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The year is 2267. This is not for pretend. Consider, for a moment, that I might be telling the truth.
You think you’re in the early 21st century. Very quaint back then. The early 21st century was the beginning of the Game Age, when what you call ‘video games’ became the meaning of life. By 2030, games had advanced to the point where you could enter into a perfectly realistic world, via a direct feed to your Consciousness, and live out your entire life in any of the various worlds you chose to participate in. Now, in the 2200’s, we’ve advanced far beyond this. Our entire culture and lives are ‘virtual’.
In the same way that someone from 2006 might have been interested in the Renaissance or Medieval times, you are interested in the early 21st century. Very exciting time, full of wars and big technological breakthroughs. So you decided to play a game called The Age of Change.
You paid 410 credits to enter the game. You started playing last week. We plugged into your Consciousness, and entered in an entire set of memories so that you ‘remember’ everything that happened prior to last week. But of course, nothing did. It’s all just memory implants.
We also did a character change for you, so that you think you’re another person (you’re actually a 19 year old girl). Then, as you requested, we temporarily wiped out all memories that tell you you’re actually a 19 year old girl in the year 2267. This is a full immersion game. The game will last for two hours, but for you it will seem like 28 years.
Nothing around you is real. The computer you’re reading this on. The clothes you’re wearing. The people you think you know. Even your own body. It’s all just sensory feed from the game The Age of Change. Pretty cool, huh?
You did request that we leave you this one clue as to the true nature of the game. This is it, and you will receive no other. You thought it might be fun if you had a chance to ‘wake up’ in the game — realize you were just playing, so you wouldn’t take it all so seriously. Oh yes – Bianca tells you that she says ‘hi’, and she can’t wait to take you for a ride in her new Tricat Moonjumper, as soon as you unplug. She’s getting lunch with Cassie down at that nice little café next to the space elevator, and she’ll meet you there.
Finally, here’s the message you left for yourself –
How do you know this isn’t true?
Brilliant article Kenton. Extremely true.
Reminds me of the movie Matrix. The first part. The sequels were just created to milk the franchise for its economic viability. But Matrix 1 was a deeply philosophical movie.
Steve Pavlina has also written a similar article called “Your own private universe”, on his blog.
The movie “Truman Show” also displayed the same message.
I know what all of you are upto.
All of you are telling me to “WAKE UP”
I would hope that if I’m paying to play their game, that they would give me a better character then an overweight 22 year old university drop-out with no job and who lives in his parents basement.
I mean, I’m all for roleplaying, but….
=) I loved this, Jingo Jango!
Your remark brings up an interesting question. If we feel that we have some amount of control over our lives (which most of us believe), then why do WE make choices in our lives which don’t accord with our idea of ‘what makes life good’? Are we victims of circumstance, or is there something in us that gravitates toward a lifestyle of ’suffering’?
Thanks for your thoughtful addition to this.
Sweetwater,
Kenton
I’m also 22, and I have to say… How cheesy, to stop the game at subjective age 50! I won’t be nearly done with it by then.
Hey there 203!
Glad to hear that you’re hoping to do a longer run. Hope you get there and beyond
Sweetwater,
Kenton
In the question of a Matrix style plug in world we would have to ask
Would it matter?
Would it really be that ‘real’ to wake up from this reality into the ultimate reality?
Would you be able to tell the difference, would you feel new feelings?
One of the earliest religions in Eastern India had the fundamental assumption that this entire world and you are part of Maya – an elaborate game that you play and dance and sing at, like a dream or a virtual reality, fully immersed to the point of loosing your sense of when you plugged in or fell asleep.
I say you are in the absolute center of the universe and if there is another reality that there are an infinite number of realities above and below you.
You are smack dab in the middle of it, because you are the ultimate God creating all of it from yourself.
The further you travel in any direction with any amount of vigor you will always find yourself in the center of boundlessness.
If you don’t believe in religion or any sort of thing, then try applying this to your own brain, you will never be outside your own brain, you will only experience the electricity in your mind, the ‘outside’ world is only your own creation in your mind, completely abstract.
Create this reality as you go along, because after all, you are the reality you experience.
Thank you, petemayo, for this thoughtful and interesting perspective! I’ve visited your personal site, by the way, and very much enjoyed your photography and links!
Sweetwater,
Kenton
Stolen from here:
“Once I, Chuang Tzu, dreamed I was a butterfly and was happy as a butterfly. I was conscious that I was quite pleased with myself, but I did not know that I was Tzu. Suddenly I awoke, and there was I, visibly Tzu. I do not know whether it was Tzu dreaming that he was a butterfly or the butterfly dreaming that he was Tzu. Between Tzu and the butterfly there must be some distinction. [But one may be the other.] This is called the transformation of things.”
This really does make you think. It’s amazing how much we know about our world, and what if we really know nothing at all?
How do I know this isn’t true? Well I could take the grammar route and point out that you told me it isn’t true, you’re only asking how I knew. Or i could take the more socially acceptable route. The one Petemayo trodded across at one point or another in his post. I know that it isn’t real because reality is subjective, simply that. What is believe is real, becomes real. the only reason stage magic isn’t real magic is because we don’t believe. Santa Clause exists to millions of children in the world. He really exists. So i suppose i’ll conclude my uneducated internet blathering with this: I know this isn’t real becuase it isn’t real.
later days
babysalesman
This could be the worst thing in the world to read if you had just finished smoking salvia divinorum. Heck its a little frightening and its been almost a year. I came to the exact same conclusion (we are in a Game) after smoking one small leaf except that I didn’t want to stay out of the game very long so I don’t remember all the details of where I stepped into or out of. I recommend never smoking Salvia because it makes the above seem way too real. Heck I’m still not sure if the above is true or not. This question has plagued me for a very long time even years before I ever read this post of tried Salvia. Thanks for the excellent read.
pretty interesting post!
Hmmm…
I loved it… An interesting thought I just had is, what if the game only took a minute, or less, whatever… And all the characters’ paths were already determined. You could then play as every single character in every single game (time period)… In reality, perhaps you (the real you, not this silly character) is actually playing every single role out from start to finish, to better understand everyone’s perspective and what it was like to live at that point in time. If this is true, than the player that is playing your character role, is the player that will play or has already played my character role. So I guess I’m sending this comment to myself huh?
Much love,
Alex
Row, row, row your boat
Gently down the stream.
Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily.
LIFE IS BUT A DREAM.
You raised a very interesting question. Thinking about it made me wonder if what I experience right now is some kind of virtual reality (I guess this was one of purposes of your question in the first place).
How to tell what is right and what is not? A possible way out of the conundrum is not to take the environment too seriously, which at a first glance plays in favor of the virtuality vs. reality, but I think deep down is much more complex than that. I do sometimes get a feeling that there is a deeper part of me which is kind of uncorrodable and independent of what is around us… If we are wise enough we can bend reality a bit to affect it instead of the reality taking complete control. This is what I understood a while ago: true what we believe, but not what it is. Believe in good! It’s difficult, but I suspect it’s the only way…
If I die in the Matrix do I die in real world?
We met in an airport last summer (2007) in Minneapolis (or, was it two summers ago?). Our plane was delayed. I was there with Missy. The four of us had an interesting chat about “One”. You might remember?
As serendipity might have it, I found this article by “accident” using Stumble Upon (a firefox plug-in that randomly generates pages of interest http://www.stumbleupon.com/). I recognized this name right away. Now, this should amaze me as we both know the internet is trillions of pages deep. Perhaps an earlier version of myself might have looked for meaning here. Another version of myself might have tried to understand the connection this implies. But I am only slightly amused that this sort of happening is becoming the new normal in my so called life. So, here we are
You have captured my attention once again my friend! What game shall we play next??? Perhaps the one where BEING takes precedence over DOING and magic is like breath. No memory of war and suffering and duality and contrasts. Floating, painting, expressing, singing, and becoming flutes for the wind. I elect to enter a much lighter body and less serious course of study. Perhaps a role as the ghostly jester who plays guitar and sings?? I’ll need a very colorful and impressive costume of course…
Lately I’ve been diggin’ around in the music sandbox. One song that resonates with our theme here is called, Awake and Dreaming. Have a listen and see if you might like the ride
http://www.riffworld.com/Members/blue4u/awake-and-dreaming
Can we trade in the question, What does this all mean? for a magic carpet ride?? I miss the stars and moon and dancing spirits. I think I miss home…
R
AHHH!?! if this is true then why are other people commenting on this reminder that i put in to myself personally?? stop commenting on my reminder damn you!
I’m asking for a refund as soon as my game is over!
Hey I’m actually a 19 year old girl??! Check out ma boobies!!!
Greetings JesseMat,
How right you are, though it might be more apt to say that I stole it from the Matrix, who stole it from the source you cited, who stole it from the Upanishads, who likely stole it from earlier sources. As such, none of these authors are so much stealing an idea as they are reminding us of one of the most primal and vivid pointers we can have as we search for the true nature of reality.
Hello Jon,
Well said. We do indeed feel that we know so much about the world we live in — so much so that some of us can even grow bored, thinking we know or have seen it all. What an amazing discovery when we learn the extent of our own ignorance!
Thanks, babysalesman, for this mind-twister. The overall point here — what do we mean when we say something is ‘real’?
Hello anonymous,
I have precisely zero personal experience with drug-induced states such as you mention. Thanks for sharing your experience!
Thanks, cakes!
Sweetwater,
Kenton
Hello Time Taoist,
I love both of your comments — the second points out another place that this concept is hinted at, and the first is a beautiful telling of an ancient Hindu idea. You’re absolutely right — freed of our linear-time creation, why not play all the characters? Where is the limit to this game, and can we go further and experience being a mountain, a stream, or a cloud? Finally, the game could progress so that we are not limited to a single form at a time (this emerges out of the question, “how can I be a stream when there is no clear place where the stream begins and ends?”
As our realizations expand with our technology, we will doubtless be taken to places as magical and illogical as our lives would seem to the people living a century ago.
Sweetwater,
Kenton
Dear Vis,
Very interesting! You’re seeing a number of levels of though which can be found in this idea. I’d urge you to keep thinking on these things, noting where your mind stops and accepts an answer. Then examine that answer further, as well as the feeling of the mind stopping and accepting. You’re on to something here . . .
Hello A,
I guess we have to ask what you mean by ‘die’.
Sweetwater,
Kenton
Dear Rich,
Rebecca and I were delighted to hear from you! We’ve often wondered of you and Missy. When coming together after such a chance meeting, there is so much one wants to say. And yet, the playful beauty of your writing says it all. I loved the music — both what I found at the end of your link, and what I discovered on your myspace site.
Fly, my friend — what a joy!
Until next we meet,
Kenton
t5, SupaW, and Ollie —
Thanks for joining in the fun!
Sweetwater,
Kenton
Although the article is well written,
it is a fruitless endeavor.
I don’t mean to be rude or condescending but this question on reality has been poked and prodded endlessly. We’ve all had that feeling or had a wish that this is all just a dream, or grand-illusion, perhaps the work of something like Descartes’ “evil-genius”. However the answer to this metaphysical question is unanswerable, no knowledge can be obtained, no further insight. We should spend our time furthering humanity and the reality we currently inhabit (whether or not it is truly reality).
Dreams are good – action is better.
-One philosophical pondering point: If you truly feel that this may not be the true reality, think for a second why perhaps we would inhabit a false world? Perhaps “reality” is not so great and the only meaningful life we can ever achieve is through “plugging ourselves in”.
-AsYetUndefined
Greetings As Yet Undefined,
You are correct that this has been endlessly debated. And you’re also correct in that there is no ‘answer’ — at least when we are seeking an answer that makes sense to our thinking minds. There is an answer, however, which is as tangible and obvious as the taste of tequila. I might try to describe this taste via endless words or thoughts, but you will never have the taste in this way. You will only have it when you tip back your glass.
The context of this entire site is important when looking at any of the posts herein. This post does is not an attempt to prove anything, or to tell us anything about how reality is or isn’t. It is a pointer — an attempt to distract our minds from their habitual thinking long enough so that we can taste the tequila instead of talking about it.
Cheers!
Kenton
A brilliant story. One that invites us to be a skeptic and suspend our belief in our current story. After all, that is the only way in which we can wake up from our illusions.
Well done,
Gary
Hello Gary,
Precisely!
To Everyone,
It has been interesting to learn more about the roots of this story — as I follow incoming links I find forums saying that this idea was born of this-or-that sci-fi story, but of course it’s much, much, older. Above, I suggested that the Upanishads, in their description of Maya, might be the furthest back we can trace this idea, but Rebecca just reminded me that the Indigenous Australians may have come up with the idea tens of thousands of years earlier. Though I’m only beginning to learn more about their Dreamtime, it’s clear that there are some interesting similarities to the idea of Maya. You can learn more about Maya here, which is a more detailed account of the above.
Sweetwater,
Kenton
True or false, real or not real, this kind of thinking makes perfect sense to me and resounds deeply within. It gives me faith and hope for that very reason. Every so often I’ll get a reminder, a movie (“Truman Show”, “Vanilla Sky”) or a book (“Conversations with God”) or a dream or whatever.
Reminds me that I’ve been wanting to re-read that Alan Watts book I keep on the shelf next to “Be Here Now”.
Hello j arthur,
Amazing, isn’t it, how many glimpses we can get? Alan Watts wrote very lucidly on the subject — enjoy the re-read! =)
Hugs,
Kenton
I like this! I recently had a couple of brain surgeries, and a bunch of times when I woke up I had very strange sensations of memories filtering back into to my head in a peculiar way – it seemed just like some sort of programming. Haha! It is as if all of *this* is just a brief bit of garbled programming, like a computer program, or a projection, or something.
Of course, when I tried to describe this feeling nobody understood. Haha.
i have a better question, does it matter? like, at all? if this were true, and you were conscious in the year 2267, how would you know that that was real. We go through life assuming we know what the world is like, but we dont know, and we dont care, we just do whatever feels right and thats fine. Life is pointless, you dont need to know the truth, just have a good time. Blue pill or red pill, it doesnt really matter in the long run.
hmmm, if there is an ultimate reality, with not even a possibility of being a simulation then would difference would it make. who cares even if we are in a game, it makes no difference! or does it?
what is the point of it all then, if this is just a game (which there is all possibility it is) and it’s just simulation, who cares if you hurt other people or yourself or whatever you do it doesn’t matter, or you could take the other side and day that it all matters even if we are in a simulation, don’t hurt others, yourself etc. In fact why morals and values at all? if life is just sensory information interpreted by our brain, then we can just f**k up everthing and it doesn’t matter? No, there has to be more, there has to be some kind of other level than that, there must be a connection we feel toward others that is outside the laws of physics and science, something immeasurable and unseen.
probably many flaws in my thinking, please point them out, i don’t mind. It’s just sensory information?!
So I wonder – if we have no way to know what’s “true”, then does it matter? If I suddenly awaken as a 19-year-old girl, then can I say that I am not someone else, who is playing a game of being a 19-year-old girl who then decided to play another game? When can I know when to stop this recursion? If we cannot say there is an ultimate reality, then can we say there is *not* such a reality?
I am reminded of the Hindu idea of Indra’s Net – the Universe and everyone in it, are figments of my imagination, characters in my dream. But each person is dreaming, and also imagining me. We each create all the others, who all create us. It boggles the mind – assuming there is such a thing…
Dear No Road,
How interesting! That, of course, is the whole point of this post — to help us notice that our usual assumptions about the world are based on evidence we’ve never examined — indeed, evidence that doesn’t really exist! How fascinating that you direction experienced this . . .
Sweetwater,
Kenton
But I’m a 19 yr old girl now…
Hello Rusty,
You’ll notice a similar line of thinking in Remi’s comment, but you’ve taken it further. First, I must say that there is nothing wrong with your thinking — indeed, you’ve thought it out quite clearly! One of the basic philosophical problems with non-dualism or any sort of subjective model of reality is that it begs this very question.
Your thinking is perfect, but that’s the clue (which I think you sensed) that there’s something else here. And what is that something else?
Tequila. (sorry to use this example again — it was used a couple of comments up — but good tequila is so very yummy =)
You see, our thinking minds are very powerful. They allow us to put people on the moon, build computers, and consider deep philosophic questions. But our thinking minds are also very limited. The are totally unable, for instance, to communicate ‘tequila’.
You and I could sit down on opposite sides of a table, and you could spend days –years, even — trying to use words to ‘give me’ the taste of tequila. At best, you might approximate some of the sensations I might experience, but you’d never be able to give me the actual taste of tequila. The only way you can do that is if you slide me over a shot and I take a sip.
What this site, and also this post, are about is experiencing the ‘taste of reality’. Zen folks will say that ‘words can’t describe it’ for the same reason that it’s fruitless to try to talk me through the taste of tequila — words can never approximate the reality of direct experience. So many of us live totally entrenched in our heads, and we begin to believe that if something can’t be describe in words, it’s not ‘real’. We then become confused when someone tries to point us toward tasting reality, because we’re trying to digest their words instead of seeing what they’re pointing at.
This post isn’t about whether or not our life is a game or whether or not our life is ‘real’. It’s simply a calling — asking us to examine our usual assumptions about how the world is. When we think the world is A, it sometimes helps to have it pointed out to us that the world might be B, and then we hopefully begin to observe how much or our world-view is unexamined. The more we practice this awareness, the more we begin to see the extent to which we live in our heads. Eventually we’ll begin to wonder what the world is like outside our heads (outside our thinking), and then some amazing discoveries begin to take place — including the discovery that our thinking is just as much a part of ‘reality’ as anything else!
Thanks for your thoughtful question.
Sweetwater,
Kenton
Hello Chiron –
Ah, Indra’s net. Yet another take on this idea that our sense of reality is a bit faulty. I think that my reply to Rusty may address some of your initial ideas, and your segue into Indra’s net only opens our minds to other possibilities. These ideas are valuable when they get us to question our common mind-set, but they can also become traps in their own way, as we delve deeper and deeper into our thinking minds, continuing to ignore what’s right before us. My usual advice is that as soon as your mind settles on an idea and seems to ‘like it’, it’s time to challenge that idea and send yourself spinning off in another direction. In this way we cultivate minds which use thinking, instead of minds which are used by thinking.
Thanks for bringing Indra into it — another spin for us all!
Sweetwater,
Kenton
Hey Melanie –
Whoops. Guess you saw the flaw in this one, too . . . =)
Kenton
It doesn’t actually matter if it is real or not. While it appears real to us then treat it as if it is real.
I think that there are an infinite possibilities at a sub quantum level of what is and is not and that the trick is to steer your stream of consciousness through the ones that you want and need to experience.
But in the end it is all illusion and there is a greater reality beyond this that we cannot even begin to comprehend while we are real here.
‘Mu’
I don’t know if I’m a brain in a box, or even someone else’s brain in a box dreaming I’m this brain, but I do know the scenario you describe is very unlikely, because why would I play such an appallingly sad and pointless “game”?
Yes, perhaps just to experience something different… Well, all I can say is, the 19 year old girl from the future that I am is going to need a lot of therapy to get over this two-hour “game” experience.
Greetings Chance,
You bring up a very good point, and it illustrates a strange fact of human nature. Why, in our own lives, or when we watch movies, or when we read books, do we often gravitate toward tragic, dramatic, or painful experiences? We imagine that we want a life that is just peaceful and happy, but do we really? When it comes to movies and books, no one wants to watch or read one where every day the main character wakes up, smiles, and has a great day. It’s the drama that we’re after. And though we claim we want peace and happiness in our own lives, we’re often acting in ways which sabotage our chances of having that sort of happiness. Could it be that we actually want a whole host of experiences, and we just ‘pretend’ to want happiness so that we can set those experiences in context?
Thanks for your comment, Chance.
Sweetwater,
Kenton
Hello!
That’s a good story and, I believe, more than a simple story. The problem is, even if one would find while playing the game that it’s not real, even if this person would accept this lack of reality as true, he/she could only perceive it through the artificial mind of the game and fail to really perceive it. In order to understand all implications of being inside a game, this person should somehow tap into his ‘real’ mind and look all things from there. Else way, even a hint or a full explanation of the situation will just belong to the game character’s mind, not to his real mind.
If he/she could do that, the game would be obvious and this person could perhaps end it and return to 2267. But the first question that would arise, would be: is even this reality ‘real’? There could be an infinite number of levels of illusions and realities and what would guarantee that one of them is the ultimate one? I would have problems more important than meeting Bianca, after playing such game for the first time
Sorry for my English, i hope this makes sense.
Dear K,
Your description is actually a perfect vision of what I was trying to get at here — not to suggest that we really are under an illusion, but simply to pose a question — you’ve taken that question to its next incarnation in your comment. If we can look as deeply as you’ve suggested, we eventually discover that our usual way of thinking doesn’t give us any real answers — it is all based on unfounded beliefs. What are we left with then? It’s not something that can be described, but when we examine this deeply, we discover ‘what’s left’ for ourselves, and it’s a marvelously surprising discovery!
Thanks so much for your awesome comment,
Kenton
What I think some fail to realize is what effect the “game” would have on the the brain’s capacity for emotional and psychological trauma. If I were to suddenly jerk back to a reality 250 years into the future as a completely different person, I believe the immediate effect would be along the lines of say psychosis, schizophrenia, and other neurological and mind crippling ailments that may not even exist today. (longer life expectancies could lead to effects not researched thus far) Therefore volunteering for such a ridiculous maligning and God-playing past-time referred to as the “game” is ludicrous; rather I would see it as a form of future punishment. Now this does not prove the theory of the “game” untrue, because now it has transformed from luxury time to punishable time. You could easily change the story to that of a 35 year old male who engaged in severe high treason against the government of choice while being an extreme political activist. So you are then punished by “living” several lives, each another dose of psychosis.
Well that is my take.
You could argue that, along with new neurological and mental disabilities there are new ways to treat such ailments. But the capacity of today’s treatment would easily be no match to such a horrible torture device.
Thank you,
~Jeremy
PS Ironically/Coincidentally the idea of the “game” matched a lot of what my personal after-life beliefs are. At the end of our lives, I believe we go to a spiritual plane, the highest plane we can reach. (or maybe not, we’ll see when I get there) Once there, all spirits are allowed choose to stay as long as they want, move time periods (although time as we know it won’t exist) and when we feel this is no longer enough we can voluntarily reincarnate back to a lower plane (could be lower than what plane we are on now) to live through and gain wisdom of yet another life. (time is not a obstacle, we may chose when, where, and as what we go as) Once we reach the highest spiritual plane again our gained wisdom adds unto the collective wisdom of our previous lives, and to revel in what we have learned. Until we decide to reincarnate yet again. Of course, the “game” is a lower level of such a belief because it is a man made bastardization and there are no plane shifts made to higher states. I am not going to lie, this post almost shattered my belief system, until I realized that even if it were true, then I will come out with the collective wisdom of my beliefs now and will not subject myself again to the “game” again, and wait for the ultimate (not to mention natural?) version of “the game”.
Again thank you.
oh and forgive me for such a late revival of the post, I “StumbledUpon”-ed it last night and could not get it out of my head. So I dedicated my day to answering and questioning my beliefs and decided to post the results of such deep introspection as was presented to me. Really, I cried and stared off into nothingness a good amount of my day because I thought I was spiritually sound until I read this, but in the end I concluded with thus, and now feel very much stronger in my approach to spirituality and truth. Thank you sooooo much.
~Jeremy
Dearest Jross,
Observation is often painful — kudos to you for having the courage to really examine your beliefs! You brought up so many great observations in your comment, and this post is one of the most visited on the site since it is often ’stumbled’, so I’m confident that many readers will be able to benefit from what you’ve written, and I hope they find their own courage in your example of examination. Very interesting that you could see this ‘game’ as a punishment — it makes one ponder on the pastimes we now engage in, such as watching television. To many of us, this is a pleasant thing to do, while for others it would be a form of punishment, since some people find it utterly boring and recognize that it has a detrimental effect on our bodies (sitting, or usually slouching, for hours on end) and probably on our brains (some have likened it to a drug). At any rate, it makes me wonder how many of our modern routines might be seen as psychotic or unhealthy to people from a different age or a different culture.
Thanks for inspiring these great thoughts!
Sweetwater,
Kenton
You’re kind of an idiot, aren’t you? One of those guys that tries to seem very philosophical and brooding to pick up followers, no? “Ohhh, what if this is all a game?”. Yes, very clever. how original. That hasn’t been done by a good handful of eighties movies starring boys who have not yet hit puberty.