That's an ancient subject of debate. Do we perceive reality directly, or do we just make a mental map -- like Plato's cave analogy would suggest?
I think it's a bit of both. To some extent, the world we perceive is something like watching the image a robot sends back while it's exploring a mine shaft or something. We're not really in the shaft. We're only receiving images.
On the other hand, when we're actually in that shaft ourselves, our brains are still mapping things that our eyes perceive, but there's more going on. Our bodies are in motion, which we sense directly. Our balance is affected. We know the extension and position of our limbs. We're getting tactile impressions from the walls. We feel the air flow. Lots of stuff is going on. It's far more than the sterile, indirect impressions we were getting from the robot probe.
So until we can be hooked up to something like Robert Nozick's "experience machine," we'll know the difference between direct and indirect experiences.
(2) On the other hand, when we're actually in that shaft ourselves, our brains are still mapping things that our eyes perceive, but there's more going on. Our bodies are in motion, which we sense directly. Our balance is affected. We know the extension and position of our limbs. We're getting tactile impressions from the walls. We feel the air flow. Lots of stuff is going on. It's far more than the sterile, indirect impressions we were getting from the robot probe.
Of the two analogies the second is a little better. I cannot imagine what the basis for the first analogy is. As for the second, which I also do not think is correct, when aren't we in the shaft, that is, when aren't we perceiving existence by actually being in it?
I would be very interested in why you think perception is consciousness of anything else other than material existence. If perception isn't how you learned about material existence, how did you learn about it. I mean, if material existence is something other than what you perceive, how did you ever discover it?
One important note: I said "perception ... is our direct awareness of material existence," not reality. Reality is a much broader term including material existence. We do not directly perceive reality, only that aspect of it that is material existence. We do not, in fact, perceive perception, for example, which is quite real.
Hank