> perception & reality are interesting can be thought of as overlapping imperfectly, with each having some influence on the other.

That’s a good way to put it. Belief systems are fascinating in a way that resists being easily categorized. At least by me. Or such is my belief…

Yes. The older I get the more open minded I try to be about these things.

I find some of my friends who are the most dogmatically anti-religion or anti-spirtuality, really just replace it with some other tribal thing like politics.

There are questions we won't ever have an answer for, and we've been asking the same questions since as long as philosophers could record their writings.