8e honest, do you like me?
Now that I've thought on this more, I think we're 8oth approaching the question incorrectly to 8egin with. It's not as much if we like ourselves, or eachother, necessarily, as much as if we like "Aranea Serket". No matter how different, or exactly the same we may 8e, we are 8oth ultimately just a concept. That concept is: Aranea. We're merely additions to the conceptual Form of 8eing Aranea. When others say they like, or dislike "Aranea Serket", they often times aren't referring to a specific variation, 8ut rather the composite whole of the idea of us. It's like when one discusses liking... say, a character like the human superhero "Superman". He is spread across canons, films, and depictions.. yet when one says they like, or dislike Superman, they mean the Ideal, the Form of Superman that comes from his various selves. So the question shouldn't 8e "do we like eachother?", it should 8e, "do we like 'Aranea Serket'?".
8ut there's a deeper question in there. Who is Aranea Serket? We seem to 8e rather different in our circumstances, and yet we 8oth manage to claim the mantle of Aranea Serket, and we do so as 8eforans. I suspect 8y the way that you are alive that we have gone through a very different series of events in our deaths. I can honestly say, I did not like 8eing dead. I am very happy I found yet another way to 8e alive. The cost wasn't even very high. 8ut it means my life continues on. What of yourself? Where are you going with your existence?
Another misguided question! Aranea Serket is not a who, it is a what. Aranea Serket is an idea. You know how chairs are chairs, right? 8ut we don't think of any specific chair when we think of chairs, just of the idea of "chair". Let's take 8eauty for example. 8eautiful things are 8eautiful, 8ut they are not "8eauty" itself. 8eauty exists on a higher channel, a metaphysical and metatextual one! So we may 8e Araneas, 8ut we are not "Aranea". This is what those in tune with an "Ultimate Self" come into contact with, the composite idea that every version of them adds to. Now, they don't 8ecome this idea itself, 8ecause it is impossi8le for the material to 8e the conceptual, 8ut they do 8ecome aware of it!
And which one of us do you think stands a chance of achieving our Ultimate Self? I wouldn't exactly call it a competition, not now, 8ut I think it's safe to say that if that is a journey worth taking, we 8oth need to take stock in who we are, and what we are. And as much as I might 8e tempted to lord over you my second return to life, I am not nearly that cruel. No, if anything, it would feel 8etter if you were also a8le to achieve the same thing. After all, we could also 8e considered a 8rand, and if all of us do well, the 8rand's value rises. It occurs to me that the ultimate self is not unlike a platonic ideal, and I have to wonder if there is some connection there. Is an ultimate self really a thing one can achieve? Or is it more of an ideal to strive for, 8ut one never to reach? Some of these things may 8e unknowa8le, 8ut I would try to know them all the same.
The Ultimate Self should 8e understood less as a state of 8eing, and more just an accumulation of knowledge. I suppose you could call it 'Gnosis'. Us talking to 8egin with is a small step in understanding the 8igger picture of what we are, and how we are to 8e understood! Perhaps we will 8oth see past ourselves soon enough. In terms of my mortality, and lack thereof, I'm simply a little further 8ehind in my journey than you, I do 8elieve. I'm going to get out of here one way, or another.
So am I to take it that you are interested in a return to life? Luck isn't everything when it comes to that, as much as the connections that made it possi8le for me, I may have 8een lucky to know those people, 8ut it took skill to actually 8uild those connections. It took effort. I do 8elieve you have it in you. 8ut I do have to wonder what I've given up in the process. Life can 8e limiting, as much as it provides feelings that death simply can't match. I remem8er what it was like to 8e a ghost 8ound to the dream 8u88les, and the term would 8e num8. And yet, I had access to so much more than I do now, It was a trade off, one I would make 8 out of 8 times, 8ut there was an exchange. An exchange that I 8elieve makes me a8le to 8e closer to my Ultimate Self, 8ut re8uilding a network of information takes time and effort too.
Luck has very little to do with it. Don't limit your scope! What we have on our side is *fortune*, and we mend with our guiding 8eam of it.