Christian gnosticism was somewhat like that:

Many of the so-called gnostic groups are characterized by a mythology that distinguishes between an inferior creator of the world (a demiurge) and a more transcendent god or order of being.

Has anyone else here had a sense that what they were experiencing in early life wasn't truly real or that it was highly stripped down? — TiredThinker

How early? From what I recall of my first five years, reality was immense, vibrant, full of life and possibility, waiting eagerly for me to discover it.

Or is that natural when one hasn't yet accepting things as they seem to be? — TiredThinker

I don't understand this. In childhood, we begin by accepting the environment, things and people at face value; only as we gradually learn about illusion and deception, do we begin to question what things seem to be. Surely, by old age, we've figured out that nothing man-made is quite what it looks and sounds like; only nature is genuine.

Has anyone else here had a sense that what they were experiencing in early life wasn't truly real or that it was highly stripped down? — TiredThinker

I grew up before wall-to-wall vidiocracy of 24/7/365 cable tv, video games, smart phones, social media & youtubing, so definitely not because my "early life" was "truly real" for me, especially as @Vera Mont so rightly points out, nature (i.e. wilderness – through which I, a fortunate though working class NYC kid, had often backpacked & hiked since early grade school).

Has anyone else here had a sense that what they were experiencing in early life wasn't truly real or that it was highly stripped down?

Or is that natural when one hasn't yet accepting things as they seem to be? — TiredThinker

I think that would depend on how old you are. As a kid in the late 50's and early 60's I was out and about in reality, others have mentioned the same thing. We saw reality all the time. The only problem for many was the size of that reality, how far you managed to get from home. Obviously then, where we could not go we did not know first hand. So in some ways it was a limited reality.

Kids nowadays have the ability to see more through the different internet medias than we ever imagined. But it is always once or twice removed from reality. A lot of kids today have never thought about playing in puddles while it rains, and most parents are too protective to let them even if they did think about it.

Maybe that is what you mean.

Has anyone else here had a sense that what they were experiencing in early life wasn't truly real or that it was highly stripped down? — TiredThinker

When I was a child in the 1970's, I certainly 'felt' that reality (specifically my experience of it) was in some way manufactured and wasn't entirely real. That was certainly an acute feeling when I went into the Australian outback. I often wondered if there was some way to get 'behind' it all.

As a child I was already influenced by the philosophy of Plato, which my father bestowed upon me. Never grew out of it, frankly.

Yeah, I guess the sense of illusion. Perhaps like many kids I was intuitive when people were being less than honest but had no way to know how far the rabbit whole goes.