Late May in San Francisco. One question keeps returning to me: “Is my world something I create myself?”
Recently I came across a saying that stayed with me. It says the world I live in is shaped by my own mind. When I leave, that world ends for me. This made me think of Huineng’s words: “Originally there is not a single thing. Where can dust gather?”
In Buddhist teaching, this idea means every person actually lives in their own experienced world, shaped by their own consciousness and past actions (what Buddhism calls karma).
For example, in my world, one of my family members is mildly intellectually disabled. That is how I see her every day. But in her world she may be completely different. She may feel clear minded and capable. Maybe in her world she is the teacher and I am the student. Maybe she is the one quietly guiding or nurturing me. Our worlds overlap and affect each other, but they are never exactly the same. Like two dreams crossing quietly, each keeping its own details.
This also reminded me of Elon Musk’s Simulation Hypothesis that we talked about in March. Musk’s argument is quite straightforward. He points out that forty years ago, video games were as simple as Pong, just two rectangles and a dot. Today, we have photorealistic games with millions of people playing at the same time. If human civilization keeps advancing, future simulations will likely become indistinguishable from reality. Statistically, he says, it is far more likely that we are already living inside one of those advanced simulations rather than in the original “base reality.”
One comes from ancient Eastern philosophy. The other comes from modern science and technology. Yet both seem to point to the same quiet question: how many layers does the reality we experience actually have?
This does not mean other people are illusions. It is not extreme solipsism, but something more subtle, as if each person simply lives in their own version of the world.
This thought unsettles me a little, but it also brings a strange compassion. Maybe the way we understand other people is always limited to the version inside our own world.
These thoughts have deeply influenced Book 2 of Round Midnight.
In the first book, Jenny started to notice things that felt wrong. In the second book, I want to explore this feeling further. What happens when a person begins to doubt the world they live in? The unease, the curiosity and the urge to search for truth.
The book is still unfinished, but these recent thoughts have made me write with real focus. I see how closely philosophy, science, and science fiction can connect.
What about you? Have you ever felt that the world you see might not be the full picture? Do you lean more toward the scientific Simulation Hypothesis, or the philosophical view of consciousness?
I would love to hear your thoughts. Your replies are one of the main reasons I keep writing.
Book 2 is now about one third complete. I will keep working hard. I hope to share it with you this year.
In these last days of May, I hope your world is filled with gentle jazz.
Look closer at the patterns:
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