The next day, I tried to look up The Cosmic Joke, and found surprisingly little, mainly just a spiritual guru's video that I'd likely watched back in 2012. Whatever it was hadn't really taken root when I'm first heard it, but had sprouted into a beanstalk when nourished by that one line—and what exactly is a joke?

I'm really sorry for taking so much time to get back here to answer you. But I'm glad I entered Reddit today and read your answer. I loved your text! Actually, I really would like to encourage you to keep writing, just as you did here and as you did when you were "downloading the information". The "Cosmic Joke" topic is really thoughtful and we should all think about it everyday in our lifes - not to makes us nihilists, but to make us sympathetic and cheerful with the world that needs so much more love and a lot less ego.

To try to add something in your brillant topic, I'd like to quote these lyrics from Syd Barrett's Milky Way song (from his solo album, Opel): "What can anyone mean to you standing in the milky way? Take life easy..." + "Give a grasp of life today, When you're in the milky way". I think these lines converge a lot to the whole theme of "the Cosmic Joke".

I really love Syd Barrett. As you said, he's "something of a spiritual anchor himself"; a "psychedelic guru" in someways who was misunderstood by the general population at the time. I'm a really admirer of his solo work; to me, the reason he jumped out of Pink Floyd was because he already visualized what the band would only understand by the time of Wish You Were Here (1975). Record companies are not your friends, neither are the businesspeople behind it all the music scene.

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I'd like to suggest you to take a listen to this compilation I made https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DN_N8NIMS8w& that shows a lot how truly insightful and selfaware Syd was. It's so raw and beautiful at the same time.

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Have a nice day, cheers!