Reality in everyday usage means "everything that exists". The term reality, in its widest sense, includes everything that is, whether it is observable, comprehensible, or self-contradictory by science, philosophy, or any other system of analysis. Reality in this sense may include both being and nothingness, whereas existence is often restricted to being (compare with nature).
In the strict sense of Western philosophy, there are levels or gradation to the nature and conception of reality. These levels include, from the most subjective to the most rigorous: phenomenological reality, truth, fact, and axiom.
Other philosophies, particularly those founded in eastern religions like Hinduism and Buddhism have different explications of reality. Conceptions of reality in Buddhism include: dharma, paramattha dhamma, samsara and maya (illusion in Sanskrit).
== Phenomenological reality =