Reading LifeSucks’ thread on his fear of anesthesia and his belief that one dies when they are unconscious reminded me of an idea I developed when I was about 7 or 8. That my being is actually the center of the universe. That God or other supreme being constructed the world around me as an experiment to see how I would deal with it. The rest of you are just physical representations for me to interact with. You all have no souls or really any existence except when I interact with you. Even to the point that if my senses don’t interact with the world around me then there is nothingness. When I interact with you your own history fills in magically where needed to create the illusion that we are all together, when in reality it is just me.
This idea is nothing that I have ever dwelled on or obsessed about, but a mere idea of my own existence. I don’t truly believe it but from time to time wonder about its possibility.
Geez. Only been back a couple days, and already getting attitude.
Yes, Boyo, I have seen The Truman Show. And I maintain that the premise is similar. Truman discovers that his world, his whole life, revolves around him and what he does. Granted, we aren’t talking about the universe, but the similarities are quite definitely there.
The OP describes a belief that the entire universe, including everyone around him is a product of his own imagination and has no existence outside his own mind. Neither Truman or anyone else in the movie believed anything even remotely close to that.
A better example would be Groundhog Day. Bill Murray wonders, for a while at least, if he is God, or maybe a lesser god.
Sorry, but this is a normal part of child development. We all did this.
Shortly after birth, a baby’s internal world consists of itself and its mother. As time passes, others, father, siblings etc, are assimilated.
At about age 5-7, the child realizes he is part of a much larger world.
Since the child has, from birth seen himself as the center of his universe, he has no reason to change that view. The only change, in his mind, is the recognition of a larger, and more populated universe.
At about age 10 most children realize they are only a small part of the larger scheme of things.
Hm. Sorry. That’s not how I read it. He doesn’t say anything about t being the cause of the creation around him, just that he’s the only one in it that matters. Probably the best analogy would be Zaphod Beebelbrox in the Total Perspective Vortex in The Restaurant at the End of the Universe, but that’s kind of obscure.
Also, remember, out here on the fringes, there are only a few stars, so each one is important.
Being the center of the universe, with so many other stars standing so very close, you become, one among many.
I am the Master Of The Universe
The Wind Of Time is blowing through me
And it’s all moving relative to me
It’s all a figment of my mind
In a world that I’ve designed
Charged with cosmic energy
Has the world gone mad, or is it me?
