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Hi @ravkes,

Welcome to the boards! I am no expert on Buddhism, nor on mental health, but having gone through similar experiences to yours here are my thoughts/suggestions.

If you have read or will read some Buddhist sutras, you will notice that the Buddha always uses negation around all possible positions around big intellectual ideas such as "is reality a simulation?".

I don't know if he addressed that very question, "simulation" was not a concept they had at the time, but I imagine his answer would be something like "reality is not a simulation, nor is it not a simulation, nor is it both a simulation and not a simulation, nor is it neither a simulation or a simulation".

This sounds like heady stuff difficult to understand, but to my mind it just means: such thinking (any of the positions), especially if it is rampant, will only make you fearfull, anxious, confused, not at ease.

I am sure that at times you feel at ease, in the moment, natural, spontaneous, just OK. I am likewise sure that at such times you are not thinking whether reality is a simulation or not, which is your hint that such thoughts, as the Buddha would say, are trouble.

Hence, to my mind, the Buddhist approach to this issue would be to aim to put down such thinking and just live a simple, moral, active, compassionate, joyfull life to the best of your abilities. Simulation or not, we still go on with our normal ordinary daily activities. I am sure you have some activities that ground you, bring you calm, lessen the "monkey-mind" and the resulting turmoil - these are your remedies, your medicine.

There is actually a zen-story that illustrates this point (paraphrased). A man comes to the monastery seeking relief from a heavy dose of monkey mind and agitation. The teacher in residence tells him: "I am going to town, in the meantime, please sweep the whole monastery." The man is perplexed, since he thought he would be taught meditation, but does as the teacher says. While he is sweeping, a grounding simple activity that bypasses the troubling thoughts that brought him to the monastery, his mind calms down, and when the teacher returns, he teaches him about meditation.

I am a big proponent, both in my life and in advising others at times when their minds get out of hand, not to underestimate the power of a healthy, balanced, grounded lifestyle. Such a lifestyle brings positive results, a better mind, a better life. Troubling thoughts become less, and finally just fall away completely. It's always a work in progress, something to be worked at, kept going. I do not know your circumstances, but if you know which habits and behaviors do not help you be well, stable, at ease aim to lessen or remove them completely, slowly, step by step. Can't do it overnight. This is a powerful remedy and brings much better results than we might conceive of at the beggining.

Regarding meditation, I read good advice from Adyashanti recently: "practice what works for you, not what does not". So, do not feel pressured to practice the exact technique you think you "should" practice, try a few, and practice the one(s) that you find that bring you results and feel in line with your intensions and psychological makeup.

Wishing you well and keep us posted on how things are getting along.