Connections between Religion and Simulated Universes

A couple months ago my friend was asking me what I thought about Elon Musks's statement that it is highly likely we are inside of a simulation. Now this is a topic I have spent a good amount of time thinking about, and I'll discuss my personal views at the end. At one point in the conversation we started talking about religion. I don't exactly remember how, but something clicked in my head that made me see the relation between religious texts and simulated universes. You see the point of this post is to show that almost every religious text can be interpreted in terms of escaping a simulated reality.

When it comes to Abrahamic religions the one I know the best is Christianity. Christianity is based on the belief that Jesus Christ came to Earth and sacrificed his life in order for all people to go to Heaven. If a Christian leads a morally good life than they will be granted access to Heaven. The repeating point I will be making is that religions describe the current reality as a lesser reality. Heaven is the true reality, and this world is a trial of sorts. A form of verification to prove ones worthiness. It is not much of a stretch to interpret the Bible in terms of Jesus coming to be the world's savior so they can escape the Simulated Universe and go to Heaven. THIS IS LITERALLY THE PLOT OF THE MATRIX!!! Neo is the one (Jesus), there is a girl named Trinity, and the last city is Zion. Which if you have ever listened to Bob Marley, you would know it is a synonym for Heaven. Going to Heaven is a transcendence. Transcending to the 'true' reality, and escaping this current one. A simulated universe. Islam is very similar in this case because of the belief in the prophet Muhammed. Judaism, deviates slightly, but there is still the idea of transcendence.

Hinduism presents the idea of the maya. Which roughly translates to magic or illusion. Hinduism states that we live in this illusion. This veil that prevents us from having a greater knowledge of Brahma the creator. Hinduism is based on the idea of reincarnation and reaching enlightenment. Enlightenment is the transcendence of maya, of the simulated universe. Buddhism was formed in India and was greatly influenced by Hinduism. Once again, same formula, reaching enlightenment means transcending the illusion, the simulated universe.

My personal belief is that existence is absurd. It does not matter to me if we are in a simulation or not because I have already embraced the curiosity that is existence itself. I affirm this life, whether it is a simulation or not. This thinking is heavily based off of the writings of Nietzsche.

So next time you are thinking about simulated universes just remember that people have been discussing different versions of this idea for literally thousands of years.