What are the implications of accepting a material reality? For one, we have to account for how we are able to talk about non-existent things. The previous sentence has already demonstrated this challenge. To say “non-existent thing” seems to be a contradiction. To say “non-existent” then it is not a thing. To attach the adjective to “thing” means we are talking about a thing. The term is oxymoronic.

The trick is to see that “talking about X” is not the same as “X”. the former is a thought or a verbal expression. The latter is existence.

Harry Potter is not a boy. Harry Potter is a character who is said to be a boy. Yet we can talk about Harry Potter.

Names and terms have this power. They replace the referent as the thing itself.

But this is where we go wrong. Names, terms, concepts do not exist. The name exists and everybody talks about the name, share the name. So the name is seemingly everywhere.

The reality is, the name is not everywhere. People who say the name is everywhere. There is a difference here. And this difference goes mostly unnoticed.