REALITY DESIGNMar 6, 2026
nothing out there is real, it kinda is
I've been thinking about how most of what we take as 'real' just isn't. Or I mean, not in the way you're conditioned to believe it is. Reality's like a screen, and the slides projecting onto it are just your beliefs and thoughts.
Zac
Reality Designer
2min
So, the thing about reality is, we often think it's out there, projecting towards us. But I've definitely realized that it's quite the opposite. What you see isn't just happening to you. It's filtered, layered, and curated by all your internal settings.
Your awareness, that's more like a screen where your beliefs just play themselves out. I remember when I first understood this; it was both liberating and disruptive. Like, the whole way I interacted with life kinda flipped on its head.
Now, your beliefs, they act like an operating system running in the background, updating every now and again without you even noticing. And the interesting thing about that is how these beliefs are often not even yours. They come from your family, society... hell, even that weird class you took in college where you mostly napped.
I mean, how many of these beliefs have you actively chosen? If you're anything like me, probably not many.
When I was younger, deciding that being homeless or starting a business made more sense than college, yeah, that was an OS update I decided on. Not saying it was an easy choice though. But ditching the default configuration gave me freedom. It let me start tweaking my internal settings and calibrating life according to my terms.
Now, this is where the whole idea of upgrading your firmware comes into play. It's like, once you start debugging your beliefs, you find that some of your mental programs are just malware. And the thing is, you don't even need most of them. You keep them around 'cause they're familiar, or they seem useful in the way a rusty tool seems useful.
But in reality? They're more dead weight than anything else.
See, life's also a game. And I don't mean that in some metaphysical, ethereal way. It's a game with rules, levels, hidden variables, and cheat codes almost. Your beliefs and thoughts queue up psychic notifications that inform you on what’s coming next.
Sometimes you stick to those default settings, and that’s fine. But what most people miss is, all these hidden variables, they're not permanent. You can shift them, alter them, even erase them if they don't serve you.
I think one of the mind-bending concepts here is this idea of reality tunnels. These are like perception filters you've unknowingly installed. They're so sneaky that they shape every decision, every step you take without you realizing they’re plugged in.
Designing your reality is basically debugging your own operating system. You find the broken beliefs, you patch them, and then everything downstream starts working differently.
Sometimes, of course, these reality tunnels guide you towards stuff you haven't really chosen. Like that algorithm that curates you into someone you don't even wanna be. It's those algorithms that shape your feed, your news, and even your opinions. It's a filter over a filter, continuously spiraling you into an illusionary loop.
Unplugging from this default matrix is not just about opting out of mainstream opinions or lifestyles. No, it's about hacking into your own perception system and making those tweaks you didn't even know were possible.
When I started learning how to code, this metaphor clicked even more. Computers themselves don't decide what data to process, right? They follow commands, inputs, structures that are laid out by the developer. Now imagine you, as the developer of your own life OS, can reprogram what gets to be processed through your awareness screen.
As I got into constructing my own reality, I discovered the importance of self-audit. You know, like debugging. Just like you'd debug code, it's crucial to run a self-audit to catch glitches in your worldview. Make sense of the plugs and attachments you've installed, thinking you needed them.
For instance, why are you holding onto that fear? Does it serve a purpose, or did you just install it somewhere along the way? Self-audits lead to psychic tests that life throws at you. And passing these tests means updating your reality tunnel once more.
Where it gets real interesting is when you start questioning the plugins you allow in your reality. They come as attachments from the outer world, media, opinions, societal norms. And they often pose as essentials, but the truth is, they're outdated software. Just like when I chose homelessness, not because it's easy or glamorous, but because it was an opportunity to reset, to find the core codes running me.
So, here's what I've been thinking lately: nothing out there requires your attention if you've not chosen it to be part of your curated experience. It's a matter of being deliberate. To make each piece of data that hits your mind screen worth your time. And maybe the next time you catch yourself reacting, remember, it's just the OS giving you a prompt for an update.
And that's where I've been, standing on the edge of yet another update, thinking about how reality could be, should be, designed by the only architect that matters: you. But I'm still wondering, what happens when we merge this level of awareness with the bigger, collective OS? How do we debug reality at scale? Or should we even try?
I don't know, maybe that's just me.
