you don't know him, he lives in a different reality
spiritual psychosis, reality shifting, subliminals, and the time i convinced myself i manifested a guy who was definitely not interested in me.
When I was in high school, a guy played me so hard that I had to start lifting weights, get my grades up, and become a Victoria's Secret bombshell, all to get over him. Frankly, only two of the three happened. Still, nonetheless, I can admit that in between the stir craziness of being locked in my house during lockdown and the first fresh heartache of a summer fling, I was vulnerable to the newfound spirituality trending on social media. For myself, it manifested as a detailed drawing of a guy with a long list of desirable traits and a mole that matched mine. So, of course, when I saw a boy who matched all of the odd and specific criteria on my Instagram, I was a little psyched out. All of this is to say that I am familiar with the grip of social media spirituality and its consequences. Now, a few years later, equipped with new knowledge, I want to revisit the phenomenon of shiftTok and provide some rationale for how it became so popular.
If you are not familiar with reality-shifting, it is an idea based on the “Multiverse Theory” that there are an infinite number of universes. It also draws on the law of attraction beliefs that you create your own reality. As WikiHow puts it, “Reality shifting is the practice of shifting your subconscious to an alternate reality.” By using various methods, one can move one's consciousness to a world like ours or one closer to a fantasy world. However, first, the user has to create their own world to shift to.
The practice is done by first scripting your reality. Shifters will write pages about what will happen in their new reality or DR. Sometimes it’s little moments they’ve dreamed of like a coffee shop meet cute or a toxic relationship with Draco Malfoy. Many shifters reimagine their favorite book series or movies as if they were characters in them. Within the community itself, there is friction based on what is right or wrong to script within a reality. Some users argue that scripting that Voldemort is alive is supporting his genocide of half-human wizards. Others believe that you should not script relationships with minors if you are an adult in this reality. There seem to be several moral quandaries surrounding what is appropriate and what isn’t.
Though it seems relatively harmless, the general assertion that shifting is an inherently positive form of imagination is difficult to argue when TikTokers assert with full certainty that what happened to them in another reality is synonymous with their human experience in this one.
The timelines also lined up, so many people began shifting around the pandemic. Escapism was a common treatment for the depressing environment around us. People read more fantasy books than ever, watched more movies, and could not do much more than imagine what life would be like after. It was pure desperation that life must be more than what is before us.
To me, the fervent belief that shifting is real comes from a mix of psychological factors. For one, maladaptive daydreaming occurs when people become so engrossed in their imagination that they struggle to believe what is real. They can will themselves into a state of delusion and grandiosity. It is a serious condition that can be likened to symptoms of addiction. Additionally, individuals prone to dissociation are also more likely to believe they have shifted. By being able to dissociate from their identity and experiences, they are more likely to be able to create a new identity that belongs to a new reality. Another possible explanation is lucid dreaming. It is a dream-like state characterized by activity in the prefrontal cortex of the brain, where subjects are aware they are dreaming and are, therefore, able to control the reality around them.
There is of course, the easiest explanation—lying. Many of the big shifting social media accounts amass thousands of followers through their tips, and storytimes. Some share cute moments between themselves and their partners in another reality or post images to help “motivate” people to shift. Practically every video could easily be something pulled from the pages of a fanfiction. Through seeking attention, and wish fulfillment people make these videos proving to others that shifting is real and subsequently building a following who they profit off the engagement of.
I am increasingly frustrated by young adults on the internet who refuse to acknowledge other possibilities for why they genuinely believe they are dating a Marvel character. Additionally, I am sad that people with good hearts are not receiving the help they need because they truly believe that they are bending quantum reality to go to another world. An argument I will make, is that many of these shifters are not taking the time to create something new, they are rather borrowing other’s imagination to supplement their own life’s deficits.
The conversation around shifting is two-fold. I believe we should approach situations like this with empathy as many of the traits or conditions that make someone more likely to think they shifted are, in fact, rooted in trauma. However, allowing friends and family to live in delusions of what is real and not real can be dangerous and will affect them for the rest of their lives.