[davidsun]

Originally Posted by Baile

Sure. I used to fish with my uncle. A typical day consisted of 30 seconds of something nibbling on my hook, and 8 hours of nothing at all. But that 30 seconds... exciting! So I get your enthusiasm for the grooving part in all this. Disclaimer: I no longer fish nor eat them anymore, just making a comparative observation. Fish are groovy.

Some 'waters' are 'richer' (in fish) than others. Have you a better place to fish? If not, your choices are either to 'fish' here, revert back to suck 'sweets' on the sidelines, or just 'pick up your bait and go home'.

I hope you find what what follows to be is a relevant excerpt from the writing I am now doing, in an attempt explain what (I think) Jesus (must have) meant when he said "Whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it."

"Now, continuing to address the main topic at hand: Though the alternative possibilities that a soul may psychospiritually develop to the point where it ‘finally’ fully acknowledges that it is not a separate self in its own right but a subsidiary expression of Life Itself and so consciously chooses to mentally, emotionally and behaviorally completely devote itself to living, and therefore forever thereafter lives on, as a coherent part of Its never‑ending Flow or that it may, as a result of volitionally or otherwise getting caught up in thinking, feeling and believing that the nature and extent of its personal being and doing derive from its own selfishness and so becomes psychospiritually disconnected from and out of synch with the lives of others around it to the point where it ‘finally’ ends up no longer being a part of the Flow of all Being (as a coherent entity, that is) are ever-present … as I say, though either of such ‘finalities’ are ever-actualizable at any point in the course of a soul’s journey in the context of Life’s Stream, and though a soul may reverse its direction in either of the foregoing regards at any time, such happenings are generally the cumulative result of a succession of choices which corroborate and reinforce ‘the sum’ of prior choices made over multiple lifetimes. So no single-lifetime choice-‘trajectory’, again in either regard, should ever be regarded as being absolutely soul-destiny determining in and of itself.

There are, however, macroscopic patterns in history wherein developmental sequences pertaining to the fore-referenced alternative possibilities probabilistically peak. Since the selfish versus self-transcendental personal-inclination trendencies☺ I speak of are generally sparked and fueled by interrelating others who are also in the process of acting out such bifurcating inclinations themselves, said ‘forevermore’ and ‘nevermore’ alternatives tend to be ‘finalized’ in the context of mass events wherein huge ‘waves’ (in terms of the numbers of individuals involved) of both such kinds of happenings cyclically crest and trough on a seasonal basis, as reflected in Jesus’ harvest-time allegories: “Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest. And he that reapeth receiveth wages, and gathereth fruit unto life eternal: that both he that soweth and he that reapeth may rejoice together.” (John 4:35-36) and “I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing. If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned.” (John 15:5-6)

All of us are now having to make make-or-break (in terms of ongoing soul development) choices in the above regards, …

P.S. It also occurs to me that you may be able to become more adept at making and deploying attractive 'lures' and consequently have a more 'game' experience here in terms of getting more 'strikes' and having more 'reeling' fun.