We’ll never actually know if consciousness creates reality or if consciousness is a product of reality. For to remove consciousness, reality cannot be tested because there is nothing to experience reality, and obviously one cannot remove reality for without it there can be no consciousness. Let us say for a moment that the material world is simply the product of consciousness. There are two possible scenarios. Either you- the reader are the only conscious being which exists in the universe and all other conscious beings are products of your own mind to combat the unbearable loneliness/ boredom of being the only sentient being in the universe, or all conscious beings come together to create material reality through mutual and differing experiences. Then there is the other scenario of course, where consciousness is a result of the material conditions of the universe. Either by natural phenomenon or divine intervention consciousness came about from a world which inherently was devoid of conscious beings (apart of course from the divine). But there is no way to test this, if a tree falls in the forest and no one is there to hear it, does it make a sound? Logically we say yes, but there is no real way to test this, we can never know.