"As a child, I wanted unconditional attention and didn't get it. We all do. If we had gotten it, it still would not teach us how to give ourselves unconditional attention, though. That's something we learn to give ourselves eventually."
I guess that's the bit I'm not sure about. If humans grew up in families and cultures that were emotionally intelligent and nurturing, would we not naturally internalize that self-care, just as we learn to walk or talk etc. Our suffering later in life forces us to learn to re-parent ourselves, but in a more enlightened world would we not learn it from the get go? It's a symptom of the general dysfunction that many people are wounded children in adult bodies and remain so. Academic I suppose, since we are where we are. Of course I agree that 'feeling' and unconditional love to oneself is the journey home.
Here's the conclusion I came to. At least, this is one of my theories. Since I can't know for sure right now, I theorize and don't hold to any theories too tight. I get the idea that God birthed us, and everything, out of Himself. We're literally part of Him, part of His material. And we were born in the non-physical real (spirit realm, heaven, whatever you want to call it). We naturally have all of His characteristics since we're His children. But living in paradise, where all our needs are met, means that we never knew what it was to be in pain or suffering or want. We never knew dysfunction like anger, grief, or fear. So we were loving like God, but immature. Rich kids have a lot of immaturity because so much is provided for them.
In order to mature, I think we may have agreed to have God make us a reality in which we could develop our unconditional love through suffering. A reality in which we, and others, would forget our life before, and have to help ourselves and one another survive and flourish.
Now, imagine if you were in paradise, where all things are provided, but suddenly you're thrust into a world with all of these negative, painful resonances. You even come in through a tight birth canal that your head and body have to bend to in order to get out. It was painful entry. And somehow, we become unaware of our past life in paradise. That's required for us to grow and develop our unconditional love.
When people die, the one's in resistance to God (Atheists) always say that they have an awful experience that humbles them, and they know for sure there's a God when they are resuscitated. So this hell-like place they go to (which is different for everyone) is taylored for them to break their pride causing them to resist God's help in maturing. The people who are not in resistance to God always end up going into the light, ending up in heaven/paradise, and they meet God.
He then has them relive every instance where they hurt someone in life, but they feel that person's emotions this time. They feel how they made that other person feel. The people always end up feeling shame as a result, but God says, "No, it wasn't good or bad, not right or wrong, just a lesson learned." The people's shame drops instantly and they're matured into unconditional love. Kind of like what we're doing when we do TPP, but an excelerated version.
In other words, it seems to me that life is about maturing. And it also seems planned out by God and us. I say that because lots of people die, go to paradise, and meet their future children there. Their future child tell them, "You need to go back, because you agreed to have me as your child." So we made contracts/promises when we were in heaven, it seems. And it seems God orchestrates everything to make sure those contracts happen. They're part of our purpose for being here. Those people get resuscitated and end up having every one of thoe children they met in heaven, and they all look exactly as they looked in heaven eventually.
I think we chose to have these emotional signatures passed down to us so we could grow our love into unconditional love through maturing. There is no perfect world right here, right now, in which children receive no dysfunctional emotional signatures, because that wouldn't be perfect. It would be useless. lol If it can't mature us, it's not perfect. Once we're matured, we'll be ready to exist again in heaven in unconditional love.
That's just my guess. It's only a theory. And like you said, what the hell do we know. lol It could easily be different than that. That's just the impression I get when I take everything into account.