Oh, indeed Kevin.
The unconsciousness is where all the truths lie and it takes more than a bit of intestinal fortitude to bring it to the conscious. If we do not work at bringing it up to a level of awareness it will sneek up at the most inopportune times. And so we anesthetize. Not all affective anesthetics are inbibed, like drugs or drink, etc. Denial is the strongest in my opinion. Playing Cloepatra (queen of denial) has been my greatest role.
For me it is like this. We have free will hence we go about our days making all kinds of choices. What to wear, what to eat, which freeway to take to work, what radio station to listen to, how to spend our money, and on and on ...add nausium.
Of course all these choices are just petty BS. They are the results of our intense ability to mind F--K ourselves and stay totally distracted from what really matters. And what really matters is dealing with our issues (like the pain Kevin mentioned) so we can get to a different level of awareness. One that allows us to become truely intimate with ourselves and the world around us.
Thank you again Darkware for starting this thread. Being able to read and reply to different posts really helps me define what I do and do not believe, in a way that is not possible when I am just tripping about in my head.
"Si vis pacem para bellum" if you desire peace, prepare for war.