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Ancient Texts and Religions That Reference:

Living in an Illusion or Simulation

A comprehensive list of ancient texts and religious traditions worldwide that discuss the idea of reality as an illusion, a construct, a dream, or simulation, or that our thoughts effect and manifest our reality. This ads credence to the idea that we are in a simulation, and why things like astrology and numerology would have a programatic core.

  1. Hinduism – Bhagavad Gita:
    • Concept: The doctrine of Māyā describes the material world as an illusion, masking the eternal truth of Brahman. Krishna also emphasizes the transient nature of the physical world versus the eternal soul.
  2. Buddhism:
    • Concept: Śūnyatā (emptiness) highlights that phenomena lack inherent existence and are projections of the mind.
  3. Jainism:
    • Concept: Layers of ignorance and illusion veil the truth, accessible only through spiritual realization.
  1. Taoism – Tao Te Ching:
    • Concept: Reality is in flux; illusions arise when trying to define the Tao. Zhuang Zhou’s Butterfly Dream suggests waking life might also be a dream.
  2. Confucianism and Mohism:
    • Concept: Sensory perceptions are unreliable, and true understanding transcends surface appearances.
  1. Platonism:
    • Concept: The Allegory of the Cave depicts humans mistaking shadows for reality, with enlightenment revealing the true form of existence.
  2. Pythagoreanism:
    • Concept: The material world is a mathematical construct, reflecting deeper immutable truths.
  1. Judaism:
    • Concept: Life is fleeting and deceptive; divine reality is eternal.
  2. Christianity: (e.g., ).
    • Concept: 1 Corinthians 13:12: “We see through a glass, darkly,” implying an incomplete understanding of divine truth.
    • Colossians 2:17: “These are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ.”
    • 2 Corinthians 4:18: “So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.”
    • Psalm 73:20: “They are like a dream when one awakes; when you arise, Lord, you will despise them as fantasies.”
    • there are more, but most where removed via the gnostic editing
  3. Islam – Qurran:
    • Concept: The material world is an illusion (mata’ul-ghuroor), with ultimate reality residing with God.
  1. Native American Philosophy:
    • Concept: The physical world is seen as a dream or a transient layer over spiritual truth.
  2. Sufism:
    • Concept: The world is a shadow play, with unity in God as the ultimate truth.
  3. Gnosticism – The Nag Hammadi Library, The Gospel of Truth:
    • Concept: The material world is a flawed construct created by a demiurge, with salvation found in transcending this illusion.
  4. Maya Civilization:
    • Concept: Time and reality are cyclical, with the material world being impermanent and illusory.
  5. Norse Mythology:
    • Concept: Midgard is temporary and deceptive, dissolving during Ragnarök to reveal a truer reality.
  6. Egyptian Mysticism – The Egyptian Book of the Dead:
    • Concept: Life is a trial or illusion, with ultimate truth revealed in the afterlife.
  7. Zoroastrianism:
    • Concept: A dualistic struggle exists between truth (Asha) and deception (Druj), with material reality often veiling the divine.
  1. Hermeticism Texts: The Emerald Tablet, Corpus Hermeticum:
    • Concept: “As above, so below” describes the material world as a shadow or mirror of higher spiritual truths.
  2. Manichaeism:
    • Concept: The material world is a battleground between light and darkness, often masking higher truths.
  3. African Dogon Cosmology:
    • Concept: The physical world reflects divine creation but remains incomplete and illusory.
  4. Indigenous Australians:
    • Concept: The Dreamtime represents the timeless spiritual dimension underlying transient physical existence.
  5. Samkhya Philosophy:
    • Concept: The material world is a projection of Prakriti (matter), veiling the truth of Purusha (spirit).
  6. Advaita Vedanta:
    • Concept: The world is Māyā, and the self (Atman) is one with ultimate reality (Brahman).
  7. Zen Buddhism:
    • Concept: Enlightenment is awakening from the illusion of duality and recognizing the dreamlike nature of existence.
  8. Kabbalistic Mysticism:
    • Concept: The material world is a lower emanation of divine light, concealing the infinite unity of God.
  9. Prajñāpāramitā School of Buddhism:
    • Concept: Reality is devoid of inherent existence and is perceived through mental constructs.
  10. Egyptian Temple Mysteries:
    • Concept: Initiates were taught that the world of appearances veils deeper spiritual truths.
  11. Aztec Philosophy:
    • Concept: Life is transient and deceptive, with the gods creating an impermanent material realm.
  12. Native Hawaiian Philosophy:
    • Concept: The physical world is shaped by collective thoughts and spiritual energy.
  13. Shamanic Practices Worldwide:
    • Concept: Altered states of consciousness reveal that the physical realm is just one layer of a multidimensional reality.
  14. Druidic Traditions:
    • Concept: The physical world and the Otherworld are interconnected, with surface appearances masking deeper truths.
  15. Prajñāpāramitā Mahayana Texts:
    • Concept: Emphasizes the dreamlike nature of samsara and the ultimate reality of Nirvana.
  16. Mandaeism:
    • Concept: The material world is an illusion created by lesser beings, with the soul’s goal being to return to the divine realm.
  17. Sami Shamanism (Northern Europe):
    • Concept: The material world is a temporary veil over spiritual truths accessible through trance and ritual.
  18. Shingon Buddhism (Japan):
    • Concept: Reality is a manifestation of the cosmic Buddha’s mind, like shadows of divine light.
  19. Tibetan Dream Yoga:
    • Concept: Dreams are a metaphor for waking life, both of which are illusory and can be transcended through mindfulness.
  1. Siberian Shamanism:
    • Concept: The material world is one of many layers in a spiritual cosmology. Through altered states, shamans access higher realities beyond the physical illusion.
  2. Inuit Cosmology:
    • Concept: The world is perceived as dynamic and interwoven with spirits, where the material and spiritual realms constantly interact, blurring the line between reality and illusion.
  3. Alchemical Mysticism (Medieval Europe):
    • Concept: Alchemical symbols represent the illusory nature of physical reality, emphasizing transformation into spiritual truth.
  4. Stoicism:
    • Concept: Perceptions are not reality; only the rational order of nature (logos) is true.
  5. Persian Zurvanism:
    • Concept: Time and space are illusions masking the infinite and unchanging reality of Zurvan (infinite time).
  6. Bhakti Poetry:
    • Concept: The material world is a veil of separation from divine love, which reveals ultimate truth.
  7. Polynesian Huna Philosophy:
    • Concept: Reality is a dream projected by collective consciousness, with individuals empowered to change their personal dream through intention.
  8. Javanese Mysticism (Kejawen):
    • Concept: The world of appearances is a test or illusion, with true understanding found through inner harmony and spiritual practice.
  9. Hopi Prophecies (Native American):
    • Concept: The current world is an ephemeral phase, a transient illusion that will dissolve into the next reality during a great spiritual awakening.
  10. Celtic Mythology:
    • Concept: The physical world conceals the Otherworld (Annwn or Tír na nÓg), a hidden realm of truth and eternal life.
  11. Mohist Relativism (China):
    • Concept: Perceptions are subjective and illusory, with truth lying beyond individual perspective.
  12. Sikhism:
    • Concept: The material world is Maya, a veil of illusion separating individuals from divine unity.
  13. Theravāda Buddhism:
    • Concept: The world is a construct of mental impressions, which dissolve upon attaining enlightenment.
  14. Slavic Paganism:
    • Concept: The material world is transient and deceptive, connected to higher spiritual planes governed by eternal forces.
  15. Bhagavata Purana (Hinduism):
    • Concept: The material cosmos is likened to a cosmic play or dream orchestrated by the divine (Lila).
  16. Mysticism of Jalal al-Din Rumi (Sufism):
    • Concept: Life is a fleeting shadow; truth lies in divine love and union with God.
  17. Epicurean Skepticism:
    • Concept: The senses provide an incomplete picture of reality, with the atomic nature of the universe hiding ultimate truths.
  18. African Yoruba Philosophy:
    • Concept: The physical world is an extension of Orun (the spiritual realm), and earthly experiences are shaped by divine forces.
  19. Pre-Columbian Andean Cosmology:
    • Concept: The material world (Kay Pacha) is one of three interconnected realms, with ultimate truth residing in the divine plane (Hanan Pacha).
  20. Tantric Shaivism (India):
    • Concept: The universe is a projection of divine consciousness (Shakti), with the material world being a play of energy.
  21. Rosicrucian Mysticism:
    • Concept: The physical realm is an illusion, and spiritual enlightenment reveals the true, eternal order of existence.
  22. European Romantic Philosophy:
    • Concept: Reality is shaped by the mind, and the external world is a projection of inner consciousness.
  23. Haitian Vodou:
    • Concept: The material world is seen as a shadow or veil, with the spiritual world being the ultimate reality governing existence.
  24. Kogi Cosmology (Colombia):
    • Concept: The physical world is a transient illusion, with the Aluna (spiritual dimension) forming the foundation of all reality.
  25. Navajo Mythology
      • Concept: The material world is considered a “sand painting,” a temporary construct woven by spiritual forces.
  26. Kantian Philosophy
      • Concept: Our perceptions of space, time, and causality are constructs of the mind, not reflections of objective reality.
  27. Quantum Mechanics
      • Concept: Reality at the quantum level is probabilistic and observer-dependent, implying a programmed or simulated structure.
  28. Sufi Mysticism
      • Concept: The material world is a “veil” hiding the unity of existence; only divine love reveals true reality.
  29. The Hindu Yoga Sutras of Patanjali
      • Concept: The material world and ego are illusions (avidya) obstructing the recognition of the eternal self (Purusha).
  30. The Dhammapada (Theravāda Buddhism)
      • Concept: “All that we are is the result of what we have thought,” underscoring the mind’s role in creating reality.
  31. The Gospel of Mary Magdalene (Gnosticism)
      • Concept: The world is a construct that separates individuals from divine knowledge, with liberation found through spiritual insight.
  32. The Descartes Illusion
      • Concept: The material world might be a deception, akin to a dream, as certainty can only come from the mind’s innate reasoning.
  33. Hermetic Alchemy – The Emerald Tablet
      • Concept: “All is mind,” suggesting the material world is an illusory projection of mental energy.
  34. Japanese Shingon and Tendai Buddhism
      • Concept: Reality is a manifestation of the cosmic Buddha’s mind, akin to shadows or a dream.

  35. Mesoamerican Toltec Teachings

      • Concept: The “dream of the planet” describes a shared illusion constructed by collective beliefs and agreements.
  36. Kierkegaard’s Existential Philosophy
      • Concept: Human existence involves a tension between the finite and infinite, with mundane reality masking deeper truths.
  37. Western Occultism (Theosophy)
      • Concept: The material world is an illusory construct shaped by higher planes of consciousness.
  38. Siberian Tengrism
      • Concept: The material world is a layer within a multiverse of spiritual dimensions, perceived only partially through human senses.
  39. African Ubuntu Philosophy
      • Concept: Reality is interconnected and co-created through communal and spiritual energy, transcending individual experience.
  40. Haitian Vodou Cosmology
      • Concept: The physical world is one aspect of a layered existence, with the unseen world guiding and shaping material reality.
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