Science fiction has long worked with the idea of there being alternate realities. In my recent Developing Your Personal Practice class, I used the notion of an alternate reality to describe what it is like to be separate from the experience that you are in.

In the absence of being open and allowing the energy of the experience in, we are not truly part of the actual experience.

We, therefore, do not directly experience and know what is really going on. Rather, we are separate (usually in our head) and process the experience without being connected to it.

With the lack of direct knowledge about the experience, we begin to make assumptions in our intellect about what is going on. This creates an alternate reality.

There is the true reality of what is happening and our alternate reality of what is happening.

To make matters worse, we believe that our alternate reality is the true reality. And further, that everybody else has experienced our alternate reality.

The truth is that our alternate reality exists solely in our heads. It is totally contrived. It is a story that we tell ourselves and then believe to be true.

This creates some interesting challenges when we interact within the experience. There is a disconnect between what is really going on and what we are experiencing.

We say things and interact with others in the experience based on our contrived reality of the experience. It is no wonder that we unintentionally hurt people's feelings and push them away.

The most tragic thing is that we miss the true experience and do not get to share it with the others there.

Furthermore, if they are not open and present, the other people in the experience are also in alternate realities.

This should bring new light to the meeting that everyone seems to be on a different page. They actually were on a different page... and in a different reality.

The solution is to be open and allow in the energy of the experience. Then you are in the true reality of the experience. Hopefully, you find some others there as well. If not, you can invite them to the party.