Escape to Reality

Is our world going crazy?

Someone out there might say, “What do you mean, ‘going crazy?’ Our world lost its mind decades ago.” It seems so. In 2016, CNBC reported that a fear is emerging among many tech billionaires of Silicon Valley that we are all trapped in a computer generated existence, popularly known as “simulation hypothesis.”

The idea comes from the Matrix movie franchise, in which the movie’s protagonist, Neo, makes the horrifying discovery – that all of his life – his life experiences, friends, and happiest moments – are not real, but are fed into his brain while he’s encased as an embryo in liquid-filled pod.

His quest becomes to free humanity from this bondage to the computer-generated illusion. But, as one would expect, these tech billionaires are turning to “the clergy” of our popular culture, scientists, to help us “break free” from the Matrix.

Is this silly notion merely symptomatic of our generation? Does it reflect the mentality of people whose entire adolescence and adulthood has been spent locked away with a computer in one’s room, with no personal interaction except through online social networks?

Maybe this departure from reality is also due to their own self-absorption and the pursuit of personal gratification. Whatever the source of the madness, the cure is not to be found among scientists whose world extends no further than their laboratory. The surest way to break free of life’s illusion is to find people in desperate need and help them.

The healthiest thing these troubled billionaires can do for themselves is to start giving their billions to their fellow human beings who are starving, persecuted, homeless, unskilled or uneducated. Instead of competing with other corporations to stay on top, they need to look at the world beneath them and take note of its desperate situation.

For the person who gives freely as he has received freely, there is joy and peace.

One of the great pioneers in the study of suicide and depression was Dr. Karl Menninger. When he was asked what he would do if he found himself deeply depressed and seriously contemplating suicide, he gave this answer. “Lock up your house, go across the railroad tracks, find someone in need, and do something for them.” Nothing can be more therapeutic for our minds and attitudes than to give to others and to share their burdens.

Even Jesus declared, “It is more blessed to give than to receive,” (Acts 20:35, NKJV).

Giving to those in need and sharing in their burdens not only connects with reality and gives us a firm emotional footing, it also fulfills God’s purpose for our lives.

Whenever God pours blessings into our lives, He expects us to be faithful stewards by sharing them with others are in greater need than we are. God calls us not to be sponges, that only soak up wealth and resources. He calls us to be channels – to distribute God’s blessings to others.

For those people who hoard what God gives them, there is a price to pay – misery, depression, anxiety, and ill-health. But for the person who gives freely as he has received freely, there is joy and peace.

PRAYER:

Dear Father in heaven, please open my eyes to the pain and suffering of those around me and in the world. Open my heart to help them and liberally share with others what you have so generously given to me. Amen.