It turns out time is irreversible, and so are people. People just soak it in, what they hear I mean, and what they see. And all they experience sums to who they are as a person. And for some of us lucky ones, we can second-guess our environment and choose between the paths of reality or illusion. For me, I'm still deciding, even though the answer's clear.

So what is at the core of us? With a moment's thought, I come up with Fear. And with another moment, a sense of being lost. But let's not dig too deep shall we before we entangle ourselves in the complexities of what we call life. Let's look at things pragmatically. Life is good when it's balanced. We'd like to balance our diet, we'd like to balance our work and social life, we'd like to balance a lot of other things. Balance is so definitive, yet immeasurable in one's life. So we set out for a word that is unquestionably unachievable yet use it in context in hope that we'd be near to its absoluteness. How interesting.

In the same way, do we look for absolution in other people? It's hard to imagine that a life without mirrors and reflections in pools of liquid would amount to unconsciousness and a loss of certainty. Imagine a life that only has its peripheral vision and senses, and about and walking are three dimensional figures of the same species staring into that very soul, the soul questioning whether it is alone in that body or another three dimensional figure walking past other souls. All of a sudden, we think the world revolves around me, that soul, not a figure, a soul.

I don't know where I'm going with this. But it's nice to explore my thoughts and intrigue in perspectives. They say a new outlook brings forth a new attitude, and a new attitude can change the world (I made the second half up). But I think it's true... that verging on human expressions alone can bring recognition, much recognition to the reality of souls in this world, and not just three dimensional figures or a presentation of images. But souls.

That kind of recognition can come along fine. But remaining sensitive to the reality is easier to forget than the moment a candle flame is blown out.

So how are we to remain intact with reality? How are we even to decipher the difference? In a culture where fun and pleasure have become addicting (due to the "core" of us which I earlier neglected to go far into), how could reality not seem as extreme and harsh? We've made it that way! Unfortunately... "reality," even saying the word, rings with a bite to our eyes and a kick in the stomach. It's not Reality's fault, it's our own sense of imbalance, a sort of standard we keep to ourselves.

And it is during those times of clashing standards that souls are pulled out of their human shell and kind of banged together until one of them meshes with the other.

This could easily venture into the topic of conformity, but then again, I'm brushing thoughts of silver off my shoulders as I type.

So where does that leave us, a soul recognized or unrecognized drifting in a sea of imbalanced people predestined to clashing standards, a boil of confusion, a mix of uncertainty, and a riot towards one end of the field. That's where we leave off.