The "Lamp Theory" refers to a popular story and internet trend originating from a Reddit post, which has since gone viral on platforms like TikTok. The core of the theory is based on a narrative where a man, after being knocked unconscious (in this case, assaulted during college), experiences living an entire alternate life spanning about ten years. In this alternate life, he has a wife, children, and a seemingly normal existence. However, he becomes obsessed with a particular lamp in his house that appears out of place-blurry, upside down, and distorted in his perception. This lamp acts as a symbol or trigger that reveals the unreality of his alternate life. As he fixates on the lamp, it grows larger and more overwhelming until he experiences intense pain and sensory disturbances, ultimately waking up in the real world, realizing that the decade-long life was a dream or hallucination during unconsciousness
. The lamp itself is often interpreted symbolically, representing a moment of epiphany or awakening-the "lightbulb moment" where the protagonist realizes the truth about his existence
. The story explores themes of reality, consciousness, and the nature of dreams, provoking questions about how the brain constructs experiences during unconscious states. In summary, the Lamp Theory is a narrative and cultural phenomenon about perceiving a strange, out-of-place lamp during an alternate life lived in unconsciousness, which leads to the realization that the life was not real and results in waking up from that state
