Today I am in Oxford, Mississippi,
where many of Britain’s leading physicists 
struggle to deduce from the notions of
quantum mechanics, and special relativity, 
a unified theory of reality.
(Am I geographically confused?….
 Am I actually thinking of Tupelo?…..  No matter.)
Their quest for a view that will be the 
unification of physics
is far too close to the work carried on by the few
in their area of intangible physics 
to ignore.

Read from one perspective,
man’s intellectual history is one of him unwittingly
seeking a unification theory of 
his own consciousness.
All of his myths and religious musings,
all of his philosophies and psychologies,
all of his literature and art,
they can all be validly seen as man’s indirect, 
mislabeled attempts to unify his consciousness. 
(The ancient, “struggle to Awaken,” 
or to, “achieve Enlightenment” being the most 
straightforward manifestations of this urge.)

Men do not ordinarily think of their consciousness as splintered  --  but it is.
At this exact second as your consciousness is focused on the words
on the computer screen
it is also engaged in a multitude of monitorings of
your environment, (your equilibrium in the chair;
the temperature of the room, etc), 
and even as your consciousness is reading 
these words it is simultaneously thinking other ones.

Consciousness is ceaselessly engaged in 
two activities: monitoring the environment & thinking.
The activity in the brain that men call consciousness 
is a full time surveyor of the physical world around them,
and directs certain of their reactions thereto.
This same consciousness is also continually involved in an 
electrochemical, cellular activity by which thoughts are produced, 
sometimes directly related to your physical environment,
and sometimes not  --
  --  and sometimes, somewhere in between. 

As you drive your car and your consciousness 
constantly monitors the conditions around you
it simultaneously thinks about other matters.
As your consciousness watches your face in the mirror while you shave
to protect you from cuts,
throughout the entire time it was also thinking about  something else altogether.
And as your consciousness listens to someone 
as they talk to you
it is simultaneously talking to itself --   in thoughts.

If this is noted to a man 
he will readily agree that it is so,
and his attitude will be: “So what?!”
and after so saying, he immediately forgets about it.
A few men have never been able to do so,
and even though their efforts continue to go by a
multitude of inexact names & descriptions
they are all the same:
they are the struggle to unify these two activities in their consciousness.
This is their goal,
and in fact the reality supporting all of the proposed methods to
facilitate its achievement.
To, “be Awake, Enlightened, or, Liberated”
is a condition wherein consciousness is unified,
and the approaches used to accomplish same, such as: 
“being Mindful, self-remembering, 
or stopping thought” are also nothing but attempts to unify one’s consciousness.

Based on a routinely led life,
this unification of consciousness is not necessary,
and indeed is unnatural,
as evidenced by the difficulty in achieving it even briefly, 
which also indicates life’s current preference in the matter.
Under most conditions an ordinary man suffers no harm in having his consciousness engaged in both monitoring the environment for safety’s sake 
while simultaneously thinking about things that have nothing to do therewith.
Consciousness is demonstratively suited to safely operate in this manner, 
but a few men do feel themselves damaged by this arrangement, 
and while their attempts to describe their dissatisfaction is 
forever lacking & imprecise,
I have just given you a useful, working, model of exactly what it is.

It is as though life provides everyone with two canine assistants.
One dog is serious and well behaved, 
and stays faithfully in the yard, 
watching over your property, 
while the other one has a wild streak,
and is given to running off and 
chasing after moonbeams. 

Trying to achieve a new state of consciousness
without realizing what your present one is
represents, (if I may say so),
a most formidable challenge.
At all times --  day & night,
standing up, walking around,
and
laying in bed asleep,
your consciousness is continually engaged in 
two separate activities
which potentially can have a direct & immediate correlation, 
or none discernibly at all.
Yet --   24/7  --  there they are,
and while six billion other human beings 
take no notice of this ongoing affair, 
a handful do,
and for reasons unknown, 
are so bothered by it as to undertake the totally ridiculous task of
trying to re-create themselves... 
...at least in consciousness.
What could be more ridiculous than for, 
oh, let us say  --   a toaster, 
(which any fool knows did not make itself),
to decide it will re-wire itself to become a clock.
How silly!
How ridiculous!
How insane!
How improbable,  how unlikely  --   and how
thoroughly irresistible to the fortunate few.

See, the underlying, saving-grace of this whole thing is that,
even if the plan  --   as is conceived --
is not itself literally achievable,
an understanding of the situation is the functional equivalent. 
 
 
 

Here is what you can do:  Watch both dogs.
       “But I don’t have but two dogs!
         What will I watch them with?!”
Quit the hell whining and you might REALIZE --  “what-with”! 
 
 

                                                   JAN
 
 

Don't forget to celebrate:  K-9 Consolidation Day.