In Earth Game: The Evolution of Consciousness, I postulated that we are players inside a brilliantly designed game, a science experiment. In effect, a simulation devised by a greater consciousness (i.e., by “Consciousness”, or “God”). There are four common misconceptions, explored in this article, that sometimes generate a knee-jerk response of rejecting as implausible the notion that we are adventurers within “Earth Game”.
Misconception #1: that a simulation isn’t “real” – and we know “real” when we see it.
Some might protest that the realness of physical matter cannot be denied. True, if you cut yourself, you will bleed, and it will hurt. But physical senses are all part of the design, and part of the game – i.e., they plug right into the illusions. Those physical senses (and the brain in which they register) are designed so that the illusion will seem as real as real can be.
As an aside, your physical senses are easily fooled at the best of times. So-called “eye witness” reports are notoriously unreliable; the brain’s perception/memory processes are more intricate – and perhaps more wonky – than we imagine. As for the Earth itself, our senses give us no indication at all that we are rotating (along with the Earth) at a speed of perhaps 700 miles per hour (depending on one’s latitude) while hurtling around the sun (along with the Earth) at roughly 67,000 miles per hour. And, just because your physical senses have no clue that neutrinos are steadily passing through your physical body (at a rate of billions or trillions per second) doesn’t mean it ain’t so. Our senses can only detect a limited range of frequencies of light and sound – but other frequencies are just as “real”. Beyond all that, there is a whole lot going on in our adventure here that doesn’t even register within three dimensions of space and one of time.
As for describing this reality as “illusion”, that does not mean it does not exist. Rather, the other meaning of “illusion” is pertinent in this context – i.e., this reality is not what it appears to be. When the light bulb goes on regarding the true nature of this reality, that doesn’t make your life feel one whit less “real”. Rather, the value proposition is discovering that this reality does not work the way it appears to; the true mechanisms of cause and effect are hidden – deliberately hidden, as part of the game’s design – from our physical senses. The workings of mechanical causation are apparent to us; but the workings of the more fundamental resonant causation are invisible to our physical senses.
The one thing we know for sure is real is consciousness. Thought is real. To paraphrase Descartes, you think, therefore you are real. Whatever this is, within Earth Game, it is happening. Moreover, as we will explore next, it matters.
Misconception #2: that in Earth Game, our lives don’t matter.
A knee-jerk response might be that if we are only players in a game, then our lives are inconsequential, meaningless. I suggest an opposite conclusion can and should be drawn.
Let’s revert for a moment to the hypothesis that is the opposite of that I have advanced: that life on Earth is a random fluke of staggering proportions. That is, the “Big Bang” just happened to happen, and matter just happened to precipitate out of that, and stars and planets just happened to form, and evolution just happened along until, by total fluke, here we are wondering what the hey. Here is the soulless void that such a hypothesis would lead to: Life is meaningless. Ouch.
Contrast that with conceiving of “Earth Game” as a reality that was intricately planned and designed. Right down to seasons and sunsets and a myriad of varieties of pine trees and songbirds. (No, I’m not saying evolution wasn’t part of the development; I’m just saying that evolution was a device efficiently employed by the designers – who, for the record, and unlike us, were not encumbered by any notion of “time”.) Somebody went to a whole lot of trouble to design and build “Theme Park Earth”. They did that for the purposes of our adventure here. I gather the designers are quite proud of their handiwork; it behooves us to be in awe of it.
Most importantly, acknowledging the nature of Earth Game earns us this prize: a (metaphorical) Get Out of Meaningless Free card.
Misconception #3: that “Earth Game” as posited would be only a computer game.
We tend to think of “simulation” in terms of what we humans do with computers. The designers of “Earth Game” were not so limited.
Beyond the amazing complexity of “Earth Game”, its true magic – from the perspective of our technologies – is the direct role of thought as operating system. Clearly, we humans are nowhere near that level of technology. The technology gap between our own “virtual reality” and the reality that we experience within Earth Game remains massive. But, perhaps our own technology has progressed far enough that, for the first time, we can see it from here, i.e., we can at least muster an appreciation for the brilliance of Earth Game.
Except that, by design, there are things we can’t see and will never be able to see within Earth Game. There are things going on here within Earth Game that will never ever be directly observed or measured by physical senses that are (again, by design) limited to three dimensions of space and one of time. There are missing puzzle pieces – so-called dark energy, the source of gravitational force, and the “quantum field”, among others – that we will never directly observe or measure. We can explore them, but only to the extent that we find our way through the “veil” – into what I will call the “quantum” (as opposed to material) aspects of Earth Game. It is in the duality (more to come on that concept in subsequent articles) of Earth Game – that is, the duality of spirit and matter – that the best explorations will be found. No, not by new and better theories of “everything” expressed in terms of equations, but rather by exploring at a level that transcends the limitations of our four-dimensional conceptualizations.
Earth Game is a way better adventure than any game we can presently envision in terms of human technology.
Misconception #4: that in Earth Game, free will would be illusory.
Only pawns in a game, many might incorrectly assume. Just toys being played with. Just mice in a lab experiment. All of which overlooks the central role assigned to “free will” in the design of Earth Game.
If you think in terms of The Matrix, Earth Game is mostly the opposite of that. Recall that in The Matrix story, humans were inserted into a virtual reality so that their sensed experiences within that illusion would generate electricity for use by the AI machines that were their captors. In contrast, Earth Game is a markedly benign adventure; the beings that we truly are downstepped themselves into a “Theme Park Earth” that they designed and created just so they could experience and enjoy it. Not one player within Earth Game is here against their will.
The catch, of course, is that we come in with amnesia and without an understanding of how the game works. But that is what makes Earth Game such an awesome adventure. As we learn and begin to remember, we start to get a better feel for what we can actually do with the free will that is with us every step of the way.
A concluding thought: beyond the above four misconceptions, there is often also a willful blindness. Rooted in something like “I’m too busy dealing with shit to think about things like that.” That is entirely understandable. The irony, though, is that failing to gain any understanding of the true nature of reality can be a recipe for having too much “shit” to deal with. A path to a smoother ride is to understand how reality works and how to make it work for you (the key point here being that it is not what it seems to be and doesn’t work the way it appears to work). But, those who are too busy for any of that can expect more of the same.
For you, though, “more of the same” may not be what you are looking for. In that case, then by all means keep on pondering and peering through the veil, catching whatever glimpses you are able of the true nature of this reality and the fabulous design of this wonderful game.
The amnesia route for playing Earth Game is not “wrong”, and will never be judged on the other side of the veil. Eventually, though, there is another level to this game. Are you up for it?