fugly:
You seem to think that what I am saying is that reality is ONLY in our minds. That is not what I'm saying - read my words instead of inferring, please. I am saying that an objective reality may in fact exist, HOWEVER, it is dependent upon subjective perspectives.
Let me explain why.
We'll go back to the yellow ball. Take two men: one of them is blind. Is that ball "yellow" to the blind man? No, it's not. Is it yellow to the seeing man? Yes, it is. Does the fact that it is not yellow to the blind man make it also not yellow to the seeing man? No, but the fact that it IS yellow to the seeing man also does not make it yellow to the blind man. REGARDLESS of the actual objective "reality" of something, it is dependent upon the persons individual, subjective perspective.
Whether or not there is a real, objective reality is something we can debate about forever. It's akin to fighting over the existance of God. You can't prove its existance (having the burden of proof), I can't prove that it does NOT exist. I may have a stronger argument however, because one way to prove the non-existence of something is to prove that it cannot exist because it leads to contradictions. For example, using your own argument:
"You and I and everyone around us (excluding those with mental problems) view reality just like everyone else does."
This is a contradiction. For it to be completely objective, reality would have to be seen exactly the same by ALL people ALL the time. Which, as you stated, it is not.
Thus, my conclusion that even an "objective" reality is dependent upon subjective perspective.