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.