¶ Door Number Fourteen
¶ The Nature of Reality
¶ “People are asleep, if they die they awaken.”
Imam Ahmed Al-Hassan (From Him is Peace) entered and said to me one day, “My son, I have a question for you. A question which I consider extremely important. What makes you happy in this fleeting world? Does anything in it make you happy? My question to you is about this life and the world and I am not talking about religion.”
I said, “No, by God, only when I hear from you or when I see the believers happy and well, other than that, nothing makes me happy, not money nor a building nor the world.”
So the Imam (From Him is Peace) said, “May God grant you success, my son. You know my son, I have never been happy in my entire life, since my nails were soft (meaning since I was a baby).”
I said, “Subhanallah (Glory be to God), my Father.”
He (From Him is Peace) said, “Never, and I have never been happy about anything nor have I been joyful over anything in it ever, no by God never, because I know it is only an illusion…”
When the Imam (From Him is Peace) said this, I remember feeling choked up, and my eyes burning due to the tears I was holding back from pouring down. I had an overwhelming sense of heartbreak and grief. I had never in my life met anyone who had never been happy about anything a single day in their life and I felt so much pain for the Imam. I could only imagine at that point in my journey with Imam Ahmed Al-Hassan (From Him is Peace) the burden he was carrying.
¶ The World Is Like a Dream: “You Are Now in a Dream”
The Imam (From Him is Peace) said, “…How old are you now, my son? May God protect you.”
I said, “I am now thirty-two years old.”
The Imam (From Him is Peace) said, “What have you done all these thirty-two years? Can you bring back a single second? You cannot bring back a single moment of joy or a single moment of sadness. How many moments have you spent traveling and how much time have you spent eating and drinking and how much time have you spent being married and having children and being sad and becoming happy and going out and laughing and crying and working, all gone with time, where are the fruits of it all? The fruits are only in good deeds, that is the only thing which shall save you, and nothing else will work.”
I asked the Imam (From Him is Peace), “My Father, when you say that the world is an illusion, is the world like a dream?”
So the Imam (From Him is Peace) said, “Good job my son, may God bless you.”
I said, “So it is like the Prince of the Believers (From Him is Peace) said: ‘People are asleep and if they die they awaken?’ ”
The Imam (From Him is Peace) said, “Yes, by God, my son, it is a dream, you are now in a dream.”
I said, “Sometimes I am more awake in my dreams and I am able to control the dream (lucid dreaming), am I supposed to pay attention now or awaken now in this dream (this waking dream called life)?”
So the Imam (From Him is Peace) said, “This is a matter which you cannot reach until you have certitude that you are in a dream, and if you awaken from this dream and become totally aware and have certitude that it is a dream, you would die here (in this world).”
Here I realized that the Imam (From Him is Peace) is stating that if we completely and totally realize that this life is just an illusion and is not real, we would at that moment wake up from the dream or illusion. This disillusionment would cause our consciousness to wake up somewhere else and we would cease to exist here, i.e. we would die here.
I asked the Imam (From Him is Peace), “Matters here in this world appear as if it is a video game, when you say that the world or reality is an illusion, is it programmed like a computer with numbers and codes, etc.?”
The Imam (From Him is Peace) responded and said, “Everything is programmed in this universe but it includes choices, programmed with thousands of choices and possibilities, you can choose the choice that you want but in the end everything is programmed.”
I said, “So you mean a video game like Atari or Playstation exactly like in the verse from the Qur’an: ‘Know ye (all), that the life of this world is but play and amusement…’ ”
So the Imam (From Him is Peace) said, “Just about, exactly, good job, you ended it with the best of endings.”
I asked, “At the time of death is the matter akin to taking off a virtual reality headset and the deceased person suddenly realizing that it was all just a game or a dream and they find themselves suddenly standing in a different body other than the one they were in within this world?”
The Imam (From Him is Peace) said, “Great job, great job! Blessed you are, son.”
I said, “So then this is just like in the movie ‘The Matrix’, and there is an architect to reality.”
The Imam (From Him is Peace) said, “It is an illusion but the people within it are in a test.”
I said, “And what about the real world, is it like our world or is it a more perfect copy of it? Do we have the same type of bodies there?”
The Imam (From Him is Peace) said, “No matter how much I describe it to you, you shall not be able to grasp it, but one day I shall show it to you, this is a promise.”
Imam Ahmed Al-Hassan (From Him is Peace) revealed to me something extremely important about our reality. He confirmed that in fact, our reality is a virtual reality program, that it is actually not a real place but more like a computer game or program with every action and consequence programmed with thousands of possibilities. He also revealed that although it is a game or illusion, it has an architect and the result or outcome of our performance in this virtual world has consequences on our reality in the real world.
¶ “Expect Goodness and You Shall Find It”
I asked Imam Ahmed Al-Hassan (From Him is Peace), “I have a very important question, my Father.”
The Imam (From Him is Peace) said, “Go ahead, my son.”
I said, “Since this is all a dream, are all of the people that we see in fact real human beings, or are some of them not human or part of the illusion or program as well?”
The Imam (From Him is Peace) said, “I am going to ask you something, when you see a dream, is it real or is it just a dream?”
I said, “A dream.”
He (From Him is Peace) said, “Well, have you ever been struck in a dream and then you woke up and felt the pain from it? Or perhaps even falling on the ground?”
I said, “Yes, by God, this happened to me about a week ago, I was going to ask you about it.”
The Imam (From Him is Peace) said, “The answer then is yes, therefore it is real. But it is real in this world. The reality of this world and the realm of this world is the lowest of all surrounding and existing worlds. It is an illusion in the eyes of the rest of the worlds, but it is real in this world. You can sit and talk with some people and think they are human, but they are not. Perhaps they are from other species of creation, but you do not know.”
I said, “So that means there are other creatures that shapeshift to appear in our image other than the jinn and they are amongst us like extraterrestrials.”
The Imam (From Him is Peace) said, “You would not be able to differentiate them from normal people but perhaps from the eyes or from certain behavior you would feel like they are not normal. And sometimes you could have a conversation [with a person] but it is really you speaking with yourself and you do not feel it or realize it.”
The Imam (From Him is Peace) confirmed that just like in a video game, some of the people we meet on a daily basis are avatars with players behind them. Others are non-playable characters, or characters that are just created as a part of the matrix, people that are not really people but illusions, just as the trees or the sky or the sand is an illusion. He also stated that otherworldly beings such as angels, demons, jinn, extraterrestrials, and other species of intelligent life are capable of tapping into the game and playing as a character, in most cases, playing as a human character but the consciousness behind that avatar is non-human.
I said, “What is this reality that we live in? Is it our thoughts? Or is it our thoughts affecting reality? Is it an illusion which is the product of our thoughts? There is a book called ‘The Mysterious Stranger’ in which the main character Satan says: ‘Nothing exists save empty space—and you…. And you are not you—you have no body, no blood, no bones, you are but a thought.’ You said that we live in a dream or an illusion and dreams are the product of human thought, right?”
The Imam (From Him is Peace) said, “Yes son, everything can be produced.”
I said, “By thought?”
The Imam (From Him is Peace) said, “Not by thought. I shall give you an example, divine inspiration or a sudden idea which comes to you.”
I said, “What about it?”
The Imam (From Him is Peace) said, “This is the birth of things, you are the one giving birth to it. Did you not hear, for example, ‘Expect goodness and you shall find it’? And the opposite is true too.”
The Imam (From Him is Peace) says here that although it is not our thoughts that have created this matrix that we live in, we do through our thoughts, expectations, and ideas affect to a certain degree the events that we face in this reality.
I said, “But I mean these faces that the people have, the colors and shapes that exist. For example, if I look at the color green and I call it green, could Adam (PBUH) see it as orange? But in his mind orange is called green? Or we say the same word and yet we are describing different things. Do all humans see reality in one way or do we each see reality through the lens of our mind and we each see made-up images that our brains create?”
The Imam (From Him is Peace) said, “Now, you may like a person and someone else does not like him. Even though both of you met this person for the first time and you both did not know this person previously. Why do you like him and someone else doesn’t like him?”
I said, “That is the question, are we both seeing the same thing and same person?”
The Imam (From Him is Peace) said, “Each of you is seeing something, and not everyone is agreeing on what they saw. That is the answer to your question, I mean, you are correct.”
I said, “Subhanallah (Glory be to God), then reality is made up and seen through the lens of the mind.”
The Imam (From Him is Peace) said, “Yes, I shall give you something small to think about until we meet again. Does the human eye see things as they are or does it see what the brain interprets for it? And is the person who lost his mind, the insane person, seeing like the sane person sees or does he see other things? And why? Meaning, does an insane person see a red apple as a red apple or does he see it as a hedgehog? And does the insane person know that he is insane?”
I said, “Like when a person sees someone in the dark, and then he gets closer and sees it is only clothes?”
The Imam (From Him is Peace) said, “Think about it and contemplate and ponder over it until I see you next.”
The Imam (From Him is Peace) confirmed to me that base reality is different for every person. Colors, matter, objects all look different to different people, and words carry different meanings even for different people. That is why we have differing tastes and differing opinions.
¶ “I Am the World. Whoever Runs After Me Shall Fall”
Imam Ahmed Al-Hassan (From Him is Peace) called me one day and said to me:
Tell the believers to stay away from the illusion of this fleeting world, for by God it has no value, so do not let it fool you. I shall tell you a parable that you can tell your brothers, perhaps they shall take heed from it. Once there was a lone son who had a rich father. One day the son went to his father and said to him: “My father, I have fallen in love with a young woman who is extremely beautiful and I want you to marry me to her.” So the father became very happy and he said to his son: “Let us go get you engaged to her, my son!” So the father and the son went to the house of the beautiful woman and when the father saw the young woman he became amazed and was blown away by her beauty and he liked her and became greedy and he said to his son: “My son, this woman is no good for you, for she is very beautiful and deserves a rich man who is able to make her happy. I shall marry her.” So the father and the son quarreled greatly and they went to the police station so that the sheriff may judge between them. The sheriff said to them: “What is the matter?” So they told him the story and the sheriff said: “Let us then call forth this girl and ask her whom she wants.” So the sheriff sent for the girl and when she arrived the sheriff was stunned by her beauty and he said to the father and to the son: “This woman is no good for you, nor you, this woman can only be with a man who has authority, power, and money.” So he said: “And therefore I shall marry her.” So they all quarreled and they raised their voices and they were shouting, and the mayor of the city heard that there was a problem, so he asked that everyone come and be present in front of him in order that he investigate the matter. So all of the quarreling parties arrived, the father and the son and the officer, they all arrived at the mayor’s. The mayor said to them: “Let us see this girl that caused all of this.” So he sent for the girl. Upon her arrival, the mayor was shocked at her extreme beauty, and just like the rest, he began to quarrel with them all over this woman. All of the parties then went to the king and told the king of the country about what had happened and just like every time, the king requested that the girl be present, and when he laid eyes on her, he said: “She is not for you, nor you, nor you, no one deserves this woman except for the king of a country so that he may make her live like a princess.” So they all quarreled and it was here that the young woman said: “I have the solution.” They said to her: “What is your solution?” She said: “I shall run and you all run after me, and whoever catches me first, I shall be his and I shall marry him.” So everyone agreed and the beautiful woman ran and they all ran after her. And suddenly everyone fell, the father, the son, the sheriff, the mayor and the king all fell into a giant hole in the ground. The woman turned to them and said: “I am the world, and whoever runs after me shall fall into the grave while they do not expect it and while they are filled with sin.”
Then the Imam (From Him is Peace) said:
So leave this world, my sons, for, by God, you shall not feel yourselves, and will suddenly one day find that your life is over and you are old and full of sins and misdeeds, and there does not remain for you except that you get sick and face humiliation and suffering, may God grant you all success. Yes by God, it is a fleeting, illusory world that has no value to it, and I say this because I see some people these days trying to chase after this beautiful woman, the world is like a woman wearing makeup, if she washes off the makeup, her faults and defects appear.
Because reality is not real, wasting our lives chasing it and worrying over it would be like a person who sat playing a video game, and in the game the family of the character he is playing dies, and then he spends his real life crying about the game. That would be a waste of life because it is an illusion and not real. This world is the same, hence Prophet Mohammed (PBUH & His Family) said the world is not worth the wing of a mosquito to God.
¶ “Within You Is the Universe”
I said to Imam Ahmed Al-Hassan (From Him is Peace), “When you look through a microscope at the cells of the body you see what appears to be worlds and creatures and planets and things that resemble space and planets and stars.”
So the Imam (From Him is Peace) said, “Do you consider yourself to be a small entity while within you is enfolded the greater universe.”
I said, “Subhanallah (Glory be to God), then the question is: Where are we Father? Do we live within a cell of a giant body?”
The Imam (From Him is Peace) said, “It is a world within a world into infinity.”
So I was amazed and said, “Are we within a human being?”
The Imam (From Him is Peace) responded, “You are very optimistic, what human? All of this is within one small cell.”
I said, “All of the universe is within one cell? A cell of what, my Father, may I be your ransom?”
The Imam (From Him is Peace) answered and said, “A cell on the back of a small mosquito that no one cares about.”
I said, “On the back of a mosquito?”
The Imam (From Him is Peace) said, “Yes.”
So I immediately prostrated to God a long prostration and I rose and said to the Imam (From Him is Peace), “Wow! All of these wars and killing and everything that has occurred over power and in the end it was all over a cell on the back of a mosquito! Wow!”
So the Imam (From Him is Peace) smiled and then I said, “So is this the meaning of the qur’anic verse: ‘God does not shy from drawing comparisons even with something as small as a mosquito or what is above it…’ ”
The Imam (From Him is Peace) replied, “Yes, exactly.”
I said in shock, “Subhanallah (Glory be to God), what is this greatness? This is without a shadow of a doubt one of the greatest nights, how great are you!”
So the Imam (From Him is Peace) said, “You are blessed, my son.”
¶ “Raise the Word of God and Have Victory”
I said, “Just as we have mosquitos in this world and yet we are inside a cell of a giant mosquito, are there giant copies of us in that world in which the mosquito exists?”
The Imam (From Him is Peace) said, “Yes, there are.”
I said, “Who are the real ones, us or them? What are they doing there? Is there a Rise and a Divine Just State and all these things which we are doing here?”
The Imam (From Him is Peace) said, “My son, do not dive too deep into these worlds, it will make you tired, leave these worlds and raise the word of God and have victory.”
¶ Sources
- Al-Dorrar Al-Monthathira fi Al-Ahadith Al-Moshtahira, Al-Suyuti, p. 197
- Lucid dreaming is when a person becomes aware of the fact that they are dreaming.
- The Holy Qur’an, Chapter 29 (Al-Ankaboot), Verse 64
- Prophet Mohammed (PBUH & His Family) said: “By the One who has the soul of Mohammed in His hand, if the world was worth a wing of a mosquito to God Almighty, He would not grant the disbeliever and the immoral even a sip of water from it.” - Al-Amali, Al-Tusi, p. 531
- A’yan Al-Shia’, Sayed Mohsin Al-Amin, Vol. 1, p. 552
- The Holy Qur’an, Chapter 2 (Al-Baqarah), Verse 26