Vineeto: Whereas I cannot honestly say that I am “star-dust” (as in “gaseous swirls of matter (as seen in nebulae) condensing into varying forms of stars, small planets, gas giants, etc”). In other words, I am the universe experiencing itself as a human being, I am not the universe per se, as in “gaseous swirls of matter”.
Henry: On rereading I see that part of the issue is ‘identifying with’ the objectified star-dust, which is a form of projection, whereas it is direct to say “I am this human body, composed of the same matter which composes the rest of the universe, grown on earth.”
I can see how looking out & identifying with something distant & grand becomes self-aggrandizement (which is where the mystique and power of the Moby song comes from).
Regardless of where I came from, I am now this flesh & blood body experiencing life here and now.
Hi Henry,
Don’t be too hasty with that statement. It is only factual when ‘I’ and ‘me’ are in abeyance.
“‘Identifying with’ the objectified star-dust” would be an additional removal (to being an identity) from actuality so it is beneficial to recognize and decline whenever it happens.
As ‘I’ am my feelings ‘I’ cannot disidentify from what ‘I’ am, and any dissociative attempt to do that is counterproductive. ‘I’ and ‘me’ have to become extinct for one to be here permanently as “this flesh & blood body experiencing life here and now”.
Henry: I’m interested in how this relates to the lack of centre upon actual freedom:
Richard: "…it is ‘I’ who, being a central figure in ‘my’ scheme of things, proposes that there is an outside to this material universe. There is not. This universe has no edges … which means that there is no centre either. With no centre to existence we are nowhere in particular.
Being here, as an actuality, is to be anywhere at all, for infinity is everywhere all at once. (link)
As you are not “this flesh & blood body experiencing life here and now” unless you are in a PCE, this question cannot be answered as is. In a PCE you may experience to be “nowhere in particular” and get a glimpse of what it is to “be anywhere at all, for infinity is everywhere all at once.” It is marvellous, albeit it can be somewhat disorienting at first.
Henry: The star-dust, nebulae, etc. is not really ‘out there,’ as there is no separation without identity… something for me to ponder. (link)
Exactly. It’s grand when you recognize that the universe is “not really ‘out there’” and then can experientially verify it over and over.
Cheers Vineeto