Maximoog wrote:
There is nothing but suffering and pain in this plane, punctuated by seldom and very brief periods of relief.
I do not want to be here, let alone return here.
And why the hell should I?
Let me broadcast this now - I do not care about the greater consciousness. Let it die and end all our pain.
So you want the larger consciousness to die (and all the smaller sets of consciousness with it) because you dont want to be here? This is a bit childish (and with all due respect, AWFULLY SELFISH)
Remember that you are the architect of your reality. If you are in a situation that is unpleasant, ask yourself...How did I contribute to, (or escalate) this situation? The feelings that you are having are part of the feedback mechanism. How else would we know
how we are doing? Just ask yourself "How do I feel?"
If you dont like it you should change it (or change yourself). If you cant change it, you should remove yourself from the situation. If you cannot remove yourself from it, and you cannot change it, you need to accept it.
Just because the only viable option that you are aware of is DEATH to the entire consciousness system doesnt mean that there arent other viable options. You just arent aware of them at this moment.
Fortunately for us...
Quote:
"The universe is not required to be in perfect harmony with human ambition."
~Carl Sagan
The larger consciousness system will continue evolving with or without you.
Quote:
If we long to believe that the stars rise and set for us, that we are the reason there is a Universe, does science do us a disservice in deflating our conceits?
~Carl Sagan
Because...
Quote:
Who are we? We find that we live on an insignificant planet of a humdrum star lost in a galaxy tucked away in some forgotten corner of a universe in which there are far more galaxies than people.
~Carl Sagan
But one of his greatest discoveries (in my opinion) was this:
Quote:
For small creatures such as we, the vastness is bearable only through love.
~Carl Sagan
...and you want it all to stop because YOU are not having fun?
But when it comes to suffering, I have come to see it in this sense...
Quote:
“We're in a freefall into future. We don't know where we're going. Things are changing so fast, and always when you're going through a long tunnel, anxiety comes along. And all you have to do to transform your hell into a paradise is to turn your fall into a voluntary act. It's a very interesting shift of perspective and that's all it is... joyful participation in the sorrows of the world and everything changes.”
― Joseph Campbell, Sukhavati
Here are some more words of wisdom from Joe...
found here
http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Joseph_CampbellQuote:
It's a wonderful, wonderful opera, except that it hurts. Episode 2, Chapter 15.
People ask me, "Do you have optimism about the world, about how terrible it is?" And I say, "Yes, it's great the way is it" ... I had the wonderful privilege of sitting face to face with [a Hindu guru] and the first thing he said to me was "Do you have a question?", cause the teacher always answers questions... I said, "Yes, I have a question." I said, " Since in Hindu thinking all the universe is divine, a manifestation of divinity itself, how can we say no to anything in the world? How can we say no to brutality to stupidity to vulgarity to thoughtlessness?" And he said, "For you and me, you must say yes." Well, I learned from my friends who were students of his that that happened to be the first question he asked his guru, and we had a wonderful conversation for an hour there. Episode 2, Chapter 12.
Campbell: Eternity isn't some later time. Eternity isn't a long time. Eternity has nothing to do with time. Eternity is that dimension of here and now which thinking and time cuts out. This is it. And if you don't get it here, you won't get it anywhere. And the experience of eternity right here and now is the function of life. There's a wonderful formula that the Buddhists have for the Bodhisattva, the one whose being (sattva) is illumination (bodhi), who realizes his identity with eternity and at the same time his participation in time. And the attitude is not to withdraw from the world when you realize how horrible it is, but to realize that this horror is simply the foreground of a wonder and to come back and participate in it. "All life is sorrowful" is the first Buddhist saying, and it is. It wouldn't be life if there were not temporality involved which is sorrow. Loss, loss, loss.
Moyers: That's a pessimistic note.
Campbell: Well, you have to say yes to it, you have to say it's great this way. It's the way God intended it.
...and so it is that by the heat of fire and pounding of the hammer that steel is forged strong. By the intense heat and pressure of the Earth that a lump of coal is made into a diamond.
But, in the words of Rumi, (a 13th-century Persian, Muslim poet, jurist, theologian, and Sufi mystic.)
Quote:
"If you are irritated by every rub, then how will you be polished?" ~Rumi
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RumiQuote:
“Your task is not to seek for love, but merely to seek and find all the barriers within yourself that you have built against it.”
― Rumi