The ladder of worlds

When I was young, around three decades ago, I had this recurring vision or fantasy. As far as I know, I had not picked it up from anyone else, or I would eagerly have read it where I found it. The concept was that there were layers of worlds, of which ours was one. There were several below ours, and if you descended to them, you would be more real than the world around you. This would make you more powerful, and the deeper you descended into lower and lower worlds, the more godlike your powers. But staying there, and specifically using power there, would draw on your reality and you would grow weaker, until eventually you could never return to your own world alive.  

Conversely, if you spent time in the nearest world above, you would find life there full of suffering because everything was more real than you. The heat of the sun burned you, the cold of the night froze you, and gravity crushed you. Most of all you would feel like a snail, horribly weak and exposed and painfully slow. But returning to your own world, you would find yourself now more real and stronger in all ways than those who had always stayed there.

Much to my surprise, I recently found out that all of this was real. The various computer games are examples of lower worlds. (I suppose daydreams too, but these are poorly documented.) Despite being fundamentally different from reality, they are still patterned on reality and derived from reality. Those who descend into these worlds (ironically the word "avatar" is now commonly used) are more real than the world around them, and more powerful. But as I was forewarned, there is a risk of losing one's reality if the mind descends into the lower world and stays there. Eventually severe dysfunction in the real world may ensue.

As for the world above ours, the rays of that sun do indeed burn us badly, and the gravity there makes us crawl. Just like the lower worlds are of a different nature, and yet following the same laws, so is also the higher world different and not. I am told there are different ways to poke one's head up into higher realms, but for the most part religious traditions seem to provide the most reliable tools. I don't think this is the sole purpose of religion, and there may be congregations or entire branches of faith that have no interest in people actually exploring the upper realms. Nose around if you actively seek the doorway to a higher world, it may be in a surprising place and it is  certainly not well advertised. But most importantly, if you expect your visit above to be an easy, blissful trip, prepare to be very, very surprised. Even though you will be treated gently by those who reside there, it may not feel that way because of the natural weakness of one who enter from below.