Question Your Reality

I was inspired to write this by a very thought-provoking conversation that took place underneath a friend's Facebook status. He brought up the idea of wondering whether people who own the same car as you have a similar lifestyle? Do they go to the same cafe you go to? Do they have a best friend exactly like your best friend?
Then this whole conversation took place in the comments section between him and 3 of his other friends, plus me. It was fascinating! We discussed life in general, and 'fate' and whether stuff is predestined, and if so are we all just part of a big plan? The movie 'The Truman Show' came up (if you haven't seen it, you should, and I'm not going to give away any of the plot just in case :P), as did the Tv show 'Ashes To Ashes'.
How often do we question our reality?
How often do we really serious challenge the commonly accepted view that we are just creatures on a planet spinning round the sun?
How far can we take this train of thought?
Are we all part of someone else's fantasy world? Are we all part of someone else's dream, only living to fuel their 'life'. What if the whole world is here for just one person, and everything we do affects them? What if this one person is controlling everything we do and every word we say? What if these words I'm typing right now has all been predestined for me to say, late one evening when I should be going to bed but I got so caught up in this 97-comment-long discussion that I had to put all my thoughts in one place?
"What if...?" is probably one of the most important questions we can ask ourselves.
Or "Why?"
Too often we accept the reality with which we are presented, and never challenge any of it. When you go to the petrol station you just accept that when you put the pump in your car it will give you petrol. Why don't our cars run on butterflies instead? Surely that could just as easily be our reality?
What if we all had 3 legs? We accept that, as humans, we only have two legs. And if someone is born with 3, that makes them abnormal. But what if two legs with abnormal? What if you and I were both born with 2 legs, but everyone else had 3? We would be the social outcasts. The ones who would buy shoes, but have to throw one away because they all came in sets of three.
How's that for an alternative reality?
Another movie that springs to mind in this discussion, is 'The Curious Case of Benjamin Button'. Or 'The Time Traveller's Wife'.
Why are we the way we are? Why is our society constructed the way it is?
Why do we believe what we are told? Why do we not question every single mundane part of our lives purely for the heck of it?
Why has challenging reality become socially unacceptable as something for the majority to do? Why can only people with a degree take on this task?
Well, I've got news for you.
You can challenge it.
You can question it all.
Right here.
Right now.
Perhaps nothing is predestined.
Perhaps we have control over every inch of our lives.
But I don't think that that last idea is true.
If I had control over every inch of my life, it would be totally different. I would take away all my food allergies so that I could eat whatever I wanted. I would make sure all my friends lived in the same town as me.
And I wouldn't have met someone really nice on a bus 3 days before I moved to another country.
I would've met them much sooner.

To quote Jawaharlal Nehru:
"Life is like a game of cards.  The hand you are dealt is determinism; the way you play it is free will."