Very nice post ER, one portion I want to extrapolate on a bit:

Memories and thoughts have an undeniable reality, but do they exist? Do they exist even if they refer to things and events which do not, or never, existed?

Oh, yes - they are quite real.

Here's some mind-candy for you...there is no such thing as imagination.

Hard to fathom? In an infinite universe, every dimension, every notion, every daydream, every video game played or movie watched has its own reality. It operates in its own slice of time-space and has its own well defined spectra.

You think you thought up that post? Or I thought up this one? Well yes, we did - but the universe thought it up simultaneously - through us. Because the universe is without time and we are an integral component of the universe.

Every daydream contains a quotient of energy. Every imaginary story gets more real as more folks think about it. They add to it with their thoughts. The world of Harry Potter went from a small amount of energy to an enormous amount of energy and the characters, places and events - concepts with a specific frequency - were added too by millions of minds. As a result if you were a developed traveler, you could actually tour an astral-like dimension of energy where these thoughts are stored. You could visit Hogwart's or Moaning Myrtle and indeed something imaginary would now have it's own reality. You might even meet children or adults wandering about - who in "real life" are at home asleep - having a nightmare. There would be lots of undesirables and things that wouldn't qualify as human - i.e. "Thought monsters".

Mass hysteria is a very real thing. When enough people are thinking about the same thing and fearing it, it creates a huge web of interlaced thoughts that can snare other portions of unsuspecting humanity. After 9-11 or the DC sniper incidents much of America suffered under these very real blankets of fear. Like the common cold it had a frequency and wavelength that could infect almost all people and the growing energy quotient of millions of minds.

Think of where you live ER. You would recognize that it is comprised of homes, people, trees, plants, cement, asphalt and other materials but you might omit a key ingredient.

That key ingredient is Thought.

Every thought you think, your neighbors think and the chap driving down the street thinks is now embedded in time and space with a certain marker. Eventually portions of humanity will see and sense the thought world with the same clarity most see the flowers, trees and houses.

The world and universe is far more complex than most folks realize ER.

In many ways its far scarier than most folks could handle, and so ignorance of these things is often bliss. In other ways, theuniverse is infinitely more wonderful...INFINITELY MORE WONDERFUL...than anyone (including myself) can yet imagine!

;-)