One could make the argument that life is a rather immersive experience - so immersive, in fact, that it is hard (if not impossible) for most people to contemplate or consider the nature of a "higher" reality in which our more complete selves reside. We know of only this world around us. We are thoroughly immersed in it. If there were to be a fuller reality in which we enjoyed a more permanent existence, we are blissfully unaware of it.

Yet even in this most immersive of experiences, our species seeks ways of experiencing even deeper nested realities, in the form of books, films, and - more recently - first person perspective 3D games. We create virtual worlds in which to escape our current reality, to achieve a greater degree of control over our environment, and to experience things that are outside of the realm of possibility within the constraints of our current reality.