I’ve been playing around with the idea of facts vs truths lately. Myths, for example, are stories that are factually impossible, but true on a psychological/spiritual level. We intuitively know they can’t happen in the material plane, and yet they resonate with us on a deep level. It’s a way to get us to understand things we can’t yet comprehend consciously. Sometimes it’s done through ritual, and sometimes it’s dressed like a kids’ story.
A funny one I’ve been pondering: According to some Hindu schools, we are all roles being played by God. To experience something other than infinite awareness and power, God creates the universe and inhabits every single thing in it. We are all in the imagination of some super-intelligent oneness.
This may not be factually true, we’ll never really know, but I found it to be incredibly empowering because it means we no longer need to seek the approval or love of others. Nor should we feel bitter if we can’t get the love we want. Because we can always give it to ourselves. If we were indeed God pretending to be a weak and limited human, then the feeling of love we crave could be granted with just a little imagination.
Here’s how:
Find 10-20 minutes to sit down.
Remember (or pretend to remember, it works either way) that you are God pretending to be you.
Ask yourself: If this were true, and this current moment was completely your creation, what would you do differently to make yourself happy? If what you want is to feel more loved, appreciated, recognized, and you were also God then why not just give it to yourself? Why not just tell yourself “I love you?” Why not give yourself solo experiences—going to the movies or eating a fancy meal—that others only ever do with friends? Remember: You are God and you are also being everybody else, so you wouldn’t want to give yourself anything that would harm others.
Repeat until you feel satisfied, or until you’re out of time.
Now that you’ve found a way to get all the love you need, share the infinite leftovers with others.
I have no idea if this is factually correct, but it seems that the truth of the exercise makes your life a whole lot better. After all, none of the things we chase truly makes us happy, what truly makes us happy is the feeling we allow ourselves to feel once we’ve got it. This is why so few of us are actually happy. The moment you get the thing, you want the next thing. But if you realize that you can just feel whatever it is you want from getting the thing, then maybe not getting it—or getting too little of it—won’t cause you so much anxiety. Maybe you find that you need a lot fewer things than you initially thought.
Works for me anyway.
Would be interested to know your thoughts. Have you tried this? This form of meditation probably already exists. If so, does anyone know the name?
If we are all God pretending, we’d have to recognize hatred and atrocities As well. Is existence God’s own Netflix entertainment? Is that any different from all the scenarios running through our imaginations? But then, if it is true, the world is the sum of opposing forces and contradictions. So if we imagine anything, it just gets thrown into the mix—or is our imagination just the play of God too?