rock in the road and trip on it. Other people walking down the same road will trip over the same rock (or step around!) The rock, therefore, is consensus reality.

“That said, there is actually very little about the reality of the rock that is consensus. The fact that we call it a rock, and that it exists in time and space, or “persists,” is something we can agree upon, but that is where consensus ends.

“To take a personal example from Paul’s life, when he was getting married he and his bride didn’t want their mothers to wear the same color dress so Paul called his mother and asked her, “What color is your dress?” She said “blue.” Paul’s bride to be asked her mother “What color is your dress.” She said “green.” Potential crisis averted. They are wearing different colored dresses, or so Paul thought.

“On the day of the wedding, the two mothers not only showed up wearing dresses that were the same color, they were wearing the same exact dress! This demonstrates where and how consensus reality can break down. The fact that they were wearing dresses was agreed upon by all parties. The fact that the dresses had some form of color was also agreed upon, however, what that dress was and what that color was, was not part of consensus. People had their own percepts, descriptor or language, and so on.

“So, consensus reality is a tricky thing it is sometimes like trying to nail Jell-O to the wall. It doesn’t want to stay put. When dealing with matters of the Spirit and of ultimate Reality you can say that there is consensus to a degree, but though you may have similar experiences that inform your particular thoughts and feelings about the divine you find that, when comparing notes, your individuality has colored your experience so your consensus as to the nature of the divine only goes so far before it breaks down into the differentiated multiplicity that is you.”