\u201cSo, Lord Buddha, what are your impressions of your new job?\u201d, Azrael grinned at his new buddy.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s actually not that different from my previous one\u201d, shrugged Lord Siddhartha. \u201cI was a very famous spiritual teacher and founder of a major religion. People came to me for magical solutions to their problems, and the problems usually revolved around poverty, sickness and death. There would be a famine, and they asked for my blessings so that the rain would come. There would be a slaughter, and the panicked women would ask when their husbands would come home. There would be a plague, and they would ask me for magical healing. At least here I am not expected to perform unreasonable miracles, and the part I am expected to do \u2013 offer advice, consolation, or psychotherapy \u2013 I can actually do better and more easily. So, as far as I\u2019m concerned, this is Tuesday\u201d, he shrugged.<\/p>\n
Azrael considered this. \u201cTruly, you must be the most qualified person for this job. Not only have you been a human, so you know how it feels; you have also been doing work that is incredibly similar to this one. We are fortunate to have you, my Lord\u201d, he bowed, and Buddha smiled and bowed back.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo, what is your perspective on all this?\u201d, his wife asked. \u201cYou\u2019ve seen it from both vantage points, so you know more than anyone; certainly more than me, since I never went more than twenty miles away from my village, and I hardly knew more than fifty people\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is obvious that people suffer. It is less obvious why. Previously, I concentrated on sources of suffering, and on attachment and projection, but as you eloquently pointed out before, Lord Shiva takes on terrible suffering upon himself, and he\u2019s one of the happiest, most wonderful people imaginable, and not only is he not harmed by his suffering, but in fact seems to grow stronger from it. Also, the Gods suffer greatly when they see suffering of others, because they are incredibly compassionate and beautiful. They could easily choose to detach themselves from others, but then they wouldn\u2019t be such beautiful people, and they wouldn\u2019t be persons of God. You can even argue that indifference would make them into omnipotent psychopaths. So, what is it about suffering that makes it soul-crushing? Let\u2019s take your example. You experienced pain of childbirth, typical pains of human life, occasional episode of poverty and deprivation, occasional sickness, but none of that really harmed you. What harmed you was the loss of loved ones, feeling of helplessness when they were attacked, and the impression that human life is all there is. How am I doing so far?\u201d, he asked and kissed her temple.<\/p>\n
\u201cYour analysis is spot on\u201d, she smiled and blushed. \u201cWhen I endured physical pain, I could contextualise it \u2013 it would pass, it was for the greater good, or in case of pregnancy and childbirth, I chose this, I want this and I would do it again\u201d, she nodded. \u201cBut when my children would get sick and die, I didn\u2019t suffer because I was in pain. I suffered because they were in pain, I was losing them, I couldn\u2019t do anything about it, and endings and separations in the physical life feel terrible and final. Most of all, the fact that something terrible was happening, and I was helpless to either stop it or avoid it was what broke me\u201d, she shivered briefly.<\/p>\n
\u201cLet\u2019s go further\u201d, he continued. \u201cWhen you were a demoness, in the astral plane, you didn\u2019t feel physical pain, hunger or sickness, right?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou didn\u2019t care about people, so if something bad happened to them, it didn\u2019t break you?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo. In fact, it would entertain me or make me laugh\u201d, she admitted.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou also didn\u2019t age, and poverty had no meaning. So, would you say that such a life, devoid of classical elements of material suffering, was a blissful one?\u201d, he grinned.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo. In fact, it was a nightmarish existence, and in hindsight, I would say that I suffered terribly, and the emptiness from not having loved anyone was much, much worse than the suffering from losing loved ones, or seeing them suffer and not being able to help them, although pain of the latter was absolutely soul-crushing\u201d, she remembered. \u201cBut when I lay there in the astral plane with my soul broken from loss, I felt dignity and fullness I had never felt in my demonic life\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo, this would conclude my demonstration. Suffering, in itself, is not necessarily a problem, since it is merely one of the elements in a more complicated equation. From what I have seen, people who inflict suffering on others are usually in a far worse spiritual condition than those who suffer. You were an extreme case, because you would have literally died without expert help, but most victims of terrible things recover successfully and quickly here. The perpetrators of evil, however, feature prominently among souls too far gone to be salvageable\u201d, he concluded.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am amazed at your presentation, my Lord\u201d, bowed Angel of Death. \u201cYour analytical prowess is indeed staggering\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cThank you, my noble friend\u201d, bowed Buddha.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut let me summarise. Committing sinful acts is far more harmful, in general, than being a victim of sinful acts?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIn general, but not always. Sometimes, if one is intentionally and systematically broken over a long period of time, and they have no transcendental perspective to guide them out, that can have devastating effects. We\u2019ve seen slaves who have been castrated, raped daily, mutilated and humiliated as a matter of course, and treated as things rather than persons. On its own, that would be bad enough, but in Sanat Kumar\u2019s world, where they are separated from a wider context of everything, such pressures can indeed kill a soul. I have been through all kinds of things down there, but I had strong will and perspective. Someone else would have been in serious trouble.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAlso, there\u2019s context and choice. Let\u2019s say a woman gives birth. She knows what\u2019s going on, she knows it\u2019s her choice, that it\u2019s a good thing, and that she would do everything the same again. She is in pain, but her suffering is minimal. But now imagine that she has a sickness that has similarly painful symptoms, and she knows she would suffer greatly and die from it. Her suffering from the same amount of pain and discomfort would be terrible\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cI completely agree\u201d, Zina nodded, \u201cAnd seven pregnancies and childbirths make me the resident expert\u201d, she smiled.<\/p>\n
\u201cIndeed\u201d, both men nodded.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo, knowledge that something is your choice, that it has a good purpose, and that it\u2019s normal, makes terrible agony completely endurable; in essence, Zina before childbirth was in the same position as Lord Shiva when he absorbed evil karma intending to spend it, and fully knowing it would be a terrible agony for him\u201d, Buddha looked at both of them and they nodded.<\/p>\n
\u201cEvidence for this is that Lord Shiva looked amazing today, and from the reaction of his wife when he returned, it\u2019s obvious that it wasn\u2019t child\u2019s play. It was a God-level problem, let\u2019s say of the same kind pregnancy and childbirth are for a human woman, but likely worse\u201d, he continued. And yet, Shiva was empowered by the experience, the way Zina felt empowered when she gave birth\u201d.<\/p>\n
She nodded in assent.<\/p>\n
\u201cI also looked through her memories as she told me about her traumatic experiences. She shrugged off childbirths as if they were a mere inconvenience, although they were in fact physically more painful than her death\u201d, he looked at her inquisitively, and she nodded in aggreement.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo, suffering in that place is obviously a much more complicated affair than I previously thought. Let\u2019s say there\u2019s an element of choice. Let\u2019s say if I allow you to take Tamara\u2019s place, so that they rape and murder you, and she goes free, what do you do?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI would choose it instantly, and whatever they did to me, it wouldn\u2019t matter, because I would know that I saved my girl and this thought would have comforted me through whatever ordeal\u201d, she smiled.<\/p>\n
\u201cExactly. And now we come to the point I want to make. The reason why that place causes such terrible damage due to suffering is because it deprives its victims of perspective. It cuts them off from knowledge that the entire thing is, for all intents and purposes, an artificially induced dream, where most characters are fake; beasts without riders, that work automatically unless a soul is bonded to them\u201d, he concluded.<\/p>\n
\u201cWait\u201d, Zina started in shock, \u201cDoes it mean that my entire family, that I loved so much, consisted of mere uninhabited shells, with no souls or eternity of any kind beyond physical matter?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHave you met them here?\u201d, Buddha asked.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHave you tried to find them? Goddess, remember?\u201d, he touched her hand gently to calm her.<\/p>\n
\u201cI tried now. There\u2019s no response, no echo. Nothing\u201d, she shrugged, but looked distraught.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is an order of magnitude of a hundred million human beings alive on Earth. The number of souls incarnated from both heaven and the astral nursery is a mere sub-percentage of that number, so multiple orders of magnitude less. And I am ignoring intelligent animals, which would raise one number significantly, and working with the upper range of estimates of the other. But let\u2019s say it\u2019s ten percent. It means that out of ten humans you know on Earth, you are likely to be the only soul among them. On the other hand, it is quite possible that all of them are souls. This would make treating others poorly a very bad thing. Treating others well, however, would give you an excellent opportunity for growth in love and kindness, which you personally experienced\u201d, he smiled.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo, basically, the best practice would be to treat everybody kindly just in case?\u201d, Azrael asked.<\/p>\n
\u201cYes, that\u2019s exactly right. Treating others well is equally important for your benefit, and theirs. For instance, had Zina treated her family poorly, as some wretched people do, she would have remained a demonic being. This way, she became someone so beautiful, that Lady Shakti cried over her and did everything to save her, and in fact she became a Goddess within days since. Sure, the drawback is that her family was an illusion and she, basically, broke herself over nothing. But if we look at the actual energy equations and investments, she loved all the way to becoming a Goddess\u201d, he concluded, and kissed his wife\u2019s hand, as she blushed.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo you say it\u2019s like suffering in a dream, over dreamed, nonexistent people?\u201d, she enquired.<\/p>\n
\u201cHave you ever had a dream in which you were scared, or in other ways suffered?\u201d, he asked back.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have, many times\u201d, she confirmed.<\/p>\n
\u201cDid you suffer less because it wasn\u2019t real?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo, but I was relieved when I woke and realised it wasn\u2019t real\u201d, she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWell, there you go\u201d, he smiled.<\/p>\n
\u201cWow\u201d, she sighed and managed a true smile. \u201cSo it\u2019s like entering a dark room and seeing a rope on the floor, and thinking it\u2019s a snake, and you panic and try to see where the children are and if everybody is alive and safe. Then someone brings in a torch, and you see it\u2019s a rope and your fear vanishes, because it was all in your mind\u201d, she smiled in relief.<\/p>\n
\u201cYour family might have been in your mind; or, actually, in the mind of the Jewel that renders the simulation, but your love was absolutely real and you carried that with you. All your choices were real. All your suffering was real. And the quality of personality it all produced was real. You are one of the eight most real persons in the entire reality, and you have imaginary snakes to thank for it\u201d, he joked.<\/p>\n
\u201cAlso, let\u2019s take the opposite example of Uriel, and let\u2019s say that most of his victims were uninhabited shells. That doesn\u2019t make his choices any less fatal, or make his soul any less terrible. Characters may be simulated, for the most part, but if you are there, and you think they are real, all of your choices are personality-forming. In fact, if you brainfuck yourself into thinking it\u2019s all a dream and you can do whatever you want, it\u2019s going to cause even worse damage and make you into a total basket case\u201d, Azrael added.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou are exactly right, which is why the only good choice is what Zina did without thinking or planning \u2013 treat everyone with greatest love and kindness, and if it turns out you were the only real person in that village, well, there will be a very good one person in the village\u201d, Buddha concluded.<\/p>\n
\u201cAlso, treat possibly empty shells with kindness, because you don\u2019t actually know who\u2019s in there. Imagine you have some people tortured and one of them turns out to be your best friend from before. That friendship is likely to end, I would say, so you will have eternal consequences of a temporary foolishness. Also, if you and I incarnated together, and we knew with absolute certainty that both of us will be in the same village; how would you treat people in the village?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe same way I treated my family down there \u2013 I believed that they matter greatly and I loved them\u201d, she answered. \u201cWhich makes the ethics of the whole thing obvious, I guess\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cYes\u201d, he nodded.<\/p>\n
\u201cHow did you get so good at this, I mean analysis and explanations?\u201d, Azrael scratched his head.<\/p>\n
\u201cI did this religious teacher thing for decades, remember?\u201d Buddha smiled. \u201cPeople would wake me up in the middle of the night with some emergency and I would do an excellent job half asleep and often with high fever\u201d, he smiled.<\/p>\n
Zina hugged him. \u201cNever let me forget that I married the smartest person who lived on Earth so far\u201d, she smiled.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf anyone contradicts that statement, they will have me to deal with\u201d, Azrael nodded in assent.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u201cSo, Lord Buddha, what are your impressions of your new job?\u201d, Azrael grinned at his new buddy. \u201cIt\u2019s actually not that different from my previous one\u201d, shrugged Lord Siddhartha. \u201cI was a very famous spiritual teacher and founder of a … Continue reading