I've always had a fondness for an 'answer' provided in the Yoga Vasistha (India, 500 CE).
"The world is an impression left by the telling of a story."
My problem with such metaphors is that instead of being compelling for some insight, they are compelling for being antropomorphic, that is, referring to stuff we have 'innate sense of' and don't immediately think of something whose meaning could be philosophically (or metaphysically) complicated itself. *Traitor*, n. A benighted individual who perceives an illusory distinction between serving his nation and abetting the criminals who govern it.
In the classical Indian scheme, there are 6 complementary views... none of which paints the whole picture... these views are called:
Nyaya: Sets forth the rules and limits of thought/logic/language Vaisheshika: Analysis (an ancient atomic theory is part of this approach) Samkhya: An atheistic, dualistic approach which posits an essential difference between matter and mind Yoga: Gnosis Mimamsa: A theistic approach Vedanta: Posits an essential non-duality
These are considered complementary approaches.
