XPost: alt.dreams.castaneda   
   From: Spartacus@earth.net   
      
   "Laura"  wrote:   
      
      
   (I think I'm in love again.  But I'm always thinking that...)   
      
      
      
   >"slider"  wrote in message   
   >news:4198c39e$0$33601$ed2619ec@ptn-nntp-reader02.plus.net...   
   >>   
   >> Jeet wrote   
   >> >   
   >> > Why, Mr. Anderson, why? Why? Why do you do it? Why? Why get up?   
   >> > Why keep fighting? Do you believe you're fighting for something, for   
   >> > more than your survival? Can you tell me what it is? Do you even know?   
   >> > Is it freedom, or truth, perhaps peace? Could it be for love?   
   >> > Illusions, Mr. Anderson,  vagaries of perception, temporary constructs   
   >> > of a feeble human intellect trying desperately to justify an existence   
   >> > that is without meaning or purpose. And all of them as artificial as   
   >> > the Matrix itself. Although... Only a human mind can invent something   
   >> > as insipid as love. You must be able to see it, Mr. Anderson, you must   
   >> > know it by now. You can't win, it is pointless to keep fighting. Why,   
   >> > Mr. Anderson, why, why you persist?   
   >> >   
   >> > -The Matrix Revolutions   
   >>   
   >> I think, I am not the only one who "believes" that we are living in   
   >> lucid dream of God, the Matrix controlled by Him.   
      
   I'm beginning to wonder if I may be one of the few who doesn't believe   
   that.   
      
      
      
      
   >> There was time, when I believed that happiness can not exist without   
   >> sadness. Light-Darkness, positive-negative, this is law of nature.   
   >> Opposite things must exists. This is like Newton's third law of   
   >> motion: "For every action, there is equal and opposite reaction". Only   
   >> action can not exist. There must be equal and opposite reaction.   
   >> Likewise only happiness can not exist. There must be equal and   
   >> opposite sadness in world.   
   >   
   >There must, or we wouldn't be able to tell the difference. In a world with   
   >only happiness, we would be totally unaware that we were happy.   
      
   There may not be a lot to worry about here.   
      
      
      
      
   >> I was 24 at that time. After 10 years, I am just wondering, if only   
   >> Action can exist, then can only happiness exist in our universe?   
   >   
   >Reaction can, and does, exist in the universe. Plenty of it, too.   
   >Actually, everything is a reaction to something else, with there being   
   >ultimately only one true action - where everything began.   
      
   Human action and reaction are best described "relatively", rather than   
   absolutely (like pretty much everything human).   
      
      
      
      
   >> If only Action does exist, God knew it in advance. He must know how   
   >> only happiness can exist. But he is not telling the way, mechanism,   
   >> how to live in happiness to we human beings.   
   >>   
   >> Question is, why?   
   >   
   >Ask God, but since God is unlikely to be reachable at the moment, we can   
   >look at religions and belief systems.   
   >They all agree that this universe must consist of both happiness and   
   >suffering, some emphasizing the suffering more than others. The idea is   
   >presented that it is a learning process, or a purifying process, to prepare   
   >us for the afterlife.   
      
   And if it's a one-shot deal?   
      
      
      
      
   > Some of them say that this universe is illusory, and   
   >everything in it is of a temporary nature, including happiness.   
   >Most think the afterlife consists of either pure happiness forever, or pure   
   >suffering forever - the Heaven/Hell idea, but there is also the concept that   
   >the best state of being is that of neither happy nor unhappy, yet   
   >enlightened.   
      
   There is also the concept of 'none of the above'.   
      
   Let me just ask you, do you ever have so much as a week that is either   
   absolutely happy, or pure suffering?   Or a week where you believe you   
   are never either happy or unhappy, yet always enlightened?   Would you   
   like to?  Or would you rather have what's behind door number two?   
      
      
      
      
   >Let's look for a moment at what would be involved in making the world a   
   >place of constant happiness for all.   
      
   As you wish.   
      
      
      
      
   >The elimination of disease.   
      
   Have you never been happy while you were sick?   
      
      
      
      
   >The elimination of hunger.   
      
   Have you never been happy while you were hungry?   
      
      
      
      
   >The elimination of pain.   
      
   Etc. etc.   
      
   Some people like a little pain, you know.  (wink)   
      
      
      
      
   >The elimination of injustice.   
      
   Damn that injustice.  Damn it to hell, man.  (wink)   
      
      
      
      
   >The elimination of death.   
      
   Yah right.  Along with the introduction into society of vast numbers   
   of wild unicorns, who will then bless mankind with their great beauty   
   and wisdom.   
      
   Then again, seriously considering the topic, I wonder just how far we   
   CAN go with tissue regeneration and reconstruction.   
      
      
      
      
   >The elimination of strife.   
      
   Some would say that just as working out in some way is needed in order   
   to build muscles, some degree of strife is needed to build character   
   and internal strength.  Me, I'd rather watch tv.   
      
      
      
      
   >The elimination of inequality.   
      
   In what sense?   It might be that if one could completely eliminate   
   every facet of "inequality", one would simultaneously make life into a   
   living nightmare.   
      
      
      
      
   >The elimination of fear.   
      
   Ever enjoyed a good horror flick or hung out in a graveyard as a   
   teenager?  Was fun, wasn't it?   
      
      
      
      
   >The elimination of farcical ideals and phony problems to eliminate.   
      
   Ooops.  I added that one myself, also for fun.   
      
      
      
      
   >Not an easy feat.   
      
   Indeed.   
      
      
      
      
   >And, you can see by extension that this would bring about the need to   
   >eliminate all bodily urges and needs, and you can't very well do that   
   >without getting rid of the body entirely.   
      
   You never enjoy BEING hungry or horny?   How peculiar.   
      
   Henry Miller used to really enjoy having to take a piss really bad and   
   then just .... ahhhh ... letting it go.  LOL.   
      
      
      
      
   >But let's imagine that it can and has actually been done.   
      
   Yes, let's imagine that God loves us, and that we live forever and   
   .... and...   
      
   Ergo...   
      
      
      
      
   >How long would pass before this new state would become the baseline for just   
   >feeling "normal", and even the slightest deviation from that would mean a   
   >higher or lower degree of happiness?   
      
   I'm just flat out "missing the point", aren't I?   Darn.  I have this   
   strange idea that happiness need not have a single thing to do with   
   "normality" or "measuring degrees".  I guess I'm a hopeless case.   
      
      
      
      
   > A lower degree would become synonymous   
   >with suffering, while a higher degree would become happiness, and the   
   >original happiness would just be "normal" - nothing special.   
      
   If you say so, Mrs. Anderson.   
      
      
      
      
   >Look at different societies across the world. There is far more hardship in   
   >some than in others, yet the ratio of happiness vs. unhappiness is about the   
   >same.   
      
   As countless studies have determined.  (wink)   
      
      
      
      
   > People are happy even in countries riddled with disease and hunger,   
   >where the government is unjust and to be feared.   
      
   And above we were talking about eliminating disease and hunger as   
   preliminary to "happiness".  So you were just toying with me all   
   along.  I feel so used.   
      
      
      
      
   > People still feel basic   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
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    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)