The Cosmic Joke Which Will Make You Laugh Only When You Acknowledge The Illusory Self

 "I started a joke, which started the whole world crying, but I didn't see that the joke was on me" - the Bee Gees.  Existence precedes incarnation into a "mammalia body".  What is enlightenment?  Are there stages of enlightenment?  How would one know unless one were "enlightened"?  Nature has never experienced freewill?  Says who?  Within the parameters of certain species limitations, I believe free will is endemic to all, even at the sub-atomic level.  Of course we get to vote on our conception - whether or not we wish to incarnate into a specific body identity.  Have you totally forgotten life/existence before this one?  The paradoxes within this article (i.e. if there be no free will, then whatever you state can never be verified as there is no "truth" and no standards of logic:  All is but the whim of the Universe and "Nature") are such that I see it as primarily a whimsical attempt to dismiss something that you remain in denial of:  That we are all Spirit and have come from the more unconditioned realms of spirit here to play this game of lila.  We knew the essential Game before we incarnated into these rounds of duality expression.  All the mentation and philosophical discourse (sprinkled with quotes from past inspirators) has it's place but it still remains within the confines of what you term "egocentric mammalia" mind.  To bridge dualities and merge the finite with the infinite is the modus operandi of those ensconced in the Now.  The "thingness" with the "no-thingness".  Enjoy the ride and remain a child of joy, surfing the flow.