What is reality shifting?

Just as when we watch a movie in the cinema that we like so much that, upon leaving, it feels as if we've lived a different reality, the practice of reality shifting allows individuals to travel with their mind and access another world. It is not a daydream, as psychologist Mark Travers writes in Forbes, but rather inducing a state of self-hypnosis through «meditation, visualization, writing, and concentration». Although the trend began within the Harry Potter fandom, particularly from a small group of people (which grew rapidly) who used this practice to live alongside their favorite fantasy characters, reality shifting is catching the attention of Gen Z and social media. In line with today's teenagers' passion for escapist experiences, reality shifting and quantum leaping meditations propose themselves as an antidote to a sentiment common to all generations raised during intense historical moments: finding an answer to the evils faced by looking elsewhere, as far away as possible.

Since the start of the Covid19 pandemic, platforms like TikTok, YouTube, Wattpad, and Reddit have been flooded with tutorials and audio guides explaining how to immerse oneself in a world far from the real one, how to find greater connection with one's self. Content related to reality shifting still gathers hundreds of thousands of views, and on TikTok, the dedicated hashtag has amassed over 420,000 posts. On Forbes, Travers writes that there are two methods of “reality shifting”: the Alice in Wonderland method, which involves imagining falling into another world, and the Elevator method, which involves visualizing ascending to the floor where the desired reality is located. While Travers refers to reality shifting as a pastime, on Dazed, Günseli Yalcinkaya explores its darker corners. «There are people who claim to have spent years, even decades, in their desired reality only to wake up again to their boring lives,» Yalcinkaya notes, adding that some individuals were so convinced they wanted to abandon the world as we know it that they took the extreme step, recognized in the reality shifter community as "respawning," a sort of permanent reset that involves separation from their earthly body. «Some people consider respawning as a 'forced reincarnation'», cites the site Amino in a dedicated post.

It is not surprising that Gen Z is passionate about meditation and practices like reality shifting and quantum leaping; in fact, it would be strange if it were otherwise: it is one of the saddest generations ever, resigned to living with a hyper-connected phone but also with an overwhelming sense of helplessness in the face of the scenes of violence that the same device documents 24/7. Just as in the 60s and 70s, young people sought answers and refuge from the injustices of the time through new age spiritualism and the use of newly popularized drugs like LSD, Gen Z finds solace through hallucinogens like magic mushrooms and meditations like reality shifting. Not long ago, there was also a period when the For You Page on TikTok of anyone with a vague interest in the esoteric was flooded with remote tarot readings, enough to turn them into memes, and another period when some users documented “glitches in the matrix,” reporting finding duplicate hair clips, nails, earbuds, and more in pairs.

Drawing inspiration from the words of spiritual gurus like Ram Dass, or creatives like the award-winning producer Rick Rubin (famous for his spiritual approach to the creative act, author of The Creative Act: A Way of Being), Gen Z has embraced a mystical vision of life, just like in the years of Woodstock and the Beatles' rooftop concert at the Apple Studio in London. Reality shifting and meditation are harmless if used as tools for (real) growth, to take control of our (real) life, but if reaching one's potential means hurting those around us, isolating ourselves, or even self-harm, it might be worth reconsidering the matter. For traveling with imagination in this life, there will always be movies, books, and video clips like Lucy In the Sky With Diamonds. Which, let's face it, aren't bad.