vibv

Having a story is a great play, if one manages to not get lost in it. Sure, you can rest in no-self all the time, but where's the fun in that!?

Well, firstly, I can guarantee you that spirituality doesn't make one immune to depression (speaking from personal experience). On the other hand, there's definitely a kernel of truth in what you say. I'd say: Don't let time decide meaning, but this very moment. Which is kind of what you said, put into other words. I think (still speaking from personal experience) that the root depression lies in something one doesn't dare to live out, but buries it – literally depresses a part of oneself. This is of course done unconsciously. Depression is real, but not random. I myself am deeply grateful that it happened, because otherwise I would've succeeded in living a completely normal live.

Make something that isn't. If you don't know how, find out.

A song of mine about a spacecraft that flies through the sky to broadcast its message: "You're not alone, you're beautiful, it's not too late to try." Until everybody on this earth received it we will fly – into the night...

Sounds amazing.

Wherever you are is exactly right and you will be confronted with whatever you need to give you the perfect opportunity to awaken more. But if you want to arrive somewhere specific you have to take action, of course, I don't deny that.

There's only one path and it is the one you're on. There are only better paths in respect to a certain destination, else it's not possible to evaluate them.

There are no better - just different - paths.

Because that's how all the puzzle pieces finally connect.

It's all technology. And technology is always a matter of using it for good or evil. It's also not 'natural' to exchange thoughts in text form inside an online forum.

Consider that drugs are a very natural part of this reality. Your definition of 'natural' is quite arbitrary. I agree that you can access higher states of consciousness by other techniques, that don't rely on chemical interactions (that are of course imaginary). Every way has its upsides and downsides. But there's no moral highground in avoiding drugs.

I do. I take LSD via my own free will.

Yeah and why do we need to take drugs? Why do we need to listen to music? Where's the difference? Is music and art more pure than drugs and sex? Who decides that?

I didn't claim so. It's not about the suffering, it's about going beyond suffering, and for that you need to go directly through it.

Hm. I don't think I'd agree completely. On the surface you're right, it's kind of a trap to declare suffering as something to strive for. But on the other hand I think Truth, Beauty and Love is veiled behind a curtain of suffering.

Replace "car" with "human body" and you have an actual scenario.

You're absolutely right. But it's also kind of a conundrum. Always evading suffering can't be the right thing, either. The truth must lie somewhere between those.

Of course. Although... not always. What about leaving ones comfort zone? I see in retrospect that the moments I suffered the most lead to the highest amount of beauty in the end.

What about saying "f this" and widely grinning? I'd count that as a win. What about saying "i have to behold this" and suffering for it? That doesn't sound very advisable. In other words: That notion is so blatantly oversimplified that it's just wrong.

It's not noble to wallow in it. But it's often the best teacher.

@StarStruck Money is in its current form a deeply dysfunctional system for distributing value – but still better than everything that came before. As I see it, most of the dysfunctionality stems from the fact that we collectively seem to confuse money with value. As if generating more money would lead to greater value for society – this is blatantly wrong and the main cause for capitalistic corruption.

Maybe there are realities without suffering. But it's definitely and irrefutably an element of this one. – and it's absolutely perfect. Suffering is what seems to contradict Beauty and Goodness, but in the end causes it. That's the beauty of it. Or as it is said in Faust as an answer to "What is the devil?": "Part of that Power, not understood, Which always wills the Bad, and always works the Good."

Why suffer if not out of love?

Exactly. And that's why I know that it's right, because I created it. We're inside an unfathomable mystery, a perfectly designed adventure. Knowing everything right now wouldn't allow me to stay here and do what I'm here to do.

I did awaken, several times. But I'm not, now. I guess it's different for everyone. But I know that I 1) will again and 2) am perfectly voluntarily not completely awake right now.