If the universe is innately benign, perfect and pure then how has it produced the likes of us? Does the universe's perfection somehow end were We begin? Has not Being emerged from nature and nature emerged from the universe? It's almost like the theodicy argument all over again except instead of god it's the universe at fault. How can something perfect pure and benign create such misery and imperfection? I just can't get my head around this point. Why are we not just born directly into the PCE and skip this farce of suffering, cruelty and ignorance. Is nature somehow antithetical to the universe? Is there a difference? I would appreciate some help on getting my head around this as I fear the PCE maybe just another delusional subjective state and not the actual objective state of things.

Cheers

Aren't the subjective states that present themselves as objective, the delusional ones?

What of a state that removed a delusional objectivity from ones subjectivity? Wouldn't such a state leave you rather objective about your subjective experience? And couldn't this be called, in experience, 'the actual objective state of things'?

I only have a little experience with AF but enough that I can respond. When you talk about the universe being perfect, you are speaking philosophically and conceptually. Most people have not experienced its perfection because humans are instinctual animals born with instincts to survive like desire, nurture (procreation, love, caring), fear, and aggression. The being is these instinctual passions and one can make the being extremely blissful or depressed by fulfilling the passions or ignoring them. These instincts cause suffering because they are always stirring in you to make sure one gets what they think they want in life in order to survive. In the world outside your body, nothing is stirring. Everything is still, constant like a tree or a flower. Its just there but on the inside there is emotional turmoil. We are not born in a PCE because part of our brain uses these instinctual passions to ensure we make the correct choices to survive and continue the species. When you take away these passions, nothing is stirring and everything is peaceful. I can't describe everything about AF here and you should definitely check out the AF website but basically, the world outside is calm and the world inside is always bothering "you" to act. Without these passions, "one" IS no longer these passions but the senses enjoying the sensual universe (pure sight, pure sound etc.) without judgement. Without emotional stirring, the senses are free to be as they are without any disturbance and you can just sit back and enjoy like your at the spa but even better. The PCE is definitely not subjective because in a PCE, one's identity (self and instinctual passions) is suspended that only the senses are active. One experiences without any self being subjective. I know I didn't answer all your questions because there is a lot of information that I don't know how to explain just yet but I hope I helped clear some things up .

Do you see how, in a prehistoric world, the various instincts add an advantage in survival? The theory of evolution is a very good explanation as to how and why the instincts have arisen. Really surprising is that although the instinctual self has been with our species and ancestor species for many million years, it only takes at most a few years to get rid of the whole thing.

Heck, if you can come up with anything even slightly better that would actually work, I'd love to hear about it. When considering other ways the universe could possibly work (other laws of physics), make sure it would also allow for anything described by astronomy, geology, meteorology, geography, chemistry, biology, mechanics (including airplanes, I want airplanes), informatics, etc, etc, etc.

I was once annoyed by rainy days, until I realized that I couldn't come up with a better way to transport, desalinize, and distribute water over a planet. I was once annoyed at having instinctual passions, until I realized that they were carried to today through natural selection, implying that it was quite probably owing to these passions that humanity has come to the point they can dispense with them (a society that is mostly comfortable in its material needs).

Think about it. It really is perfect!

I think the word perfect describes more of the "as it is" quality of the experience that is experienced (in a PCE) without any desire of adding/subtracting to it. Since I am seeing as-it-is , it becomes a fact and a fact is..well..perfect ?
Otherwise , if a drunk car driver can run over me for no fault of mine , I wouldnt call this universe perfect and I would say that there should have been a better design of the universe.

My understanding of the 'perfection' is how no emotions have access to the actual world to tarnish it by painting it as 'grim', 'boring', 'scary' etc. Feelings are in our heads, so to speak, and once they are absent the world is seen to be completely 'pure'. 'Pure' as in 'nothing-but-...'

It has already been mentioned why we could not have been born directly into the PCE. Instincts evolved as primitive instructions for primitive animals to stay alive. We inherit the genes of our ancestors.

As to benignity and benevolence, that's harder for me to understand. It would be nice to hear another explanation about those. In my mind is the trillions of animals that suffered and suffer torturous pain from predator attacks, random accidents, being trapped and starving to death, disease eating away at them from the inside etc.

Nad A


How about: benignity is what is left over once hostility, resenting being here, wailing, etc. evaporate.