Almost Everything Is Fake

The shadow on the wall is a distortion of the truth that cast it. Turn and face the light.

Sep 08, 2025

We live in a world of fakeness.

There are fake smiles and poses posted for social clout. Fake news dressed up as truth. Fake politeness masking real feelings. Fake food built in labs to look like nourishment. Even fake money, conjured at the push of a button.

It’s all lies, stacked on top of lies.

Is this what it means to be human? To recognize the lies, repeat the lies, and fit in with them? Or are we simply not paying attention?

Now that AI has entered the stage, this fakery is multiplying at scale. Fake reviews. Fake blogs. Fake images. Fake videos. Fake voices. Fake creativity. The flood of imitation grows so large it’s hard to know what's real at all.

The result is a world so full of fakeness that realness and authenticity have become like a breath of fresh air in a sealed room.

So what are we to do? How do we navigate a world where almost everything is fake?

Go Wash Your Bowl

The more we wrestle with fakeness, the more real it seems.

The answer isn’t to fight the fake, but to stay awake. Keep the mind clear. Notice the shadows without being fooled by them.

This old koan addresses this lesson perfectly:

One day, a monk at the Joshu temple approached his master and asked — “What is truth?”
The master answered — “Go wash your bowl.”

Truth is never separate from ordinary life. It’s not hidden in theories, debates, or appearances. It only exists in what's right in front of you right now.

Hakuin Ekaku famously said — “Not knowing how near the truth is, people seek it far away — what a pity!”

Fakeness relies on abstraction. It depends on concepts and representations of something that’s real — it’s about something rather than being something.

The warmth of sunlight on your skin, the breath moving in and out of your lungs, vegetables cut right from the stalk, the work your hands are doing right now. All of that is as "real" as it gets.

Our task is to be authentic and sincere in our words and actions, to notice what’s real and simply let the rest drift past.