What is Reality?

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Everyone has their own experience of reality. So what is it? If everyone's experience is equally valid then is there really a reality? Also, as I've noticed that as time passes, people's memory of events changes to suit the current circumstances. So is what happened real or is it ultimately only subject to interpretation?

Reality is subjective to the individual.

I have no idea.When I did mushrooms or LSD,that seemed more real,if that makes any sense.

Everyone's personal reality is shaped by their levels of awareness and this has to do with their CNS and ability to process info gathered from their senses and sensory organs. The CNS then gives them thoughts and impressions. It starts with the senses. These impressions are their personal reality, how they see things individually. This is the Personal Subjective Reality.
Then there's a Collective Scientific Reality and this includes laws of physics and quantum knowledge of various kinds, theories and whatnot figured out by analysis or equations.
Then there's a Collective Catch-All where the thoughts of the masses lay. These crop up in publications, on television, radio, internet. You can find many people absorbing the Collective Catch-All and have it influence their individual realities. Same with the Collective Science Reality. It can influence Personal Subjective Reality, too.

All the world's a stage,
And all the men and women merely players:
They have their exits and their entrances;
And one man in his time plays many parts,

Shakespeare

If reality is subjective, then what makes us a real person. Are we only real in the moment?

I had this discussion with a chap when I was in Amsterdam, but as you might be able to appreciate I was in Amsterdam.

Reality was quite different for me at that particular time.

“Drink wine. This is life eternal. This is all that youth will give you. It is the season for wine, roses and drunken friends. Be happy for this moment. This moment is your life.”


― Omar Khayyám, رباعيات خيام

I saw on the news a woman driving her car into the ocean with her kids. Is her reality wrong? Ana mentioned a the "collective catch-all," which judges this as wrong, but maybe the world is really that horrible.

Her reality wasn't a very pleasant one.And those kids didn't want it to be theirs.Thank goodness for the people that rescued them.

Trick question! No one's allowed to claim they have an answer without offending everyone else who claims differently or otherwise just looking like a pretentious blowhard. Thus social etiquette forces us to lie and say "It's unknowable". If you find the answer its yours; good luck sharing it however. You won't find much compelling or titillating conversation about this topic on it's face - ie. it begs too much for a food fight.

If you know, please share.

Her perception of reality was all she was capable of having at that moment. It's about being aware more than anything else. Awareness is difficult because it takes work to alter thinking patterns.

Never claimed I did. Even if I did I'd still have to claim I didn't or just abstain altogether. It's just not something a person claims to know. They can have a lot of efforts to make them reasonably sure that they're ballpark and even that's a contentious claim for someone to make to another person.

Like hell you didnt.

Complaining that you will be publicly censored for saying X shows that you're worried about saying X. The only reason you would worry about the consequences of saying X is because you're itching to say X. The cat is out of the bag. Too late to deny it now!

So go ahead and shock us.

Go ahead and tell us what reality is.

We promise not to go ad hominem on you ( even if we do debate the logic of your assertion).

Lol, nope. You projected every last bit of that. You can go through what I said with a fine-tooth comb and try to catch me but its simply not in my post.

BTW Ann2011 - I kinda hope I didn't come off too abrasive with that. Didn't mean to bash the thread, just that there's a lot of heat and contention between different groups and hence it's a dicey subject.

Some people can be seeking all their lives and feel like they're maybe gaining clarity on what is isn't and/or getting the general directions to look in but still have miles to go. Other people feel like the ultimate answer can be figured out in five minutes and if their answer is good enough for them it's good enough for anyone.

My own opinion is that Platonic theories of ideas, form, and archetypes have a lot to them. My opinion of course to be taken or left as anyone would wish.