There was once a flea who got into an elephant’s ear,
and began giving him suggestions on how to live.
Some of same proved useful to the pachyderm
while others were merely entertaining.
After a time, the larger one became so accustomed to the sound of the smaller’s suggestions 
that they became a permanent part of his life.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Once, everyone knew the answers,
because originally there were no questions,
but as soon as their ability to ask them appeared,
everyone had inquiries aplenty,
which is how things stand now,
a shift which no one finds curious.
 
Maybe there is a superior question in all of this
that no one ever thinks to ask.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

There was an ancient sage who many believed was 
the planet’s most enlightened man.
He had not spoken in forty years, 
yet his reputation continued to grow.

A rumor began to spread that he was dying;
then the word went out that on a certain day he was
going to again speak to whoever was present.

Thousands of people from 
the many mystical disciplines
came from thousands of miles away
to hear the revered one’s words
on that momentous day.

At the announced hour
the esteemed one appeared;
anticipation and silence covered the crowd
as he began to speak.

For two days the ancient one spoke
without once stopping, or even hesitating.
He discussed all aspects of human existence,
then talked in specific detail about the matter of,
“awakening from the state of sleep,”
revealing to his listeners totally unrealized realities regarding the various methods they employed 
toward this end,
giving to each person the most unexpected,
and most instantly valuable instruction they had 
ever received concerning this arcane endeavor. 

No one among the thousands, 
teachers & followers alike,
had ever heard such descriptions,
nor felt such emotions,
and for the two days that the sage spoke
not one person left their seat.

At hour forty-nine, 
the ancient one’s voice finally stilled,
and it shortly became clear that he was finished.

No one in the audience moved a muscle, 
nor made a sound;
and an extraordinary sense of wonder 
settled on the crowd and transfixed them in awe.

The silence, the stillness, 
the built-up emotional energy and admiration 
started to become unbearable,
and just as the audience was on the verge of 
engaging in some  explosive, appreciatory display,
the sage spoke again:
“Of course I could be wrong.”
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

One man said:
“If I understood fully the workings of my consciousness, I would be awake,”
and another man said: 
“If I understood fully the workings of my 
animal instincts, I would be awake,”
but a third man came closer when he said:
“If I understood fully the workings of 
animal instinct
I would understand the workings of consciousness.”

Everyone LIVES by silent instinct,
but in their mind their impression is that 
they live by thinking.
This serves man well in his relationship to the 
external world,
but helps him not in understanding his inner one.
It in fact confuses him greatly whenever he
turns his attention thereto.

And one man asks:
“Are you saying that the mind always lies to itself?” 
A better way of considering it would be to say that
the mind is not physically capable of saying anything
FACTUAL about itself that will assist in 
understanding it.

Only the enlightened do NOT know what is going on
in the conceptual world for the simple reason that
they know FULL well what is going on there.

To “know” the contents of a dream is one thing,
to know that a dream is a dream is 
something else altogether.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Men of mundane consciousness always picture an afterlife paradise as being one 
totally devoted to the pleasing of man’s animal instincts.
…and no one finds this instructive in this life.

If you are ever going to “wake up”
you must be attempting it in a place 
where it is possible.

You can’t catch a train at the airport,
and you can’t feed the stomach with thoughts.

….oh yeah,
neither can you similarly nourish thoughts.
 

There was once a man who faithfully studied 
the sundry methods purported to 
bring about the awakening of consciousness.
But after many years of trying to be,
“eternally mindful,”
of attempting to, “remember himself,”
of struggling to stay, “ever alert”
he would still continually catch himself being
forgetful, distracted and --  asleep.

Then one day something hit him:
“That piece of my consciousness that keeps 
popping up and reminding me that I’ve been 
asleep again,
if it has the ability to catch me being asleep,
it ought to have the ability to stop me from doing it.”
   From that moment on, 
   his understanding of what he’d 
   so long been involved in 
   so shifted
   as to be unrecognizable.
 
…..and his efforts finally began to pay off.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Some things are essential,
and some things are merely human.
Wanting to wake-up is one of the latter.
but that invites a question:
   “Even if something is of the strictly human realm
    if it becomes essential to YOU,
    is it not then truly essential?!"
 
Once your brain produces conscious thought,
and you become but a synapse in the 
collective mind of mankind, 
then drawing a distinction between what is
essential in your individual life, and what is not
becomes an un-meetable challenge.

There is no approach to
getting-to-the-bottom-of-things 
that is more potent than 
stripping from your thoughts, 
all that is
              nonessential to your life.
 

          Jan