It has had that effect, during periods of ego breakdown and realisation. Eventually, it stops being an issue. I can and do enjoy my friends and family, even though I know they don't exist (at least, not the way I thought they did). In fact, the realisation that THEY didn't exist was a lot more difficult and painful than the realisation that I don't exist. I was actually relieved when I saw that I was a character in a play. When it really hit me that everyone else was, too (and it was some years later that it happened; I understood it intellectually but had not had the direct experience of it), I had quite a period of existential angst as a result.
Yes.
Doesn't bother me. Never has. In fact, there have been moments when I was acutely aware of not only my own experience, but that of my partner. Very intense, mystical, and wonderfully erotic.
This is more complicated. "You" are unlikely to be able to live from another's perspective, at least, not for long. Your human ego-self isn't designed for that. Glimpses, sure. I've occasionally dreamed other people's lives, and I'm extremely empathic, so I've experienced other people's emotions plenty of times, etc., and I've got a knack for traveling around in the space-time continuum and observing stuff, etc., BUT that's not the same thing as actually living from a different perspective. I won't say it's impossible, because I'm sure it's not, but it's unlikely and extremely unusual. Possible, sure. Likely? Well... not very. Maybe. Some people may do it.
The thing to remember in this is that it's not about "you". It's about the One, the Universal Consciousness. You are just a point of perspective within that whole (and, for most people, a fairly fixed perspective).
Does there have to be one?
Honestly, if you keep going down the rabbit hole, you'll come to realise that there's no point in ANYTHING. At first that's shockingly horrible. Eventually, you understand that this is okay. It's a freedom. You can do or not do, it doesn't matter. It's all a sandbox.
It's more than just a vehicle. It's a manifestation of this thing that is called "you". Thinking of the body as someting that is "not you" is like thinking of reality as something that is "out there" and not also part of "you". There's no actual division. Body, mind, table, door, tree, air.... Same same. The perceived differences are only perceptions. It's really all the same stuff.
It's not something you grasp. It's something you experience. And once you've experienced it, there's no going back. Contemplating it can do your head in, but it's actually a good thing, if you're on the path to awakening. And it's not "you" who awakens. It's Consciousness, waking up to Itself. "You" are just the vessel through which that happens.
But, not everyone will awaken, and that's actually okay. If everyone woke up, the game would be over.
Yes. It's all I-Me-Mine. (Yet anothat's no comfort. But there's excellent evidence that this was ntirely commonplace in our prehistoric ancestors. Human sacrifice, infanticide, and cannibalism is part and parcel of the development of humanity as a whole. This is the stock we come from. I'm writing this not because I'm "approving" but because it gives some perspective to consider. (And before anyone yells at me, yes, I find it horrifying in a contemporary setting.)
I'll tell you what, I struggled for a long time with the loss of good and evil. I really did. The whole idea of stepping away from my human judgement and perspective in order to look at it from a more detached view was appealing, but when it happened and I saw it from a more detached view, I didn't like it one bit, and my ego-self was pretty upset by it all. Genocide, for example. The one(s) committing the atrocity is one and the same as the ones who are victimised by it. How can that be? It's horrible! How can this be part of an ordered reality? What the hell, in other words. Eventually, when the ego-self stopped struggling and kicking and relaxed and really looked (after the initial tantrum, which took months, off and on), there was some understanding, and then the full experience of it all happened and... well, let's just say it makes more sense now.
On a human level, I am still horrified by a lot of things, I really am. But being able to move to the broader perspective is surprisingly peaceful and from that perspective a lot more things make sense. Occasionally, the perspective widens so that everything makes sense, believe it or not. Even horrible things, even wonderful things, even all things.
Yes, that's the game.
Been there, done that. Totally understand. It gets better, it really does. Try not to struggle too hard, though you may not have that much of a choice. Fighting against the realisation is a pretty normal thing, like struggling when you can't breathe. But you'll be able to breathe in time, and, well, the view will be pretty damned interesting.
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Originally Posted by CFTraveler
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I do have a question though.
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