Plato’s Cave, the myth of Prometheus, The Matrix films; are one and the same. Everyone has their own unique experiences but are actually, at base level- archetypal mythology.
I’m on a similar trajectory as your own.
as above, so below- as within, so without. The illusion is separation and duality.
David and Dolores are both correct. As is yours. Gaining wisdom through experience.
we are here to learn. You are in the world not of it. As Shakespeare said we are all actors on the stage of Life. The paradox is that we are never really alive nor do we die. Like that cat in the box. No egoic mind can wrap its myopic mind around it, this is where intuition comes into play. .. (spirit, soul, awareness). Identification with form is the trap. As David says, you, me, we; are all conscious awareness..
we are all just walking each other home, as Ram Dass put it so eloquently.