You probably wonder what the "S" stands for; however, I wish this word to be anonymous for now. The reason for this is legitimate: I wish the reader to see objectively how a certain view of the world might affect our ideas of quality, concept formation, value, and even the nature of reality itself, without being biased by prejudgments. Tall order? Yes, I suppose it is. You can be the judge of how well I succeed.

The "S" reality describes our primary reality; it is the context from which our world is observed, and the basis from which we think our thoughts. Based on this description, you can determine that this reality is intangible since I described it not as "our world" and "our thoughts", but as "the context" and "the basis". For the sake of this explanation, I will describe the "S" reality as nonphysical, powerful, thoughtful, and valuing, and will give examples of each.

NONPHYSICAL: The "S" reality cannot be detected by the five senses but is self-evident. It has neither size, shape, weight, color, flavor, order, nor texture. For example, a thought of or a wish for a new AMD Athlon 64 X2 4400+ are trivial examples of things that are undetectable by the senses, but are real in every sense of the word. They – the thought and wish - can be described clearly, communicated to and experienced by others, and yet cannot be physically sensed. In another example, my physical body can be said to house "me", yet if I were dissected, you would not find "me". Somehow, although a "me-ness" is localized in my physical body, it is not located there. Similarly, the "S" reality is localized to all things, but not located there.

POWERFUL: The "S" reality has unlimited power and energy. For example, if you look around, you probably see a room full of objects that came to be there because of the feelings, ideas, and wills of one or more persons. If you look to any road you will see a car that was created by the power and energy of the "S" reality…the unabashed persistence of a group of people determined to make a metal and plastic object capable of moving on land faster than another living thing. Do you doubt for one second that it took a tremendous amount of creative energy to create this thing? Cars don't grow on trees, so of course it did! The "S" reality contains enough energy for every one of us to build extraordinary things.

THOUGHTFUL: The "S" reality is the primary context for rational thought. What is a human being but a large collection of focused cognition? Our brains simply direct experience, knowledge, and will upon the various subjects and matters that concern them. Furthermore, no physical thing has thought; even my own brain, if placed outside of the body that describes my "me-ness", does not have thought. So, while a thought can be described by chemistry, it is not simply chemical; while "I" can be described by biology, I am not simply biological.

VALUING: From the "S" reality and it's thoughtful context described above we receive the drive to determine value. Based partly on feeling, the ability to concentrate rational thought on personal choices is provided through this reality. Without it, we have neither the context for rational thought nor the creative energy to affect our value choices on the world around us.

Although I have only briefly described several aspects of the "S" reality, I find it completely compelling. What could each of us do if we had 1) the assurance that our primary reality was integral to our being, 2) the unlimited creative energy to affect the world around us, 3) a firm context for rational thought, and 4) the context from which to choose value in our actions? A lot, that's what!

Now comes the part where I tell you my anonymous word and the title of the book I'm reading; or I don't. No, I don't think I will. Instead, I leave that search to you. Here are some hints:

1) The word appears in the J&R Mission statement

2) A reverse lookup on the word might be: Of, relating to, consisting of, or having the vital principle or animating force present within living beings; not tangible or material.

Good luck in the search.