RE: Message In A Bottle (A Reply)
Yes. Fear of death seems to be essential for this simulation / reality to exist. Without fear of death (which is just a lack of knowledge) we'd exit the simulation at the first experience of pain and no value could be generated in our account, there would be no message in our bottle.
So in order for this simulation to exist, we have to lack knowledge of our parent reality.
But what happens if we find a way out of this simulation before we die? What happens when a human mind glances outside the simulation and sees it's own consciousness?
Perhaps "uploading one's consciousness" or "dying" take you to exactly the same place... a place where death is no longer feared, a place where limits no longer exist, a place where the "first mover" question makes no sense.
Perhaps a limitless reality is as baffled by a limited reality, as a limited reality is baffled by the limitless.
ps. Thanks for the reply post. I'm going to have to stare at that picture for a while.
i think zen has taught me more about experience of "big mind" or total consciousness than many other tools of understanding. the koan is a key tool to this understanding. contemplating your face, before you were born, is instructive. the double bind is a useful tool as long as it does not become a trap.
the contemplation of, and engaging in "correct action" is also very instructive.
if the parent reality does exist, it is necessary for us to be mostly ignorant of it. imagine never having played a game without having to cheat as a mandatory part of the game. there would be no entertainment or learning involved. the game would cease to be engaging or meaningful.