Have you seen the Netflix series "Messiah"? (If not, I highly recommend; it has a Sense8 vibe centered around religious and political ideologies instead of the metaphysics of human connection.)
A resounding theme throughout, and a reasonable question asked in a scenario where someone is claiming to fulfill prophecy, is "Is this guy for real?" And it is ringing several bells in my head.
Why do people question that which moves them? What marks something as "real"? And how do we know truth?
Current social contracts, ideologies, and collective data combine to form broad, interconnecting categories dictating what is legitimate in life and that which falls outside of those realms is questioned. Often with much vitriol. And if you are able to somehow find credence in a new idea or message that falls outside the conclusions others reach, you are labeled with the sin of "lacking critical thinking" (the intellectual version of calling someone stupid with the not so silent undercurrent of crazy).
At least until an unspecified number of people also reach similar conclusions. Then we call it advancement.
The show looks at this issue as it affects the global population. I ask you to think about how this affects your personal being.
Fear of judgement, rejection, objectification, humiliation. Fear of shame. Fear of being wrong. Fear of overstepping. Fear of being singled out and seen. Fear of going crazy or hallucinating or of finding out "for real" that you are not special.
What did you not do because of these fears?
What truth did you not speak?
What life did you give up?
And was it worth it?
Is your life better because you convinced yourself to do the "reasonable" thing?
Is your life more fulfilling because you hid?
Is your life less confusing because you lived another person's dreams?
Safety and security are necessary. Fulfilling these needs allows us to do everything else in life. But we delude ourselves when we try to meet those needs by living through the lenses that others design. And when a basic need is only perceived to be met, we spend our lives trying to fill that hole, wondering why nothing else in our world seems real.
What illusion will you break today?
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