Chasing Reality

What are some of the BIG questions that might surface while pondering the nature of reality?

Being as a Noun

Here are some possible topics of conversation:

I,1 Does art imitate life or does life imitate art? Which is "real?" and which is the "copy?" How do you know?
I,2 What does Quixote's lived experience of "hitting the road" suggest concerning the difference between and among theory and reality?
I,3 Why did the author introduce the need for Quixote to be dubbed? Was Cervantes showing us the depth of Quixote's madness? But if your reality testing is impaired so extensively, would you seek the trappings of an external ceremony, i.e. social recognition? Was Quixote "out-of-touch" or was he not?

Falling Whale Scene

Here are some possible topics of conversation stemming from the "falling whale" scene:

Are our metaphysical efforts as futile as the whale's attempts to make sense of reality?
Would the whale have better success if he abandoned reason?
If Adams' suggestion of an unknowable and unpredictable reality is accurate how should we react? What course of action remains?

Here are some possible topics of conversation stemming from the allegory:

According to the allegory, what is real?
Why would Plato posit the really real as something that is beyond our reality - doesn't that seem counter-intuitive?
What might be the criteria used to differentiate between the real and the less than real?

Here are some possible topics of conversation stemming from the "The World I Live In":

Is reality predetermined and we take our place in it, or, is reality determined by our conception of it?
Much of western philosophy accepts the law of non-contradiction as a "given." What might the impact upon metaphysics and to philosophy in general be if "maybe" was offered a "seat" at the metaphilosophical table?
Note the intersection of epistemology and metaphysics as glimpsed through the poem, e.g. what is the importance of testimony in shaping ontological models?