Hi...i want to reply directly to what u wrote but in the spirit of this blog, from what i gather anyhow, i will let my mind speak freely.

We live in a strange world...at least if we are the type to stop and think about it.  I un-fourtunately am one of these.  I separate that word because sometimes i feel blessed and most fortunate to be on this side of the fence while other days i envy the simplicity that comes with being oblivious, ignorant, or otherwise indisposed to reality.  Isn't that the magic word too?...REALITY, what a missused word if ever there was one.   I'm not anyone different or special but i am one that has thought long and hard about this particular topic so i'll say this:  I hope we can all agree that reality is entirely personal, it is a choice, albeit influenced by experience and circumsatnce yet, nonetheless at the very core of it, it remains a choice.  A decision, either accepted (as some people do just accept what is shown/given to them) or completely rationalized/understood etc.   The point remains...it is  a choice, one way or another.  Once one comes to understand that our lives, our very identities, our realities are that... then the question is: How can we choose anything when we know that any choice could  be just as real as any other? It would be so easy for any of us to say what we should be or must be for this reason or that reason, however, most people seem to ultimately choose what is right for them considering all the random and most complex factors that make up a human life. So, how can anyone judge anyone?  We can't...really...we can't...because where we stand and where our thoughts stem from are always completely different and entirely separated from that of anyone else.  Having said that, I do appreciate the thought, and people have said this to me, that given this philosophy one would find it almost impossible to talk with others since the discourse would be quite bland.  I appreciate this but i dissagree, since we can always learn and build on our own thoughts and thus, our own realities through someone else.  If we don't agree with something well...we don't agree with it...it should never be an absoloute, as in "they are wrong i am right".  That line is as stupid as any since once again what is real to one is just that...and who the fuck are any of us to judge or criticize.  So long as one isn't hurting someone else, that's where I draw the line, then what's the problem?
I believe the path of a human being is a path of growth and truth. Considering every angle/point of view before we settle for one, always being true to the person we are, want to be and believing in it.  I say all this because i truly feel that where we are today as a species, beyond the fact that we are super technological and that our neo-cortex is far greater than any other, is a complete waste of potential.  We all feel it in our guts, there's no denying that humanity could be so much more.  I should say that this is the part where i envy and pity those people that have chosen not to look at this or even consider its implications.  Anyhow...it is a real shame that our path of growth and our potential to be greater than what we are is stunted by a universal surrender to a civilized system that has become larger and more powerful than any individual.  I don't have the answers, i don't know where we can go as a specie...all i'm stating here is that we are stopping that potential...whatever it may be....by making everyone too busy and too concerned with this everyday bullshit. 
 But hey, this may not be real to you, and i gotta accept that.
Peace
   

hola dude, you touched on some really solid points there...  i agree with your basic premise that reality can only be defined on a person-to-person basis...  it's hard/impossible to define something so subjective and open to interpretation...  i think that the only way we'll ever come to anything resembling a universal definition of "reality" is when science evolves to the point where it can answer some of the questions that today are only answered by religions, and the fickle opinions of people like me...  until then, i agree that anyone's guess is as good as anyone else's, and that all we can do for the time being is share our crazy, half-cocked, fickle ideas with as many people as are willing to listen and share their own... 

philosophy is an area of endeavor with few tangible rewards...  a thankless task, for the most part...  but i feel if everyone, or at least most everyone, employed it a little more often, the questions (if not some potential answers) that need to be addressed eventually would become much clearer and perhaps less intimidating to the "average" human...  that is why i'm so predisposed to philosophizing...  i just want to get people thinking about this stuff because society at large is only interested in people working away in the concrete, established, tried-and-tested, traditional world...  society, or "la machina" if you will, tries to teach that what you see is what you get, what you do is what you get. (period)  it is not at all in the business of getting people to explore their doubts, questions, and the unknown...  it wants people to keep their minds on the visceral, physical world, so that they work at enhancing/preserving it...  sure, i call it "it" as if it has at some point attained consciousness, but really "its" consciousness lies in the minds of the few who actually run it...  i am not blindly anti-capitalistic, but what legacy has the current paradigm of business/economics left the world?  the future?  the machine couldn't care less about the long-term future, and that is why it so repels me, and why i want to share my interpretation of its reality with as many as possible...  too many accept what their senses tell them too easily, especially considering that the machine pours a great deal of its resources into manipulating the perception of the populace (sound like rome much?)...  i am not trying to do the same thing in the opposite direction, i don't want to manipulate anyone...  i want people to want to manipulate themselves...  i want people to want to be seekers of the truth/reality...  that's why socrates just went around asking people questions they couldn't intelligibly answer...  he wanted to expose to people how little they truly understand in comparison to what they accept...  he wanted, i think, just to get the wheels in their neo-cortexes turning...  not saying that i try to emulate the big man, just that i respect and can relate to his approach...  i remember writing when i was studying ancient greece in school, that "any society whose most famous members are philosophers is a great society..."  something along those lines anyhow...  if philosophy was as alive today as it was then (i'm not implying that everyone in ancient greece was a philosopher, or even respected philosophy, but simply that it left an indelible legacy, and had a profound affect on many peoples' conception of "reality"), i can't help but feel that the future would be looking much brighter...  everyone is a philosopher, just as everyone is an athelete, a geek, etc, but too many simply brush aside their philosophical potential and focus their efforts on pursuing material rewards...  we are not taught to see the worth-- any worth-- in things like philosophy, and so, we are not taught the true breadth of our individual potential...  this pisses me off...  we are not wholly material or wholly ethereal, but we are taught to concern ourselves exclusively with the material because the ethereal can't really be taught by anyone, it can only be explored by everyone...  to our machine, this is seen as a waste of time...  "unproductive"...  intangible...  primarily what we are taught is discipline within the contexts of our arbitrary tribe/nation, and this is by no means an area of individual endeavor...  when we fail to explore our individualities, we cease to realize the power of the individual, and we only acknowledge the power of our tribe/the machine...  hope this raised some interesting questions/points/whatever...  peace dude     

... where have you gone?