Propaganda Propagation

The road to insanity was, and is, paved through propaganda and intelligence reduction.  This post will collect those databits identifying the methods and culprits.

"BP, the energy giant responsible for the largest offshore oil spill in history, helped develop California's framework for teaching more than 6 million students about the environment.

Despite a mixed environmental record even before the Gulf of Mexico disaster, state officials included BP on the technical team for its soon-to-be-completed environmental education curriculum, which will be used in kindergarten through 12th-grade classes in more than 1,000 school districts statewide."

Read more: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2010/09/07/100175/bp-helped-in-californias-environmental.html#ixzz0yxjOeEAV

I suppose to gain unrestricted allowances to chase profit at any environmental cost, it is best to mold the opinions of children to gain their confidence and participation, in corporate interests.

Point / Counterpoint ... Is There a 'Positive' Transformation Underway?

This post will be a collection of positive material, which, while as yet unprovable, speculates on the potential that we are immersed in a conclusion of cycles and that help, via any sort of energy or consciousness, is upon our threshold.

So, are we receiving, or will  we receive, stimulus (support, help, salvation, frequency shift)  that will positively impact our garden?

A Conversation with Andrew Harvey

Richard Grossinger

"At the same time, I think that there is an enigma because everything that's happening is part of the universe, part of consciousness, and an aspect of what is emerging inside the mystery out of which we're coming too. Our presence here -- just our very presence, without any thoughts or acts -- is a response, a participation in something much larger that is invisible to us. Something that on some level, without having to posit extraterrestrials or interdimensionals, is connected and connecting to other intelligences in the universe and the intrinsic intelligence of the universe itself.  These realms are being informed by our situation in some way -- again, remove any Gothic sci-fi images: we are receiving aid, advice, and godspeed from them despite how things are going here, despite the fact that it looks as though morons and madmen and crime bosses are informing everything.

And -- at least to me -- that seems the particular dialectic that we're in: things are a mess and inextricable, but we are alive and conscious and filled with the song and heart and yearning of the universe.  So I think it's important  not to over-focus on "fixing" things in the ordinary sense: politically, ecologically, economically.  It's impossible.  Yet on the other hand I think it's absolutely crucial that all of those matters of stewardship and right livelihood be tended to and remediated in exactly the mechanical and practical and moral ways that are called for.  We must act.  We must do the right thing.  Service is absolute and non-negotiable."

 If as the author posits, that we are receiving aid, then the focused observer should be able to identify samples of the aid, via the cascading impacts which would be present.  While I wouldn't expect to be able to find these in the Mind Control - Stream - Media (including the plethora of agenda laden 'alternative' sources), I would anticipate there would be evidence in my day to day encounters with folks.  So, where are these positive signs?  I am always watching for improvements while cycling between optimism and pessimism, yet these improvements have, thus far, eluded my attention.

The author's second paragraph feels full of dissonance to me, as it states that it is impossible to fix things, yet we must act and do the right thing ... and then that service is absolute and non-negotiable ... WTF?

I have read the Reality Sandwich site for many years, yet I find no wisdom or information above that maps out a sane course.  For now I am sticking with my be of Service to All (STA) plans, balancing Service to Others (STO) with Service to Self (STS).

Further, if we are the ones we have been waiting for, whether we be timeline hopping future folk, interdimensional jumpers or mere sole pass one lifers, then a super stealth control meme would be to get us to await assistance from some outside source, while the band plays on and folks continue to suffer.

We Pay Taxes for This?

This post will be a regularly updated log of the absolute absurdity of that which we tolerate, and fund.

Pentagon Declined to Investigate Hundreds of Purchases of Child Pornography

September 4th, 2010 Via: Yahoo News:

A 2006 Immigration and Customs Enforcement investigation into the purchase of child pornography online turned up more than 250 civilian and military employees of the Defense Department — including some with the highest available security clearance — who used credit cards or PayPal to purchase images of children in sexual situations. But the Pentagon investigated only a handful of the cases, Defense Department records show.

The cases turned up during a 2006 ICE inquiry, called Project Flicker, which targeted overseas processing of child-porn payments. As part of the probe, ICE investigators gained access to the names and credit card information of more than 5,000 Americans who had subscribed to websites offering images of child pornography. Many of those individuals provided military email addresses or physical addresses with Army or fleet ZIP codes when they purchased the subscriptions.

In a related inquiry, the Pentagon’s Defense Criminal Investigative Service (DCIS) cross-checked the ICE list against military databases to come up with a list of Defense employees and contractors who appeared to be guilty of purchasing child pornography. The names included staffers for the secretary of defense, contractors for the ultra-secretive National Security Agency, and a program manager at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. But the DCIS opened investigations into only 20 percent of the individuals identified, and succeeded in prosecuting just a handful.

In Search of, Reasons to Stay, and Methods to Depart

In equal measures, I seek, reasons to hang around, prospects, purpose ... and/or ... creative, painless or low pain, high probability of success, methods, to depart.

Thumper Stickers

Pull Out:
Don't Allow the System to Propagate
 

Practice Safe Politics
Abstain

The Only Safe Politician

Is an Absent Politician

End or Extend? Grace and Obligations

When we rarely discuss suicide frankly or in depth, collectively, it becomes yet another taboo subject for which I find that I don't even possess a composite perspective.  When I contemplate the decision, I find a head full of memes collected through my life, all competing for dominance. Prominent amongst these memes are the characteristic and goal of living a low impact graceful life and the obligations which we assume and project upon each other.  The question of suicide feels to require addressing these two facets directly. 

My Road To Nowhere

After a childhood reared in a medium sized family, attending public schools, partnering in two marriages, raising three children and navigating a career in construction, I dropped out of the routines and roles previously assumed.  Since 2005, I have worked sporadically as a construction consultant, busy at first but tapering in the last two years to a dribble, as I endeavored to clear my head and evaluate our composite environment.

Several years of traveling the world and the States, without a requirement to accumulate biological survival coupons (money), has provided an opportunity to spend time in observation, meeting one of my goals of evaluating the theater upon which we play.

In my travels, one common theme, in interacting with folks I met, was that everyone seemed to need, beyond mere curiosity, to have me identify what I did for a living, as if, work and positions were the concrete foundation of my being, providing a cozy frame of reference upon which to classify and identify me.

Absent defined schedules and labor requirements, I spent the first two years swirling without purpose, often finding myself cycling in chaotic emotions, and intellectualizing, that I must have a purpose and do something defined, as if life, and being, were insufficient.  I presume I had been defined by my family and career to the level that these notions hadn't previously surfaced.  To abate the discomfort, I turned to serial relationships in an attempt at solidifying myself through interconnection, slowly realizing that I was not (or no longer) lasting relationship material.

After the adventures in interpersonal saturation, I began roaming the country looking for engagements to engage in, seeking opportunities to investigate and test out the gift economy, community, transition towns, vermiculture, organic farming, alternative power design and migrating away from metropolitan zones into the rural countryside.  These excursions with various folks in various locales provided a wealth of stimulus, and plenty of additional saturation, leaving me resolved that I have about a three day saturation level with most people, and they, with me.

Since I have not located satisfactory communities, farms or other engaging avenues deemed worthy of pursuit, I plan to travel again while I venture towards my end and transition, observing, evaluating and narrating. 

Deciding I am residing in an asylum.

As I watch our collective insanity in government, education, health care, environment, economy and spirituality, I diagnose myself as an inmate in an asylum.  With the planet full of wondrous resources, and folks brimming with skills and energy, I conclude from our history, present moments and future projections that we are, certifiably, insane.

Samples of our insanity

• We routinely exhaust our personal effluent into our water, soil and food supply as opposed to recycling it through composting means
• We generally cling to notions that voting makes a difference, that there are two political parties and that the constitution is a good document, regardless of the fact that it was, and is, a document by few proclaiming rights to bind and coerce ... all in the face of explicit documentation demonstrating the fallacy of these presumptions
• We tolerate (and even embrace through choice) extensive elemental and chemical poisoning of our bodies, homes and planet, via aluminum, fluoride, mercury, arsenic, power generation, transportation, agriculture and medicine / pharmaceuticals
• We collectively pretend we are not in a constant state of war, raping and pillaging the world's populations, simply because we can get away with it, diffusing and amortizing costs, secretly subsidizing nearly every large economic enterprise in the land
• We refuse to withdraw appreciable participation from the very governments, institutions and corporations which have proven to be detrimental to our lives, liberties and our pursuits of happiness, such that we actively finance our demise, via stocks, bonds, 401k / retirement funds, bank accounts and taxes

Whether by designed agenda, conspiracy or sheer incompetence of 'the management', the above points are my perception of the reality of our environment, leading me to my conclusion, of being an inmate, in an asylum. 

How does one achieve a life of grace while residing in an asylum?

Once resolved that the planet is currently one extensive asylum, with the customary patients, administrators and the occasional non-conjugal visitor, what options remain?  What is a sane response to an insane situation or environment?  I have endeavored to check out of most of the systems, including employment, politics, investment, education, medical and most consumerism, yet, it appears that the final perimeter exits are really secure and monitored.

Most folks I encounter don't seem to want to participate in barter, embrace the gift economy, become responsible for their food / health / education / economy, claim and live their sovereignty or even discuss the notion of checking out of either the system, or their lives. Thus, with the rare exception, I find myself on a solo journey out, first through identification of the asylum, second by the resolution that there are few escape routes or havens within the asylum, and finally, through embracing my sovereign right, and choice, to abandon the game if that is deemed my best option.

Once I settled on these plans, most of my angst evaporated ... as, if I am free to die and transition, I am also free to sample life under different circumstances, with levity and increased humour.  I suppose that this is similar to the notion that there is security in grokking how insecure we, and life, are.

What I have found in my process to this point, is that having no appreciable goals, or even motivations and enthusiasm, allows me to experience each moment as infinitely interesting and full of opportunity.  What would you do that was different, if this was the last night of the world (re-sequenced Bruce Cockburn lyric), or, if you decided that you were settled to check out when the heat becomes a touch more unbearable?  In my case, for the last couple of years, I have just investigated the options and endeavored to be helpful and kind to everyone I encounter.  Everyone in this asylum seems to be carrying a heavy load, and most appear to be doing the best they know how to, given the circumstance.

In conclusion, it seems, that grace may be found or experienced in the envelop of no expectations, no aspirations and no attempting to fit into the model patients' behavior, appearance, diet, attitude or dialog.  After all, what did one asylum inmate say to another, that mattered? 

Why do we bind ourselves and others up with constructed obligations?

Now, any self respecting, and respectful, suicide candidate probably, eventually, encounters the mental dialog and masturbation related to obligation -

• How can you be so cruel?
• How can you justify giving up?
• How can you be so insensitive?
• How can you leave us all behind?
• How can you risk the consequences? 

 So, where did we absorb and adsorb these memes?  I suspect that most are really the result of indoctrination, also known as, education.  In an asylum with a head count, the administrators really don't want to loose anyone, which might be construed as failure.  So, throughout our lives, we continually place ourselves, and each other, under a variety of constructed obligations.

The model inmate, patient or citizen, is expected to be -

• Civil
• Honest
• Obedient
• Dedicated
• Enthusiastic
• Non-violent 
• Subservient
• Cooperative
• Communicative
• Good Natured
• Hard Working
• Compassionate

Most of these characteristics are functional and facilitate cooperative human relations, and relationships, yet, some are absolutely necessary to maintain order and control within an asylum.  Underlying all of these attributes is an unspoken set of 'societal' obligations placed upon individuals and collectives, to feel obligated, to behave, to be a particular way, for the good of all, for harmony, for sure.  Problem is, many a psychopath in control and in charge, fail to adhere to these same propagated facets of socially acceptable behaviors.

To feel no obligation, self induced, or externally imposed, through education / indoctrination, coercion, fraud, deception or manipulation, is ... bliss, and opens the gateway to infinity.

E-Mail Responses and Dialog:

So, your current sentiments are in line with the recent developments. Nothing to venture, nothing to hope for... There is nothing left except emptiness :-)

That was an amazing read! I felt like I had written a good bit of it, although with an almost 15 y-o daughter, my leash is a bit tighter for now.

Your observation of our collective insanity is square on the mark. Will it only deepen or are the implications of the now in-our-faces events going to bring about a mass awakening?

Social interactions are so hard now. Oh yeah, pleasant superficial exchange abounds but that is not fulfilling and ultimately just shows peoples arsses and the reality of the asylum.

Everyone is carrying a heavy load but few bother to look and reason at their circumstances.

I have done my best to undo the memes of expectation that life has laid on us, including such as Boy Scout Mottos (Brave, Clean, Reverent...) although kinda holding on to "Be Prepared"

The shedding continues along with withdrawal and non-participation.

I'm going through some additional withdrawal these days and find myself very news-weary.

One of the big themes I see playing out now is "separation" and that seems to be at work on many levels.

Your statement about achieving grace is good. Just because we were handed a script by others does not mean we have to act in their play!

I guess it's time to rewatch "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest"

I've been thinking about you in the past few weeks, wondering what's happening and if you got the last Alta report. I'm not sure if it came out, but decided to allow it to rest, as they seem to be so dire that it makes me really anxious sometimes. And it appears that things do change, and time is extending, maybe to give  us a bit of a chance to just focus on what we should be doing without knowing too much "what will happen". Kind of like a tantric "test" of learning, in that our circumstances must happen in such a way that we are not ever certain what will happen or the nature of our "adversaries", but how we over come and deal with the situation. Then the test reveals itself, and its usually some paradoxical thing that could have only been realized given the impossible seeming situations that we experienced through time.

Hmmmm. I have pondered the escape myself. One reason why I became a Tibetan Buddhist because they had the most in depth knowledge of learning how to die lucidly so that we can exit to a better place, or have the option of not returning to this madness. And so for the past 6 years I sought out how to die lucidly. So, meditation, learning how to manage my karmic seeds, ( which isn't working as well as I'd like) and lucid dreaming seemed to help a bit as well as Anusara yoga. But the obstacles rose like a snake in the grass, so that my mind and health wouldn't cooperate from extreme stress, insomnia and financial worries, so that the lucid dreaming and relaxation weren't an option, until I managed my fears. Damn!

Well, at least I got a job, working nights, so I'm a little less worried, but now no time to write my books!

But heck, I find myself in similar unpleasant realities of feeling disconnected from others and not meeting the goals I wanted  badly in order to get lucid enough to die in a good way, when the event karmically presented itself.

I'm still trying to still my mind enough to relax and be free of multiple fears, so that I can get into the lucid state to make greater changes, but karma seems to be an obstacle, so I'm proceeding in a way where I can plant the seeds of good karma so that when the opportunity presents itself I can be aware enough to seize it right then and there.

Maybe what you are experiencing is the edge of the "shamans" death, where all beliefs and sense of what you thought was real, just vanishes until you settle into the void, and then can emerge with a deeper knowing.

I don't know. Hope you don't take your own life. You do have alot to offer, and are more brilliant than most people.

Sometimes its best to think nothing at all, just drop the thoughts, a kind of giving up. Not dying but letting the thinking mind just rest. 

cool collection of words. Liked the part about the state of grace while living in
an asylum.

Thank you for your bravery in sharing what you are feeling/experiencing. 

I am thankful for the words of comfort and support you gave me nearly 2 years ago when my brother and I were in crisis.  My leg and life are now much better, and my bro has managed to stay on the planet and is now often very happy.

My brother was suicidal for a very long time.  He credits me with helping him to want to stay on the planet.  One of the things he said helped him was when I said, "I need you to be in this world with me."  I say the same thing to you, ---.  Even if we never lay eyes on each other again, I need to know you are in this world with me.

Many years ago, I took a sort of one man Boddhisattva vow for my brother, that no matter what, I would hang in there with him.  I would gladly extend this to you.  You can always contact me.  While I am often not immediate, I will respond.

I understand that at this age, I am transitioning from one big pattern/archetype of my life into another.  I do not know what the future holds, but I am happy to be on the  journey. 

Is this about you deciding/or having decided to check out or someone else?

my contemplations and writing on the topic ... short term plans should current decline of humanity and the environment continue on trend line ....

 I see. Now I'm not sure what it is you want me to do...read and vicariously play witness to your rationalization (i.e. coming to terms with the reasons for "moving" on from this world to the next) or offer my thoughts/comments either pro or con for extending or ending your life?? This is a very heavy responsibility to casually lay on anyone via an email/blog site. If you decide not to extend and end your life by your own hand hat is your business but those you have chosen to receive the "privilege" of being along for the virtual ride will have to contend with some serious issues. I'll tell you right now not extending, in my opinion, is the cowardly way out regardless of your reasons/rationalization. You, as far as I know, have your physical health, a bright mind so stick around and work to make things better...even if those things only make one person's life easier or better for having had you in it.

Granted, we can't fix all the world's problems in one fell swoop (like trying to eat an elephant) but helping one person (including yourself) at a time is the way you'd eat an elephant--one bite at a time. Hell, man, the world can get anyone down but you should look no further than the length of your arm and work to make that space and those that inhabit it a better place. This high minded, I'm so above all this and if I check out early of my own free well then somehow that makes you more enlightened and those of us that don't follow suit some kind of mindless lemming is a load of crap!!

What is you want me to do????????

My intention was to lay the premise of choice, and obligation, related to suicide / election to transform on the table, see what folks think about it ... as for responsibility, i have counseled three folks through suicide calls, and may never be certain whether they would or wouldn't have without my interaction, yet in all three cases, i shared with them that i understood their potential reasons and honored their choice, their sovereignty in the matter, and they elected to hang around ... in other words, i feel i gave them the gift of acceptance, which we all rarely do for each other, in my perspective ... so, regarding responsibility, does anyone place it upon another, really, or ... like obligations, do we actually control what we accept and reject in these regards, yet often maneuver to offload these as placed upon us by others?  From raising kids, it seems like the latter, to me ...

If i could put my finger on a dozen trends, or even a few, where i observed things getting better, i might feel different, but i don't witness positive trends, just lots of further control and destruction by psychopathic behaviors inherent in the control structures, and those engaged with those structures ... i am at a loss as to how i may have come across as enlightened, or better than anyone, i sure don't feel that way, more resigned that i lived a full life and i am kind of weary of continuing on as the environment, in every respect i perceive, darkens ... fuck man, there is appreciable evil in the world and i did my best to positively impact as many as i could, while i played the game of life on terra ... maybe i have reached my expiration date earlier than some, with a healthy body and some of my mind intact, yet i hardly perceive of seeking an exit now, or soon, as cowardly ... should one force themself to stay to the end of a movie they don't like, or dig ditches for 30 to 50 years, if they don't want to, just to prove resolve or build character?  fuck that, lol ... where did most of us pick up these tendencies towards embracing suffering, on any level?

So, i extend my appreciation to you for taking an opportunity to read, and respond, i really ask for, and expect, nothing, from anyone, i have basically given up and will just help a few more folks as i wander around until my resources run out, an awesome opportunity manifests or the sun / cosmos intervenes in all out lives and changes our dna or blows us out of this universe ... as a firefighter, i learned through direct experience, that sometimes ya evaluate, asses and let the motherfucker burn ...

In summary, thanks again, and, may your path be best for you ...

 I think the technical term for your blog/feeling is "suicidal ideation."

It sounds as though you are trying to make suicide seem noble, brave, and rational when in fact it is an inherently selfish act that imposes a permanent solution on what are really temporary problems. 

--- I suggest you go the ER. Show them your blog. Tell them you're thinking about hurting/killing yourself.  If they can't help you and you still feel the same way in a month then what have you lost?  Thirty more nihilistic days on this mortal coil?  So what!  After all, you'll be dead forever. Warren Zevon when asked what lessons he took from being diagnosed with terminal lung cancer, he famously replied, "Enjoy every sandwich."  There's a lot of truth to that. Learn to take pleasure from the little things in life, try not to think too much about big cosmic questions such as the meaning of life, and then both the big things and the little things will sort themselves out in time.

Having lived more than 25% of my life (as an adult) in Asia I have learned of a concept known in Japanese as On and Giri. It is the sense of obligation one acknowledges when one accepts something from another--even when that something was unsolicited. So my friend, like it or not by opening and reading your unsolicited email I accepted something from you and with that comes an obligation. In this case an emotional and moral one. You are only seeing this issue from your perspective and showing no empathy for others on the receiving end.

Walking out of a movie that sucks is one thing or choosing not to dig ditches another but what makes these different from choosing to check out is they leave the door open to new possibilities and other options. A man doesn't have to dig a ditch and suffer in silence  his whole life (at least not in this country...not yet). It is not about building character or some other chivalrous notion. It is about manning up and changing the things you can and accepting the things you can not. Look at my life, for example, if I had stayed in Detroit after high school I'd be dead or in jail. I was hell bent on destruction (in the guise of wild, party good times). Joining the Marine Corps was the best decision --- I ever made in my life. I chose to change the environment I was in and that I could control. Granted once in the Corps my individual freedoms were limited but I still found a ways to develop those areas that I still had the freedom to control such as requesting orders to Japan, taking college classes in my off-duty time, exploring and immersing myself in the environment and culture outside the front gate of the base, etc.

After contemplating your blog I asked myself...what about your kids? Your family? I'm not a therapist but I do know that suicide leaves an enduring legacy of guilt, remorse, grief and anger for those left behind. A very close childhood friend drove non-stop from Detroit to the Hoover Dam, climbed the security fence and jumped to his death--200 foot drop to concrete. His parents and brothers are still tortured to this day.

Have you sent your blog to your kids? Siblings? I know you know that you have people who love and care about you. I can't imagine that they will actively participate and help you in your quest for rationalization/ideation of a premature death at your own hand. I hate to think of the world without you in it, my friend, so imagine how your family will feel. I don't think you are a selfish man but try to put yourself in their place after you are gone.

I know you know there is still beauty in this world. What happened to the photos you proudly shared with me? What about all the places you haven't explored in the world? I think you can't see the forest for the trees and cynicism has gripped your soul. The cosmic awakening or change you are waiting for is right inside you! You have the power over your own universe to make it what you want and need it to be.

--- I am truly at a loss. Of the people I have crossed paths with and had the pleasure to know on this planet I have always thought of you as having a deep and abiding belief in self and the power within. Change your environment and change your outlook/perspective.

Thanks for additional perspectives ... yes, i did send it to some of my kids and family, interestingly, my folks and i have discussed this many times over the past few years, for all three of us, not in some dramatic or urgent way, but as individual choices deeply contemplated by all parties ... not so much different from the past to be or not to be ... from some perspectives, perhaps, the only question, as some have alluded ... yet, i suspect you and i have a major difference in at least a couple of items, those of the soul and the nature of death ... my sensations are that the soul is no more, or less, than our consciousness, and that it may be eternal, at the very least, that it passes through many, many phases of times and experiences in various types of bodies or vehicles (probably some non-material) .... so ... from this vantage, is leaving a particular life much different, from say, leaving a relationship?  i adjusted this from abandoning the movie example, to demonstrate that throughout life we transition in and out of various relationships, leaving a wake that may indeed impact others, though, their responses are still their responsibility, in my opinion, as they have the freedom to choose, or at least adjust, albiet slowly, how they feel about things ... the classic time differences folks experience from 'broken hearts' ... fuck, i have some past relationships, like with -------------, that while i don't think of her every day, week or month, i suspect i am never really over her ... and that is over 30 years, lol ...

i have recalled several past lives, and i have gone down the subject path before, and the path of suffering without relief until death by non-self-induced means ... so i feel i have a sense of the spectrum of possibilities ...

now, on the topic of temporary problems, i ask, are things really getting better, do today's children generally have the same opportunities for nutrition, education, freedom, expression, health, wealth and happiness that we did?  i don't recognize positive trends on the american front, nor in the regions of the world i have traveled ... the place is infested with parasitic and psychopathic behaviors which cascade out from a few percent of the population and dramatically impact the collective, and while each member of the collective has responsibility and choice of response and behavior, that is only to a point ... to be in a war torn zone, deadly polluted environment, slavery or even just in the us with the fucking ridiculous levels of deceptive covert oppressions (mind controlled 'education', mind control media, toxic vaccinations, toxic gmo foods, toxic oil spill and more toxic dispersants, toxic oppressive taxes for war and fiscal bailouts ... hell the list is endless ...), well, life in the mud, yes, life may be messy, or life may be fucked, in general ...

i am glad you, and many others, find reason, cause, desire and other motivations to pursue life, i respect and honor those factors and have a simple theme i use when asked what i want ... universal sovereign opportunity ... but we don't reside on a planet where this is the common perception or goal ...

so ... as stated in the blog, i have opened myself to the option to depart, and will fill my time with some travel and watch for opportunities, change and a purpose, while knowing that i have options, as you stated, of getting out of one environment, in my case, life on this planet, and discovering what lay beyond ...

as for selfishness ... is it selfish for a terminal patient to request end of life (are we not all, in some respect, terminal anyways) ... and if not, then why is not suffering of the soul or intellect or emotions just as reasonable as suffering in some strictly physical sense?

yes, this is rationalizing, and judgment and individual perspective ... no matter how much any of us want, seek or exhibit altruism, love or service to others, we still have these individual facets that motivate and result in our behaviors ... or, i am unique, like everyone else, or, we are exactly alike, with subtle differences ... or, we are all, really, walking paradoxes unwrinkling our cognitive dissonance, moment by moment ...