This was written by Jed in response to a letter from a reader who
was torn between the certainty of nonduality and the reality of reality.

Dear M-,

Here’s a challenge for you, and I think that if you can accept and accomplish it you will have a valuable insight into the hidden nature of your existence. The challenge is simply this: Stop, for a minute, taking everything for granted. Look at the world and yourself subjectively, through fresh eyes. Try to step back and take a clear-eyed look at where you are, the whole situation at once, and see if you find it credible, especially in light of current everything-from-nothing narratives. Try to see the utter improbability of what you wake up to every day. Try to calculate the odds of this place, of life, of humanity, of creation, of yourself going to work or raising a family in the suburbs or robbing a bank or driving down the interstate. Try to step back and see the totality of apparent creation through fresh eyes, as if for the first time. Do you think a reality such as ours occurs in nature? Ask yourself, seriously, what are the odds?