Is existence real?

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Existence differs from reality mainly in that something exists in a context, whereas reality is more objective.

The example I give is that the French monarchy might still technically exist, but it is not real. You cannot find the king of France anywhere, the office was replaced by the French Republic in 1870.

You can change whether or not the French monarchy exists by changing the rules of existence. Do things that existed in the past still exist? Does math exist? It’s all up to you whether something exists or not.

Reality, on the other hand, does not care whether or not you believe in it. You can’t change the rules of reality, it’s out of your control. Math may or may not exist, depending on how you define existence, but it’s absolutely real. 1 + 1 = 2 no matter what.

If someone tells you to “face reality,” they are telling you to face the facts that exist regardless of how you want to see them. Reality has rules, so you can change reality by playing by the rules, but you can’t change reality itself.