Plato thus validates de jure self-made realities while invalidating de facto reality as such. The particulars they subsume, the concrete objects that constitute this world, are not. Existence exists and exists independently of consciousness. Consciousness exists to identify reality or existence and in the very fact that consciousness must exist to be conscious of reality or existence, the primacy of existence to consciousness is evident. The primacy of existence and the ultimacy of reality is the alpha and the omega of all valid conceptual knowledge.
Existence is reality involved metaphysically and reality is existence involved epistemologically.
Existence is what is given to consciousness metaphysically while reality is what is revealed to consciousness by consciousness epistemologically. Existence and reality are in essence synonymous, and as existence exists independently of consciousness, so does reality. Therefore, no knowledge of reality can ever be achieved by merely fabricating concepts without regard to existence, as Plato suggested. Throughout his long career, Plato carried within him an intense political ambition and need to control others. His philosophy is largely a manifestation of that ambition and need.