5,389,642,007 Lifetimes.

That's right, five billion.

There is a number that certain eastern philosophers believe to be the number of lifetimes it takes for one soul to become enlightened. I believe that number is derived like this:

YOUR BIRTH = All the people that were alive the moment you were conceived. (classic reincarnation karma rules would apply for this selection of people, I think)

+

YOUR LIFE = All the people who were BORN in your lifetime. Ah.

...and upon your enlightenment, then the number for you stops growing!

This is a very good thing to have happen, because the less of yourself (I mean people who have lived lives) with whom you have to reckon, the sooner you can be at peace. For as many amenable clones as there are, the monsters are a different story.

I am currently testing this theory, as once some time ago now, I had an experience which certainly seemed like enlightenment. And I know it was, because ever since that moment, my life has plodded on in exactly the same ship-shod unpredictable way -- and despite all of the crazy shit that has happened, my realization from way back when is still true.

However, I still consider myself in the beta-testing-phase of this Enlightenment Theory -- that is my disclaimer to these observations:

Since that moment, I have not met any new personalities. I don't mean that with any tone of, "Gawd everybody is such a wanna-be soapbox movie-star...I've seen it all before." I mean it in the tone of, "Every person I have met -- as much I may squirm from accepting it -- I recognize in myself." This makes strangers VERY FAMILIAR to me.

In fact, this has made life utterly more entertesting & deraining, for each person is such a wealth of discovery about my sad-but-true addiction to myself, I can't help but be eager & alive for every encounter. Where is my gaddamn flask?

Because it turns out there were a lot of lot of lot of people born before I realized this and started paying attention. And so there are over five billion worth of idiosyncracies I must get to the bottom of before, before, before...I ever get truly enlightened.