I found myself wondering earlier today what it would be like to be a Deva in the Deva Realm right at the end of one’s ten thousand year lifespan. Or however long it is. It’s about that long, I think. I’m not so interested in the period leading up to this point – which is when everything is ‘going swimmingly’, as I suppose you could say. That’s when you’re right there in the glory of it and what could be more glorious than being a Deva in the Deva Realm? ‘What indeed?’ you echo – ‘what indeed?’
Talk about kudos! How much kudos is there in being a Deva in the Deva Loka? It doesn’t get any better than that, I don’t think. That is – after all – the whole point of being a god! The whole point of being a god is that it doesn’t get any better than that. You’ve got constant good health, you never get sick, and if you get injured then you regenerate straight away, like a lizard re-growing its tail. You’re good-looking, you have a great physique, you are incredibly charismatic and you have special godlike powers, whatever they might be. You can use your own imagination for that. The kudos involved is absolutely incredible, therefore. Everyone wants to hang out with you – not that you would hang out with just anybody of course! You be selective. You can afford to be.
For the most part you’d be hanging out with other Devas, I guess. All of them as charismatic and good-looking as you. All of them with awesome godlike powers. But all of that isn’t what I am wanting to talk about – that stuff’s irrelevant to the point of my discussion. When I’m interested in is the period right at the end of your ten thousand year lifespan when you start to develop a kind of unpleasant body odour that lets all the other Devas know that you are approaching the final phase of your life cycle. The Devas are all in denial of death you see, so of course no one wants to know you then. Your friends all find ways of melting off into the background when you appear on the scene. Somehow they all have something else they need to be doing. Something else, that is, that doesn’t involve hanging out with you!
So that’s it really. I was imagining what it would be like to be a Deva in the final phase of the God-Realm existence. It’s like having a really bad body-odour problem and everyone being too embarrassed to tell you straight to your face that there’s an issue there. So they just avoid you instead. It’s like that, only it’s about a billion times worse. After all, if you had BO then when you finally cop on to it then you can go and have yourself a shower and that will be the end of the problem. What we’re looking at here isn’t a problem that can be solved quite simply as that I’m afraid. What we’re looking at here is a problem that can’t be solved at all.
People hate that, don’t they? People hate any mention of a problem that can’t be solved, no matter how long you rack your brains over it. No matter how much you put yourself out over it. ‘There’s always a solution, you’ve just got to think of it.’ is what people like to say. People always like to say that they are ‘solution-focused’! Poor sad bastards. When these positive-thinking heroes say ‘there’s always a solution’ the solution they’re really thinking about is the solution of ‘not facing the truth’. That’s the solution they are all getting so excited about! That’s the solution that’s giving them wet dreams! There’s always a solution buddy, you just keep telling yourself that. Only when you find yourself in the situation that I’m talking about here there isn’t. That’s what makes this particular situation so interesting – how bad do you think that would feel? I’d say that would feel pretty damn awful, wouldn’t you? I kind of identify with this poignant situation. I can relate it to me – the only difference, I suppose, being that I never had any of the good stuff that comes before it. I never actually had any kudos and so I guess that makes it easier for me…
