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October 27, 2000.
As uniquely adroit be the mind,
innate to its basic construction seems to be either an
inability, or else unwillingness to commonly distinguish between
what is real and what is not.
A man will stand before the ruins of the Colosseum and say: "There
is history!
There is the history of Rome!"
No -- there is not "history",
there is the remains of a physical structure.
It is not "history", it is stone & mortar.
There is no such thing as "history";
"history" does not exist;
"history" is a word & concept
invented by the mind.
Plainly & undeniably put:
history simply does not exist.
It cannot be seen, smelt, felt, tasted,
or measured in any way.
There is nothing there;
it is not real,
and with even cursory reflection
any ten year old mind understands this is so.
What is actually going on is this:
as the man looks at the Colosseum,
the talking part of his consciousness
is saying words such as: "Colosseum,
Roman Empire, Julius Caesar, 44 B.C.,
Nero, The Huns," and so on,
as related images flash relentlessly
through his mind.
These images brought up from the memory files
in his own brain -- there is, "history".
That is all that it is,
and there is the only place it "exists."
The Colosseum physically exists;
its sight triggers words in a man’s memory;
the words then call up images from memory;
images derived from books, from movies,
from descriptions he has heard
other men give regarding,
"The history of Rome" --
yet in reality
all we have before us is:
the remains of a physical structure,
and the electrochemical activity in one man’s brain
that constitutes what we call, "thought."
Clearly,
there is no "history" outside of a man’s thoughts.
As entertaining as may be the reading-about,
and then imagining-about, "The Roman Empire!"
clearly -- it is all in your thoughts.
There exists neither, " A Roman Empire,"
nor a "history" of same.
What does exist are writings that purport to be
records of that enterprise,
and the mind is disinclined to note that such writings are not some
actual "thing" that can be literally identified and tagged as, "history."
These "written histories" are still nothing other than human thoughts,
simply manifested in physical form.
(And though I am momentarily speaking of history merely as an exemplary
prelude to my actual topic,
let me note en passant that what is so regarding the non existence
of history is equally applicable to
all other intangible areas in which
men profess an interest,
[and which their minds are forced to forget that they conjured up
from nothing to begin with.])
Any interested, and routinely intelligent mind can instantly grasp
the validity of the above,
but can then only hold same for the briefest of seconds.
It is as though things to which thoughts give birth
they can never later deny, nor turn against.
For a few, it can be useful to picture
it thus:
once life decided it was good for man’s brain to produce conscious
thought,
and be able to, "possess the past" via neural memory,
it caused thought to invent,
what are to itself,
separately distinguishable categories of memories,
such as: History, Theology, Philosophy, Psychology,
and -- "I"
and above all -- "I."
For without that neural memory file labeled,
"I, me, myself & I"
none of the others can be put to any practical use.
You can stand before a mirror and see the reflection of "you" just
as surely as a man can stand before the Colosseum and see, "history",
and the potential for awakening in this parallel
is so pregnant and delightful that
I truly hesitate to say more.
But right there in that verbalized comparison
is revealed everything you need to know about the actual nature and
cause of:
"being asleep,
flustered,
disgusted & discombobulated."
You do not see,
"you" in a mirror any more than you see, "history" in the Pyramids.
All that you ever "see" regarding any subject that you cannot hold
in your hands
is what your thoughts see in your head,
and the same is true regarding what you believe you see when you
say, "I."
For reasons known only to life, (if even that,
but about which a clear headed man can conjure helpful models),
it has caused the activity in his brain that produces thought to
assume the identity of an object, a thing.
Thus do thoughts not speak of themselves as an,
"activity",
but as a thing -- you.
Just saying the word, "Colosseum" can bring up in a man’s thoughts
the memories they have away filed under the heading, "History Of Rome,"
and he can, in his mind,
momentarily relive bits of that past time
AS dictated and presented by
the vicariously acquired images in his memory.
When a man’s thoughts say, "I" --
-- same exact situation.
From a collection of memories,
certain images flash automatically through his consciousness that
seem to him to,
tell-the-history-of,
and,
represent-the-reality-of -- him.
It is a severe understatement to say
that this is
extremely difficult to see --
-- it is damn near impossible.
But note,
if you are really interested in this sort of thing,
and it is described as above,
you can get instant, unquestionably valid views
of its reality,
and yet by your very next thought -- Poof!
the realization is gone,
and your mind is back on history,
and other imaginary subjects.
The notion that to study, and to, "Know
yourself" would be of great value is monstrously captious
in the same way that believing a thorough knowledge of history would
be of practical benefit .
How can thoughts’ study of "history" be of any benefit
when it is the study of something that
thoughts made up?
And how can thoughts’ study of one’s "self" have any value when what
they claim to be studying is a pure product of their own invention?
What is there possibly to be "learned" from
the study of a story that you made up?
The reality behind the admonition to: "Know yourself"
was obviously forgotten almost as soon as it was first said
for what was to be learned was not,
"interesting and revealing insights about oneself",
but rather the discovery of the subterfuge surrounding
the "self."
For a man with stabilized consciousness
all there is to know about yourself can be expressed in 3 words;
…in 3 earth-shattering, room-clearing, face-breaking,
totally liberating words.
No small number of men claim to, "Seek the truth",
and say they want to learn to distinguish the,
"real from the unreal",
but demonstratively few are the minds who ever do so.
It is all so simple actually --
almost too simple, (you could say),
for complex & sophisticated minds to see.
(And do note that you have such a mind yourself –
your ordinary state of mind).
All you need do is face the plain, simple & obvious fact that
some of things that make up man’s reality are not real,
they simply do not exist in any sense of the word.
They may indeed appear to play significant roles in his life,
(such as with religion, or history),
but they are simply not real as your heart, lungs, wheat, water,
and volcanoes are real.
It is two different sets of reality,
and under routine conditions,
it is not a matter of one of them being right,
and the other wrong,
but under the sought-for extra-ordinary conditions
conducive to awakening
it is a matter of a man clearly remembering the distinction.
For to confuse the real with the unreal is all there is to,
"being asleep,"
and the most significant example of this for the few
is forgetting that the "self" you experience in thoughts
is not your real self.
Never forgetting that is all there is to,
"being Awake, Enlightened
& Liberated."
When you let the thoughts that say, "I" in your mind
totally capture the hearing of your mind,
you are a man standing before the Colosseum,
witnessing a ruins while hearing his thoughts describe it as the
reality of, "A Glorious History."
For Those Who Really Want To See For Themselves
What Is Actually Going On Around Here:
The Tip For The Day:
Whatever it is;
if it is outside your head -- it is real;
if it is not -- it is not,
….and if it is not,
then -- to hell with it!
It’s that simple --- really.
Addio.
Jan
If there is anything valuable to be done with thoughts it would
be to
think outside the words you normally use to think with.
Keeping to a steady tempo you set,
start saying one letter of the alphabet aloud
while simultaneously thinking of different one.
Force yourself to stay at it for a while,
and be prepared to discover something useful to awakening that you
never realized.
If you think that you are here -- you are not,
and if you think that you are not here -- you are insane.
The way to determine your potential for awakening
is to count the number of toes on your feet.
A boy asked his father: "Is there more to all of this than you have
told me?"
and he replied: "Yes, there is more,
but there is also less."
A boy asked his father; "Is the truth about life actually hidden?"
and he replied: "You could say that it is,
and you could also say that it is not."
then the boy asked; "And what do you say?"
"Oh, I long ago disposed of those lips that speak of such things."
And a boy asked his father: "When do I finally get to be you?"
"When you get over all of these questions."
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