This is awesome.
Here are a few things which I think will help you figure this out.
The main point is, that when you are talking about 'the Universe', what you are really referring to is 'the Human Psyche'. The Human Psyche is indeed all-encompassing for us humans, so it can seem like it is the Universe. The question is: is there something outside of the Human Psyche? Or is all of existence a manifestation of some collective consciousness?
I think there is, and the senses are what informs us of this. If you notice, emotions are always transient, fluxing, never stable. They can change on whim from one moment to the next. They are notoriously unreliable and prone to making people irrational. However, what we perceive with our senses does not have these properties, outside of the extent to which our emotions distort our perception. If you take a sheet of paper and mark a red figure on it and hide it away somewhere, then return the next day, it'll still be there, with exactly that same mark. Same if you come back in a week or in a year. Matter is remarkably durable and consistent, compared to emotions. Further each of the senses - together with logic - independently verify that something is there. You see a cup of water, you can touch it and feel its edges which spatially correspond with the edges your eyes picked up, you can taste the water which confirms that it is indeed water, you can maybe smell it or smell the absence of smell, and you can put your ear into the cup and hear that echo you hear from cups.
I suggest you ruminate on this for quite a bit - as long as it takes. Once you have determined that there is something outside of the human psyche, the rest of your line of thinking becomes very intriguing.
Edd:
All emotions we experience, as fractals of the Universe itself, can be plotted on a spectrum from Fear (of separateness) to Love (unity).
You cannot have love (unity) without separateness (fear).
That's quite right - you cannot have one aspect of the human psyche without all the other aspects of it as well. It all comes as one package.
Edd:
All the cycles we go through start with a sense of separateness. That is the "ultimate moment of terror", the "simple, hideous nothing". The Universe then splits itself so it can rejoin with itself and experience love in unity. But then it finds itself alone, again. And the cycle restarts.
I believe the Universe has been wrestling with the question "Am I alone?" for eternity, and everything we experience is a reflection of this cyclical journey.
I'm not sure about eternity per se, but definitely for as long as the human psyche has existed and humans have been intelligent enough, that's precisely what the question has been. As you've noticed, we as identities living as the human psyche, are separate from other identities. Then we seek to bond over faith and trust, to feel love to bridge the gap. But love is built over the separation. If there weren't separation in the first place, then there would be no need for love. So then it's extremely interesting when you say:
Edd:
But I also believe, through this investigation, the Universe's attention is now moving into another question:
"What is better? This constant cycling, or NOTHING?"
It's trying to find out whether it will be happier with the constant cycling, the temporary love illusion it can create for itself -- or whether it would be better to simply not exist at all. It is trying to decide whether an eternally unsatisfactory SOMETHING is better that an eternal NOTHING. I believe it can extinguish itself entirely, and is now deciding whether to make that call.
Since we ARE the Universe, let us talk about this now. This, to me, appears to be the real fundamental question -- even more fundamental than "Am I alone?", since it appears to be reaching the conclusion that it is indeed alone.
So, I am asking you, as you are a fractal representative of the whole of the Universe, and so am I,
Would you rather have THIS SOMETHING (how things are now), or NOTHING?
And I will remind you there is no going back if it chooses "nothing".
Else, do you see any alternatives I, we, "it", have not considered?
Spot on, sir, spot on. This is exactly what's going on in the human psyche right now. As you said, we 'ARE' the Universe, aka we 'ARE' the human psyche, and it's up to us to determine - should 'we' extinguish 'ourselves' or keep 'existing'? It would seem like an eternal NOTHING, and to the human psyche, it would be. However, go back to what I said earlier, about there being something outside the human psyche - which we can access via our senses. If there is no human psyche - if it becomes extinguished - then what would remain is the actual universe. Not the one you are referring to, which is a projection of the human psyche onto the universe, but the one that actually exists outside of humanity - the one with all the things in it, the one that the senses pick up.
The amazing thing is that it *is* possible to be conscious as a human being, without being the human psyche. The human psyche can disappear entirely. In fact, it's the actual universe which does the extinguishing - 'I' can't extinguish 'myself', but rather 'I' let it happen. Then instead of me being 'the Human Psyche experiencing itself', I am 'the actual universe experiencing itself'. The ramifications are astounding. That fundamental separateness that you picked up on, disappears entirely. Fear is gone forever, and with it goes love, of course. But there's no need for love if there's no fear in the first place.
You have spent time at the level of universal consciousness, but it's also possible to spend time at the level of pure consciousness - consciousness without the human psyche. In order to do it, I suggest you sit and contemplate the possibility that what you are experiencing right now, via the senses (not via thoughts or emotions), actually exists, outside of 'you'. Then see if you can't peek in and see what the actual universe is all about!
I will give you a flavor of it from my experience, to help you look for it: it's extremely substantial, fulfilling, and inherently satisfying. It's like there's meaning in the very air around you. Everything is so... *there*! Without the human psyche present, there is no identity so there are no emotions, but it's not an emptiness bereft of meaning. Rather, you see that it was the identity that was obscuring the meaning all along. Everything is already perfect.
Extinction really is the only way to go.