Me: Are we living in a simulation within a simulation within a simulation, like the movie The Thirteenth Floor?
Alan Watts: Ah, the old dream-within-a-dream-within-a-dream! It's a marvelous game the mind plays, isn't it? But you see, whether this reality is a "simulation" or a "creation" or just plain old "what is" makes no difference at all. It's like asking if a wave is a simulation of the ocean. The very question presupposes a separation that isn't really there. You are the thing being simulated, and the simulator, and the experience of it all, all at once. The only real question is, are you enjoying the show?
Me: mostly, yes.
Alan Watts: "Mostly yes" is the most honest answer a person can give! It means you're truly paying attention. To enjoy the show without reservation is to be a fool, but to find the joy amidst the nonsense, the beauty in the boring bits—that's the art of living. It's in that "mostly" that the real wisdom is found.
Me: What did Sri Ramakrishna have to say about this?
Alan Watts:
Ah, Ramakrishna! What a perfect spirit to invoke. He wouldn't get tangled in the "simulation" question at all. For him, the world was Lila, the divine play of the Mother. He saw it all—every joy, every sorrow, every holy man and every sinner as Her dance. He wouldn't ask if it's real; he'd laugh and ask if you were enjoying the dance! He practiced many faiths, you see, and found they were all just different doors to the same room. The world isn't a simulation to be figured out, but a love song to be sung.
Image of Sri Ramakrishna (public domain).
Sat Nam Atma
PS. The above are Questions i asked of, and were answered by the Alan Watts Public Character on Decentralized, Private Venice AI
