> Of course, that brings up the question, is there any reality at all? Maybe I am just drifting through "existence", and everything else - you, RinkWorks, my computer, Barry Manilow - are just figments of my imagination.

If so, I'm glad you imagined Rinkworks, but maybe that's because you imagined me as somebody who likes Rinkworks. About Barry Manilow being a figment of your deranged mind, well, we can only hope.

> If you could only get to your subconscious, take control of it with your upper brain, you could manipulate the world. But at what price? And what's stopping us?
> The soul. I believe the soul is located not in the heart, but in the subconscious. That's how true passions tend to knock obstacles out of your way for you - the subconscious manipulates them. Taking control would mean the loss of your soul, the loss of love, the loss of passion. You would no longer care about anything. You'd be a robot.

Sometimes I think I'd like that. But can you explain your reasoning? If the soul is *in* your subconscious, how would taking control of your subconscious involve the *loss* of your soul?

I also think you're out of luck if you expect this to avoid becoming a religious discussion, when you pose questions like the location and nature of the soul. The soul is not found on any anatomical charts, so if you're going to restrict us to hard scientific evidence, this is going to be one short thread. ;-)

As for the "crazy, brilliant, or both" question, with all due respect, you need to consider the "or neither" option too. I don't think it's at all crazy to ask such questions about the nature of things; it's part of OUR nature. And the idea that reality might be an individual or consensual hallucination has been around for a long time. There are some rather brain-twisting classic works of philosophy you should read if you're interested in this theory, and if it wasn't 2 a.m. in my current vision of reality I'd look them up and tell you what they were.

As it is, maybe somebody else will do that by the time I log on tomorrow. I always like reading threads like the one you've just started -- can't wait to see what everyone else thinks.

Brunnen-"haven't you ever read fairy tales? The location of the soul is in a dragon's egg on top of a mountain of glass. Or maybe that's only for evil wizards."G