We are programmed from birth to believe that our existence is an unsolvable riddle, but if we make an honest effort, we discover that mystery itself is the riddle. Not just what is the big mystery, but why is there any mystery at all? And what if there isn’t? What if the Mysterium Tremendum is just an internal belief without any external counterpart? What if the answers to life’s biggest questions were all hidden in plain sight?

“If man will strike, strike through the mask!
How can the prisoner reach outside except
by thrusting through the wall?”
Herman Melville

Those interested in striking through the mask will welcome a theory of everything that makes sense, doesn’t rely on religious or scientific chicanery, and can be easily understood. And those familiar with Jed McKenna and the Enlightenment Trilogy will know that it’s not just a theory.

The central premise of Dreamstate: A Conspiracy Theory, is the admittedly ridiculous but incontrovertibly true assertion that the universe does not exist.

This is something you can understand conceptually, like watching a documentary about Antarctica, or experientially, like moving to Antarctica.

There’s also a related phenomenon where you fall asleep watching the documentary and wake up in the frozen wasteland.

That’s gotta be weird, but the truth is that you’re asleep in a barren wasteland dreaming that you’re not, so that’s where waking up gets you.

Jed McKenna has always been more about destroying questions than answering them, so it’s no surprise that Play is more Q than A.

In fact, it might be viewed as a progression through the stages of self-inquiry, each of the seven vignettes taking us a bit further along on the inward journey, the early vignettes asking the questions, and the latter ones looking at those who do ask; showing us, promising us, warning us, where honest and relentless inquiry really lead.

But who, Jed has asked, really wants to go where this road really leads? On this journey, who you are changes with every step, and it’s all about taking the next step. In the end, Play is what it is. Or is it? Maybe it’s the journey of the examined life, or maybe it’s just a playful little play. Ultimately, of course, Play, like life, like anything, is whatever it is to you.