Reality is ...(depends what the meaning of IS is)

Astronomy cast has two podcasts about philosophy:

There the things we know, the things we don’t know, and the things we can’t know. How do we know which one is when when we’re deciding to fund research and direct our scientific inquiry. Download the show [MP3]

Last week we talked about knowledge, what we do and don’t know. This week we talk about questions which are impossible to ask, where the answers don’t actually exist. Download the show [MP3]

and, of course, there are things we don't know we don't know.

When people talk about the problem of religion and science, they are using a straw man argument, since the assumption that reality is real and man is able to understand it is a Christian assumption of reality.

So all those "think this and you get rich" or "let's evolve to a higher power" type stuff is magical thinking, or compatible with eastern religions where reality is not real. The difference, of course, is that in Eastern religions, you try to find the reality behind the illusion, and in the new age, you try to manipulate the illusion to get power.

See JP2 

or watch this course.