Nothing you see around you is real; it’s all an illusion. This was the “secret” a podcaster wanted to let us in on.

The concept she presented is built on the understanding that we create our own reality; our mindset designs and manifests a world whose sole purpose is to get us to transcend higher in this human experience.

Of course, this isn’t a brand-new idea. Versions of this concept have been whispered through the pages of modern literature long before podcasts made it sound revolutionary.

Still, she made every argument to convince her listeners that everything – from the people we live with and the town we live in, to the shows we watch on TV or the blogs we read online (even ChatGPT conversations) – is our creation. Not only that, but all of it is essentially not real; it does not truly exist.

In other words, the moment you close your eyes to sleep, these parts of your life vanish into thin air. They only exist because you are there, and they do so for a purpose solely tied to you. Even the moon, the sea… as massive as they may seem, they are constructs of your mind. Those things, which all humanity shares in the same manner, are the creation of the collective mind – i.e., the collective consciousness.

Hearing this felt difficult, and I didn’t want to believe it. I did not want to believe that the man I love, the mother I cherish, the lucky bracelet I was gifted, the flowers on my balcony – they all disappear the moment I change view. Besides, I, for one, know that my brain is not that creative!

But let’s pause for a moment here and assume for a second that this theory could be true. Wouldn’t it make living life a breeze?!

A character in The Sims

If you’re familiar with the game The Sims, you will probably be able to picture the following scenario easily:

Imagine waking up as a character you created in the game – or any game, for that matter – and that everything around you is nothing but scenes that come into display and shift and change based on how you move in the game. How would your mindset be while playing this character, fully aware that you are in a game?

Now imagine that you meet your friend or your neighbour in the game, and you have a heated talk that ends in disagreement. They then leave and disappear from view. Would you worry or even think twice about what they thought of you, knowing fully they were just pixels on a screen? Now, that would be ridiculous!

Let’s say you chose to have the “politics” profession as your career, and you reached the position of a lawyer. Then you spent hours and hours practising speech in front of the mirror to get that charisma point or two (playing at three times the normal speed) so you could get a promotion at work the next day. But you don’t get it. Would you feel anger, resentment, or despair?

In fact, would you take anything around you seriously at all? Or would you just go about playing the game knowing it doesn’t even touch you or your self-worth?

Putting it to the test

Have you ever had one of those days that send your mind into overdrive? Hours – or maybe even days, weeks, or months – into the overthinking cycle, your mind awakens for a moment and you ask yourself: why am I taking this so seriously? Why am I giving it more value than it actually deserves?

I had a couple of these days recently and I remembered the podcaster’s words. I thought to myself: if we train our minds to see this world as a game, we won’t have such experiences. It might even transform them into fun challenges that bring joy instead of suffering.

So, I put that to the test for three days. First thing in the morning, and throughout the day, I made sure I reminded myself that I’m in a game, and that all the characters I meet, whether at work, at home, etc., are constructs of my own mind. Any situation I come across is actually a simple challenge – a social riddle – that I need to solve to unlock the next level.

Although a three-day period is very short, there was a moment when something changed in my brain. It started to truly believe that nothing around me is real; nothing actually materially exists. That moment, that shift – especially in how I looked at people – was very scary! So scary, I decided to stop!

I felt a disconnection, but also a powerful, vivid awareness, as if I could see everything happening around me at that moment. As if I had the power to press an invisible pause button inside of me, and everyone in my view would freeze – time included. And that I could now make whatever decision I wanted and there would be no consequences.

Game rules

I wonder how it would have felt if I had continued this practice. But I firmly feel, in my intuition, that if this perspective was adopted by the wrong person – one with a malicious mindset – it could be damaging, to say the least. And the idea that there would be no consequence is surely false.

We might be playing a game, but this game has rules. Karma is an example. So, before taking on this concept as a way of life, we need to learn the rules of the universe – also called the universal laws, 12 of them. I surely won’t test this again before I get a full grasp on these laws and how to use them.

Michael Singer, in The Untethered Soul (page 144), has a simple rule as well.

“In the end, if you stay happy, you win. Make that your game, and just stay happy no matter what.”

So what’s the point of this blog?

Must there be a point? 😉

I guess the point is to first reflect on this experience and concept and, at the same time, recognise that we are powerful enough to choose how we see the world. We are free to choose how we digest the situations that happen around us, knowing that nothing is serious except when we decide it is.

I would love to hear what you think about this concept. Let me know in the comments or email me your experience. ♥️📧