Welcome to the deeper ego, the weirder it gets. I'm your host, Garett Renon. It it has definitely been way too long since the last episode, And I am sorry about that because, believe it or not, some people actually enjoy these episodes, and I truly enjoy making them. So it has been a bummer that several months have gone by since the last episode. Obviously, there are no there are no excuses, but just know that I have been going through and dealing with a lot of changing circumstances over the last several months.

I will discuss more about this in the future. But for now, I want to talk about the nature of reality. So in order to discuss reality, we need to know what is real, or better yet, how do you define real? Well, according to Morpheus, if you were talking about what you can feel, what you can smell, what you can taste and see, then real is simply electrical signals interpreted by your brain. And it's true.

Everything we experience in our day to day lives is in a sense real. So maybe a better or deeper question would be, how do we know whether or not our day to day experiences represent the truest form of reality? Or another way to ask this question would be, how can you be sure that you are not living in some sort of false or fabricated reality? A great movie that tries to tackle these types of questions is The Truman Show. And let me say if you haven't seen The Truman Show, I suggest you do.

Hell, even if you have, it is worth watching again because next to The Matrix and the West and Westworld, it is one of the best movies about questioning the nature of reality. So The Truman Show is about a man named Truman Burbank, who is an unsuspecting star of a reality show called called The Truman Show. According to the movie, Truman was selected to become the star of the show literally at birth following an unwanted pregnancy. And as a result, Truman became the first child to be legally adopted by a corporation. Because of this adoption, Truman became thought of and treated just like a product.

And we all know that the goal of corporations is to make profits off of their products. So in order to generate profits from Truman, the corporation created the ultimate reality show, One which was filmed twenty four seven using thousands of hidden cameras. So basically, the Truman Show was a reality show where the viewers got to watch someone live their entire life completely unaware that they were in a false reality. And if you stop and think about it, if a show like this existed, it would be absolutely fascinating to watch. Cruel, but fascinating nonetheless.

So anyway, because Truman was living in a fabricated reality, it meant that everyone that he has ever come in contact with, including his parents, friends, and neighbors were simply actors whose purpose was to deceive Truman. Even the city which Truman lived in his entire life was nothing more than a really large television set. So imagine that. Imagine yourself in Truman's shoes. Imagine that your current life is just part of a reality show or that or that you are currently residing in some sort of simulation.

If if this were the case, how would you know? Well, the truth is it would be really hard for you to know because on one level, your experiences are in a sense real. However, just because we consider something to be real does not necessarily mean that we are experiencing the truest form of reality. See, Truman was living in a completely fabricated world. However, as far as he was concerned, that world was real.

I mean, think about it. Truman's mom was just an actor. However, to Truman, that actor was his mom. He believed her to be his mom, and he had no other information saying otherwise. In other words, Truman's experiences both created and determined his reality, which reminds me of one of my favorite lines from the movie.

It's when Truman Show creator, Christophe, talking about Truman, says, we accept the reality we are given. And it's true, not just for Truman, but for everyone. All of us just accept the reality we have been given. And to be fair, what other option do we have? Remember, our reality is just a product of our experiences, and we can't experience anything outside of our experiences.

So the point is, what we consider to be real is simply a product of our everyday experiences. However, like I mentioned earlier, that is no guarantee that these experiences are in fact a reflection of the truest form of reality. So knowing all that, let me ask the question again. How can you be sure that you are not living in some sort of false or fabricated reality? Well, over a thousand years ago, Plato contemplated the same question when he wrote the Allegory of the Cave.

And if you didn't know, the Allegory of the Cave is the inspiration for not only the The Truman Show, but also the Matrix, Westworld, and just about any other story that questions the nature of reality. The allegory of the cave is about a group of prisoners living in a cave. And as we will soon discuss, these prisoners are only able to see shadows projected on the wall in front of them. Because these people have been trapped their entire lives inside this cave seeing nothing but shadows, they, rightly so, believe and assume that these shadows are an accurate representation of reality. The allegory of the cave represents a hero's like journey of what it would be like to wake up and discover that there is more to reality than initially meets the eye.

In fact, the allegory suggests that in order to discover the truth, one must go through three levels of reality. And just like in the hero's journey, once the highest level of reality has been achieved, one must venture back down to the base level and help others see the truth. So let's go over these three levels of reality in more detail. So the first level of reality is the imprisonment in the cave. This is the lowest level of reality.

To understand this level, you need to imagine a group of people who are born as prisoners inside a cave. These prisoners are chained up in such a way that they are unable to move or look around. Because of these restraints, the only thing they can see on the wall, the only thing they can see is the wall directly in front of them. Now behind these prisoners is a fire. And between the fire and the prisoners is a group of puppet masters who, using objects and puppets cast shadows on the wall in front of the prisoners.

These puppet masters also talk and make noise which echo off the wall which echo off the cave wall so that the prisoners believe these sounds come from the shadows. Because these prisoners have only ever experienced these shadows, to them, the shadows are real. The shadows represent reality. Remember what Christophe said, we accept the reality we are given, and the reality the prisoners were given was the shadows. Also, it is worth noting that the puppet masters who control the shadows use this as an opportunity to program the prisoners by teaching political doctrines and agendas.

In other words, the shadows are used to create a narrative and instill a belief system within the prisoners, and this should sound very familiar. And it was no different for Truman who was essentially born as a prisoner in a cave. Actually, it was a large dome television set. However, instead of seeing shadows, Truman saw actors who were controlled by the show's creators, AKA the puppet masters. And these actors, with help of the puppet masters, instilled a belief system and created a specific narrative for Truman.

Okay. So going back to the allegory, Plato also suggests that very few prisoners ever escape the cave because escaping the cave is no easy task. In flat in fact, Plato says that only a true philosopher with decades of preparation would be able to leave the cave, which leads right into the second layer of the allegory, the departure from the cave. Plato then imagines that one prisoner is freed from his chains and able to look around. This prisoner would be able to see the fire.

However, because he has only ever seen shadows, the light emitting from the fire would cause severe discomfort, thus making it difficult for him to see anything else. Because seeing the fire for the first time caused him discomfort, if he were told that what he saw was in fact a truer version of reality compared to the shadows on the wall, he would not believe it. As Plato said, the bright light of the fire would hurt his eyes causing him to turn away in order to escape the pain. In other words, this experience of pain would make the prisoner want to return back to his comfort zone, back to the safety and familiarity of the shadows. This pain would also cause the prisoner to develop a fear and distrust of the unknown.

And as anyone who has ever experienced this fear can tell you, it is extremely powerful. In fact, it is so powerful that it can and will prevent you from seeing, hearing, or believing the truth. Okay. So after the prisoner returns back to the shadows, back to his comfort zone, Plato wants us to imagine that someone then grabs this prisoner and by force drags him past the fire and doesn't stop until the prisoner is removed from the cave, dragged all the way out into the light of the sun. The result would be a prisoner who is scared, angry, and in a lot of pain because the light of the sun would overwhelm his eyes, causing him to go temporarily blind.

However, after some time, the prisoner's eyes would eventually adjust to the light of the sun, allowing him to see an entirely different world. After some time, he would be able to see people, trees, mountains, lakes, rivers, and even the sun itself. And at night, you'd be able to see the stars and the moon. Compared to the shadows, this new world would not only seem magical, it would also be a much better representation of true reality. I mean, imagine the difference between once only seeing shadows to now seeing nature in all of its glory.

It would be a life altering experience, one in which you could never go back. I mean, think about it. After discovering a truth like this, how could you go back to the shadows? The answer is you could not go back. Some some discoveries change your perspective so much that you can never go back to your old belief systems.

In fact, after having one of these life altering experiences, all you can do is share your knowledge and help guide others to the truth. And that's exactly what the free prisoner did after seeing the real world. He felt the urge to help bring the other prisoners out of the cave and guide them into the real world. And this is part of the hero's journey. The hero leaves his comfort zone, ventures out into the unknown, acquires some sort of gift, usually in the form of knowledge, and then returns home, back to the comfort zone to give his gift to others, which leads right into the third level of the allegory, the return to the cave.

So as the newly freed prisoner returns to the cave, he ironically becomes blinded again. Although this time, it is because his eyes have now become accustomed to sunlight. So the prisoners, the people who have never left, seeing the returning prisoner unable to see in the darkness would assume that the journey out of the cave was dangerous and harmful. This belief of danger and harm would cause the prisoners to become extremely fearful and distrusting of leaving the cave. In fact, Plato argues that they would become so fearful that if possible, these prisoners would physically harm or even kill anyone who attempted to take them out of the cave.

What this means is that because of fear, people can and will become angry and even violent when presented with the truth about reality, which leads back to the Matrix. And you should know this by now, it always leads back to the Matrix. So Morpheus, when explaining the truth about the people in the matrix, said, the matrix is a system, Neo, and that system is our enemy. But when you are inside and you look around, what do you see? Businessmen, lawyers, teachers, carpenters, the minds of the very people we are trying to save.

But until we do, these people are still a part of the system, and that makes them our enemy. You have to understand that most of these people are not ready to be unplugged, and many of them are so inured, so hopelessly dependent on the system that they will fight to protect it. So the businessmen, lawyers, teachers, and carpenters represent the prisoners in the cave, and Morpheus represents the newly free prisoner, the one who has returned to deliver the red pill. However, prisoners be it the prisoners in the cave, prisoners in the matrix, or or anyone for that matter who is currently trapped in a system of mind control will always be a danger to the person trying to free them, which is absolutely crazy but 100% true. Just think about it.

How many times have you heard someone repeat a narrative that you knew was untrue or at the very least has some inaccuracies and unanswered questions that the person refuses to acknowledge despite the evidence being fairly clear. Well, if you've ever been in this situation, you will you will notice that upon further further questioning of their narrative, they will quickly become angry, dismissive, aggressive, and even violent. It happens all the time. Just look at social media just look at the social media comments about any of the hot button issues such as health protocols or politics. Okay.

So with all that in mind, you might be wondering if you are currently imprisoned in a false reality. I mean, it's the ultimate question. Right? I mean, how much of your day to day experiences represent true reality, and how much of it is staged or scripted like The Truman Show? Well, think about your life.

One day, you just popped into existence. You just spontaneously appeared into this reality. You probably don't remember anything about your birth. You were just told that you were born on a certain date, at a certain time, in a specific place. You were also told that this world that you just showed up in has been around for billions of years, and that you are a product of millions of years of evolution, with hundreds of thousands of those years being specific to human evolution.

And that during these hundreds and thousands of years of human evolution, you have been told about the rise and fall of different civilizations and empires. You have been told about different religions and ideologies. You have been told about many wars, including world wars. You have been told about the advancement of technology. You have been told about and you have been told about the downright evil behaviors and atrocities that humans have afflicted on each other.

Basically, from the moment you were born, you were told a specific history about all these things that happened before you got here, which have been responsible for the current conditions of your present reality. You were told all this, and now here you are listening to this podcast. So how do you know what, if anything, you have been told is actually true? How do you know you're not living in The Truman Show, and that the narrative you've been told has been given to you so that you may be controlled, manipulated, or used for the benefit of others just like Truman? Well, if you are completely honest with yourself, the answer is you have no idea what is true and what isn't.

And how could you? Just like Truman, Neo, and the prisoners in the cave, you two were born into a world that was created without your knowledge or awareness. You just appeared into a system that has been in operation long before you got here. This means that the likelihood that you were born as a prisoner is fairly high. However, just like Neil, Truman, or the free prisoners from the allegory, we also have the ability to free ourselves from our prison.

But in order to do so, we must be willing to face the unknown and have our world be completely turned upside down. Just think about how Truman felt when he discovered his entire world was a fabrication. Think about how Neo felt when he learned that humans were trapped in the matrix by machines and harvested for their energy. Or think about how terrified and confused the prisoner must have been after being pulled out of the cave. The contrast alone, going from two dimensional shadows to a three-dimensional colorful world would be so overwhelming that it could easily cause cause one to go mad.

I mean, anyway, the point is that the process of waking up, the process of expanding your consciousness, and the process of escaping your false reality prison can be a lonely, dangerous, and absolutely terrifying journey. Yet, it is a journey worth taking because the truth, as they say will set you free. This is because as you discover the truth, you simultaneously gain more knowledge and a better understanding of how the world actually works. And the more you understand about how the world works, the better equipped you become at making informed choices and decisions. And well, better choices lead to a better quality of life.

At least that's the theory. So if you were one of the few people willing to step outside of your comfort zone and begin the process of freeing yourself from your prison, I salute you, and I want you to know you are not alone. And I encourage you to keep up the good fight. Alright. See you on the other side.