Quote Originally Posted by dragonrider
But I think "reality" is still out there, independent of your mind.
Ok, I want to believe this as much as the next person. How could you go about experiencing this "absolute" reality then? Or even explaining it. That would mean you would have to be able to make a general conclusion about a certain object based on a specific observation.

I try to convince myself there is an external existence and absolute truth all the time when I think about this. Wouldn't that be great to see things "as they truly are" instead of how you perceive them? I think when it comes down to it since reality is only what we can sense, and we are naturally inclined to attach an identity to perceptions that appear to be related to eachother (the computer remains the same computer even after you open and close your eyes) the idea of dependant existence seems too illogical to some people who assume that these identities are ones that are assigned by something other than their own mind by causation or cause and effect.

I think absolute reality or truth (if there even is one...which I doubt) can only be understood through careful and continuous observations of existence. And by continuous I pretty much mean never ending, or at least observations over a long period of time.