Has anybody read “The Carbon-Silicon Hybrid”? I enjoyed how the article expanded upon the Matrix movies, especially The Architect & The Oracle codependent relationship as the mind and the heart. Thought it actually made the movie make more sense.
JM: “Real fear is the ever-present low-level dread that is the natural condition of anyone who lives behind closed eyes.”
Interpreting just a bit…
Within the dreamstate we exist in a so-called waking nightmare where we walk a tightrope attempting to cope well enough into not wanting to off ourselves. Some of course fail by succeeding (and sometimes taking others with them).
A “success” in the dreamstate is to live a long and “productive” life while balancing on this tightrope of low-level dread without falling into higher-level dread and suffering even worse, or finally just offing ourselves. That’s the definition of a successful life.
I see why Jed’s apparent opinion of suicide is quite a valid one. It’s like if you’ve never even considered it you just haven’t been really paying attention. Even people who appear to have it all are balancing their asses off trying not to lose it all. It really levels the game board to see that suffering is the one mandatory condition of being in the dreamstate.
A few years ago I was sitting at the bar in a decent restaurant in Yinzerburgh, just bs-ing with the bartender. I had in mind to try absinthe, which I spied on the shelf behind the bar. Never had it before, so I wanted to try it.
The young fellow (name of Sean) behind the bar turned out to be a very competent bartender and made me a corpse reviver II. I had two of those, they are pure alcohol with no mixers, knocked me on my ass, but my spouse was with me so I didn’t have to drive and decided I could have fun.
We got to talking about the vague topic of “enlightenment” without actually using that terminology. I referred him to Jed and he did seem interested. Seemed like a guy who knew there was more than what appeared, and of all the things I could have said, I kept it simple and said JM. To this day I am proud that I did that, especially because back then I didn’t quite see how Jed is truly the answer to everything. I could’ve fucked it up, but I didn’t.
Hope young Sean found his way to reading Jed’s works. He left there a few months after (management did seem incompetent and that would be frustrating for a bright young person), so I do not know anything else, nor do I need to. But I DID point to the right direction, and that’s all I can do.