Each one of us is alone.

Although we have our 5 senses, it is up to us to decide what information is real, and what it means.

I remember when I was a little kid I was told that snow is made out of water. Sounded crazy to a 4-year-old, until I saw snow melt.

Now it’s part of my belief system.

I know that wind is air moving. Air is invisible, but I believe it’s real. I can feel it. As a kid, I would stick my hand out the car window just to feel the rush of air. I was in awe.

Electricity is something I can’t see. But I remember what it was like to touch my hand on a light socket, across 110 volts. I quickly became a believer in the power of electricity. From the simplest inventions, like the light bulb, to a handheld smartphone, the power of electrons is a wonder still.

The point is that I can remember learning these things, and what that felt like. I wasn’t born knowing. I can only assume that’s true for us all.

Then there’s the stuff that comes as standard equipment in a human. Breathing, Eating, Hunting. Oops, wait a minute.

It used to be called Hunting.

Not anymore. These days it’s called “Shopping!” Start by hunting for a job, then they give you pieces of paper or plastic cards that represent how much paper you earned, which you use to “Hunt” for food.

The word tribal is used a lot these days.

The idea is that whether watching football, arguing politics, religion, race, gender, or even science, we tend to believe what is familiar to us, and oppose anyone or anything that challenges what we’ve decided is true.

I don’t think this is learned. It’s our nature.

But there’s plenty to learn. Every newborn must learn to crawl, walk and run. Then, it’s off to school, to catch up with 80,000 years of advances in civilization.

You see each generation hands the next generation its evolution of ideas and inventions.

The light bulb leads the way to the combustion engine, the TV, the SmartPhone.

Society started with Tribes, which turned into Kingdoms, and Countries. Will the whole planet unite? Or are we meant to do battle?

We now walk around with an electronic device that is a virtual stethoscope on the pulse of almost all of human civilization. We carry this powerful computer in the palm of our hand. With it we interact with individuals and tribes by the billions.

We’re connected like never before.

And yet, at the end of the day, each one of us is alone in our own thoughts.

What’s important?

Is it mankind as a whole? Are all men created equal? Or is it all about me and my family, competing for survival? Are we to choose between various ideologies to fight their holy wars? Or are we each in our own little movie, where what’s real is what’s Here and Now?