The idea that the reality we exist in is something different than what it is perceived as has popped up in many minds for it feels too surreal to be true at times.
Be it from the movie The Truman show where the events are controlled meticulously by an evil genius as a form of entertainment or a world run by mice aka creatures with a higher IQ as stated by Douglas Adams in the Hitchhikers Guide to Galaxy or simply via the concept of duality which is believed to be true in many religions.
With mirages, ufo sightings and those eerie feelings of deja vu, it feels that the concept of all of this, this life as we know it could be far more complex than we believe it to be.
And doesn’t it feel like that too, deep within ourselves as well? The feeling of anxiety creeping up like minuscule insects gnawing on your skin or anger that burns you up from inside out or the feeling of love that has caused many a poet to associate it with dreams and ideas of fantasies, too real to be true.
Sure there are scientific and anthropological explanations to why we feel what we feel and why we see what we see. However, I reckon to let go of the analogy that we are all trapped in an open-world game controlled by a higher, smarter being, although quite bizarre and seemingly stupid is not as far fetched.
Also in a way, it provides comfort of sorts, for one can make peace with the idea that not everything has to make sense and not everything is in one’s control and one can only react to their story and choose the outlook that works best for them.
However, no matter how alluring it sounds, to believe in parallel universes and genius monsters controlling our lives, it’s important to take these theories with a pinch of salt. Life as we know it, at least thus far, lies in the now, in this reality and this very moment, no matter how surreal it feels.
And if a part of you feels that it is not interesting enough, you might not have been looking at the right places, for there are mind-bogglingly true stories, literature that can take you through realms unimaginable and people who would make you feel things from an emotional palette you didn’t know existed.
So what is real is something we can’t be certain of, for reality is changing and getting chaotic every single second, and there are a million theories and about a dozen scammers popping up now and then, to make you believe in theirs. Reality is whatever you believe it to be, and whatever that is, make sure it's a good and interesting one, for you never know when your time to experience it would be up, so make the most of it now.
"All that we see or seem is but a dream within a dream."
-Edgar Allen Poe