Hopkins's Arrow

The answer is simple: just live.
Stay on this forum if you want, or bail if you’ve had enough—it doesn't matter. You aren't the same person who first logged on, and you won't be the same person when you finally leave.
Staying isn't your choice, and neither is leaving.

Good? Evil? Honestly, it's both.

Action vs. inaction—let me tell you a story:

There was once an old sage living by a riverbank.
A young woman from a nearby town got pregnant by her boyfriend. She didn't have the guts to tell the truth, so she blamed the old man instead.
Her furious parents stormed up to him, demanding he marry her since he'd supposedly made her a promise.
The old man didn't argue. He just agreed. He married her, raised the kid, changed the diapers.
Years later, the woman felt guilty and confessed to the elders that he wasn't actually the father.
When they asked him why he never fought back, what do you think he said?😉

There is no "your" decision. There is no "my" decision. There is no "you" or "me." That's the whole damn problem.

We don't have anyone to worship, least of all Logos. You can't do a single thing until Logos "decides" it's time to yank you out of your stagnation.

Your thoughts and my thoughts don't exist separately. Your words and my words don't exist separately. You *are* the thought. I *am* the thought. You *are* the word. I *am* the word.

So here's the kicker: who am I? Who are you? 😉

Goodnight.

Do you desire peace?
By killing the storm, you
do you kill the peace by destroying the storm? ...
do you kill desire by seeking apathy? ...
Every choice we make, every word uttered—no matter how universal, absolute, or true it may seem—inevitably brings both creation and destruction in its wake. To give to one is to take from another. This duality is born from that fundamental crack in consciousness at the very core of our being, through which development
manifests within this world and within this nature striving for balance ...
The One became two so that it might once again become a deeper, fuller One.

How, then, can one perform an action, a deed, that does not cause harm or inflict pain upon another? Within duality resides all radiation, and where are we to find the purity required to even dare to think
that we could ever truly embody pure love? Perhaps we will always have to keep our eyes partially closed. Maybe it is easiest to simply say that we are guided solely by divine direction—that God speaks through us, and in that moment, there is no "me" and no "you." That His will moves everything and everything is His Grace, regardless of what I do or have done ...
And yet, even while in harmony with that flow, we will eventually realize that we still offer resistance, however small, just enough to remain alive or to maintain the claim of being human, and
thus the process of purification continues, never reaching a final end ...
even within those things we call Eternity, Truth, Love, and God ...
there always exists gold, more gold... a sun of suns... love, more love... God, more God ...
an endless journey and eternally new dawns ...
🙂

Paul Campbell3 said:The answer is simply to live.
Stay on the forum if you want to, or walk away if you feel like leaving—because, truth be told, you aren't the person who first arrived, nor are you truly the person who will eventually depart.
Neither staying nor leaving is really your decision to make.

You won't actually see the reality of this until a month or perhaps a year from now, once the illusions you’re currently clinging to become impossible to maintain.
At that point, you might find yourself asking, "How on earth could I have ever believed in something like that?"
But haven't you already asked yourself that at least a hundred times before?
And every single time, you likely thought you had finally stumbled upon the ultimate solution, feeling a brief surge of exhilaration, only to realize you had just deceived yourself yet again.
Illusions are merely swapped out for new ones in an endless cycle; they chase one another as time slips by, life turns into death, and absolutely nothing changes.

The solution is to live—yes, I agree—but is this state, where everything begins to disintegrate through the very act of its own creation, even considered living?
Can a continuous process of decay truly be called the joy of Life?
What a cruel FORCE: it gives birth only to facilitate killing! 🙄
It creates, solely to cast things into suffering! 😲
So, a god like that—whoever we choose to call him—who decides everything for you only to ultimately push you into a canyon of misery, and then has the audacity to hold you accountable for things you didn't even do, is a god that ought to be destroyed.
Because such a god is, quite frankly, a criminal.

What does a fly do when caught in a spider's web?
It struggles, it twists, it writhes, giving every ounce of its being to break the threads before the predator arrives.
Is the fly allowed to simply lift its legs and say, "Nothing is my choice; let the spider devour me"?
We would consider it insane if it did nothing to save itself.

What would Paul Campbell3 do?
Wouldn't she fight?
Of course, she would fight, provided she were AWARE of what was happening.
But a fly stunned within that web (by May) does nothing at all.
It is like a person staring into pitch-black darkness for hours; eventually, their eyes adjust, and they begin to perceive objects.
And they shout, "Hura, I can see!"
But what is it they actually see?
Only the vague outlines of shapes they cannot clearly define.
They construct mental images of those objects, becoming tethered to those images, allowing them to take control, until they are completely lived by those shadows in the dark.
And it is perfectly clear to them that they aren't making any decisions (and in such a state, they truly aren't).
They have merged with the power of deception, letting it flow through them, endlessly.

copperowl2 said:What does a fly do when it gets caught in a spider's web?
It tries to escape... it struggles, it twists, it puts every ounce of strength into breaking those threads before its killer arrives.
Could a fly just lift its little legs and say, "Nothing is my decision, let the spider devour me"?
I guess we’d call it crazy if it just sat there doing nothing to save itself.

Isn't that a bit backwards, though? 😁
If a fly actually understood what was happening, it would probably just lift its legs and let the spider have its way.
Because, well, it’s going to happen anyway.
But the fly thinks it still has a choice, thinks it can fight back... so it struggles, and ends up tangling itself even deeper... 😉

Jack Harris3 said:The fly thinks it actually has a say in the matter and can fight back, so it just struggles harder and gets itself even more tangled up. 😉

Mr. Pes, I've got to hand it to you. It’s been ages since we’ve seen such a brief and profound insight on this forum...
🙏 🙏 🙏

By the way...
🙂 ☕

You find yourself in this impossible bind where you can achieve absolutely nothing, yet you’re still morally obligated to give every ounce of effort you possess. If anyone out there actually knows how to listen, then lend me your ears 🙂

Jack Harris3 said:Did you perhaps frame that argument slightly backward? 😁
If a fly were actually aware of its predicament, wouldn't it just lift its little legs and let the spider swallow it whole?
Because, let's face it, that's the inevitable outcome anyway.
Instead, the fly clings to the delusion that its struggle matters or that it can somehow win, thrashing about until it only manages to entangle itself even deeper in the web. 😉

That's the philosophy of a deep sleep, Jack! 😉

copperowl2 said:[P.S. those Greys are calling us nothing more than containers. Isn't that a bit excessive, considering we're the ones who brought them into existence!? [/B]

Copperowl2, have you actually sat down and watched Matrix? Who was it that designed the very people fighting to preserve the Matrix itself?

We bring something into this world, and then that very thing turns around and starts running the show.

Take our own thoughts, for instance. We think we are creating them, yet eventually, those thoughts begin to dictate our every move. It’s honestly no wonder when someone on a forum like this claims they aren't "creating" their ideas, but rather that the ideas just sort of happen to them. In reality, we don't even own our own cognition half the time... it would be more accurate to say that our thoughts are thinking us.

And here we are, obsessing over aliens😉...and that's just one single species.

copperowl2 said:That’s basically the philosophy of a deep sleep, Jack Harris3! 😉

It’s just the basic instinct for self-preservation. 😁

As for how much sense that actually makes... well, you pretty much argued it yourself during that whole rant of yours—that once something is created, it's already destined to fall apart... 😁

soto said:You want peace?
You kill the storm.
You want the storm? You kill the peace...
You want apathy? You kill desire...
Every choice we make—every word, no matter how universal, absolute, or true it feels—will always bring destruction alongside creation. It gives to one and takes from another. Why? Because duality is born from that crack in consciousness at the very core of being, through which development
plays out in this world, in this nature...
The One became two just so it could become something deeper and fuller: the One again...

So how are we supposed to take action? How do you do something without causing harm or pain to someone else? Everything is dualistic, even radiation. Where do we get the nerve to even think
that we could ever embody pure love? Maybe we’ll always have to keep our eyes half-closed. Maybe it's easiest to just say, "I'm led by divine guidance; He speaks through me, so there is no 'me' and no 'you.' His will moves everything, and everything is His Grace," regardless of what I do...
But then, even in that harmony with the flow, we'll realize we're still resisting—just a little bit. Just enough to stay alive, or just enough to still call ourselves human. And
that's how the purification process keeps going. It never stops...
Even in what we call Eternity, Truth, Love, or God...
There is always gold, more gold... the sun of suns... love, more love... God, more God...
An endless road and eternally new mornings...
🙂

😉

copperowl2 said:What would Paul Campbell3 do?
Wouldn't she fight back?

It’s just common sense—a fly caught in a spiderweb fights for its life. Like Jack Harris3 said, that’s just how nature works.

Look, I don't know what it's like to be a fly. But if I were stuck in a web right now and some spider was getting ready to devour me this very second? I'd fight. I'd fight with everything I've got. No thinking involved, just pure instinct.

copperowl2 said:That’s just the philosophy of deep sleep, Jack Harris3! 😉

Is it even possible for someone in a deep sleep to have a different "philosophy"?
Whatever happens while we're out cold doesn't affect us until we wake up!

Anyway...
🙂☕

Once you finally realize that being born and dying are just two sides of the same natural cycle, all that suffering? It just evaporates. Look, we’re still going to fight, we’ll still celebrate, and yeah, we’ll still cry—but like > said, none of it actually touches us.

🙂

Jack Harris3 said:It’s just the survival instinct. 😁

And how much sense does he actually make, considering he already argued in that long-winded rant of his that anything created is essentially doomed from the moment of its inception? 😁

There is zero meaning if all that lives within you is the external man—that suit of armor which, granted, possesses a certain level of self-awareness.
The drive for self-preservation might manage to delay your death, but there exists a Man whose passing can neither be prevented nor postponed.
That which is external is destined for decay; however, that which is internal—which undoubtedly builds itself quite slowly, yet with such persistence and strength—does not vanish, and therefore remains untouched by the anxieties of the transient, outer world.
FEAR and INSTINCT arise from the external precisely because they are ignorant of the internal.
But then again, being without fear isn't necessarily proof that one has found the inner self.
After all, who among us truly understands that other FORCE?
Not a single soul here hasn't fled from it headlong!
That flight is often masked by retreating behind various highly sophisticated philosophies designed to trap the consciousness at a specific level (and for a specific duration).

That is exactly why the external man is left searching for meaning within meaninglessness; whatever he manages to stumble upon will ultimately result in nothing but spinning in circles.
He will take a few steps forward, work with purpose, and then retreat into total inactivity.
Then he will start up again, only to stall once more, each cycle enriched by some new philosophy he didn't actually conceive himself nor validate through personal experience, but rather assimilated from somewhere else, decided it looked good, and attempted to pass it off as his own.
He will go through phases where he prioritizes the heart, followed by periods where the cold, detached, analytical mind takes center stage.
And each time, he will fervently and fanatically defend the LIE he is currently clinging to, even after having had to convince himself a hundred times that he was merely deluding himself.

So, this external man will try and test all sorts of things, but in the end, he will be BROKEN.
Nothing substantial happens until there arrives a lasting sense of PAIN..
As long as there is joy and a will to live, as long as the eye delights in what it sees, the ear in what it hears, and the soul finds warmth in what is external (the transient), that consciousness is still asleep.
And it is impossible to bring this close to anyone, to describe it, or, heaven forbid, to argue it.
It is something BEYOND SOMETHING, not something OPPOSITE to it.
But we can no longer debate this.
The heart cannot feel such PAIN in any conventional way, nor can the intellect ever hope to depict it.

Paul Campbell3 said:Once you finally grasp that both birth and death are just segments of a natural cycle, suffering simply evaporates—meaning we still fight, celebrate, and weep, but as herpes once noted, none of it actually touches our inner selves.

🙂

That natural cycle is nothing more than a spider's web!
If suffering truly vanishes in such a state, wouldn't that just lead to lethargy and a hollow resignation to fate? Such a person starts to resemble an addict, someone so hooked on their substance that they can no longer function normally without it.
They end up chasing more and more, desperate to expand the boundaries of their own blindness.
Perhaps they occasionally sense that what they are doing isn't right, yet they crave more, driven by the terrifying realization that their blindness would be even harder to overcome if they were ever to actually see.
And just like that, the connection between the core and the periphery is severed.
This is how we end up with a nature that no longer lives in harmony with the logos, and the cost of that disconnect is painfully obvious; we witness it every single day.

copperowl2 said:That whole natural cycle thing? It’s nothing but a spider's web!

Trying to "resist" that natural cycle is just getting caught in the web. Thinking you can somehow step outside of it using "free will" is just more web.
Accepting fate? Please. There is no such thing as accepting fate. You aren't fighting it, and you aren't agreeing to it. It just is.

"Quote:"

Paul Campbell3 said:Trying to resist that natural cycle is nothing more than a spider's web. To sit there dissecting everything, convinced that the "I" can somehow exert free will over the process, is just another strand of that same web.

Can anyone truly stand against an outside force on their own? It seems to me that when a person is confronted by an external pressure, trying to resist it in total isolation is a losing game.
He’s never going to find the willpower to just walk away from the net, because at the end of the day, he's nothing more than a dazed fly circling a lightbulb.
Resistance against the Demiurge logos doesn't come from some external revolution; it has to originate from within. It all stems from the core.Where it currently exists, and where there remains room to grow.
Since you clearly haven't a clue about any of this—mostly because the core remains tightly gripped by that external shell and its superficial consciousness—it follows that your attempts to grasp the necessity of breaking the spider's web are, quite frankly, an exercise in futility.
Honestly, it doesn't even cross my mind to try and prove anything to you—or to anyone else, for that matter. Why would I bother?
I am fully aware that those capable of actually accepting this are vanishingly rare.

copperowl2 said:...but then there’s this one Man whose death can neither be prevented nor delayed.

Well, aren't you a philosopher...
There’s really no point in fighting that one, especially. 😁

That’s exactly why an outsider is left trying to find purpose within the chaos; whatever they stumble upon here, they'll just end up circling back to the start.

Yeah, yeah, blah, blah...

God, look at you being all wise and stuff! 😍 🙏 😁

So tell me, what's the point of all this deep insight? Just being a fly caught in a spiderweb? 😛

Endless said:...accepting one's fate...

A fly's destiny is just to get swatted.
The real question is whether he'll spend his final moments struggling against that fate, just trying to save some shred of dignity... 😁
Just pure, unadulterated nonsense right until the very end. 😁

Jack Harris3 said:Oh, look at you, the absolute genius of our time! 😍 🙏 😁

Now, tell me, what exactly is the point of this profound realization of yours, little fly caught in a spider's web? 😛

If none of this interests you, then stop reading my posts, and one of the problems you're currently wrestling with might actually let up—even if it doesn't disappear entirely. 😁 😬
But then again... isn't there some inner demon that just won't leave you alone right now?
Oh, believe me, it won't!
You'll keep reading, and you'll find plenty to experience within these words.