A particular, well-identified physical thing may or may not
exist at a particular time and place. (Though even if it does,
you'll have trouble defining precisely where it ends and the
next thing begins.) Other than that, "existence" is just a
metaphor. "Is this real" means "is this meme useful".
(Actually, that's just as true for "physical things", but let's
focus on the easy end first.)
>Long journey, but one I think would be worth
>while. Anyone want to donate $100000 so that I can take a few years
off
>and meditate on Zen?
If you were serious, and especially if you live in a fair-sized
connurbation, you could start getting into it at practically no
cost at all. And I'll guarantee you'd understand this sort of
stuff a lot better than you do now in a lot less than 10 years,
even at just a few hours per week.
Proselytizer Robin