I write these words from the Bulgarian city of Yoksof, 
"Pleasure Capitol Of The Universe,"
(well, that’s what the sign says),
and be the self promotion deserved or nay
it brings up one of the most important, 
but overlooked facts in the world, (which is):
"If you do not like something, you will not believe it."

Even though the brain itself does not physically feel
either pleasure or pain,
one of its activities, known as consciousness,
does experientially display characteristics 
exemplary of an exception.
While commonly ignored,
this is quite useful to recognize.

The fact that if you do not like something
you will not believe it
is also, for the few, potentially damaging in that
if you are working to gain an objective view of
what is going on
then anything you hear that you instantly like
is not to BE believed, 
and conversely,
things you hear that you do NOT immediately like
are the things you should be investigating.

The pleasure experienced by consciousness occurs when
it hears or reads words that trigger in it, 
enjoyable pictures drawn from its memory, 
or imagined in a future setting.
This is the pleasure a theatre goer derives from a play,
a reader from a novel, a parishioner from a sermon,
a conversationalist from a dialogue,
and a scientist from a new discovery in his field.
Regardless of their verbal assertions,
people do not read, attend church, frequent the theatre,
or listen to lectures to, 
“improve”, or “inform” themselves.
What they specifically seek is exposure to words
that will trigger pleasurable pictures & words in the
conscious area of their brain.
They like what they hear.

Humans, to a lesser extent, 
also engage in such activity in a more pro active manner,
wherein through applying their own thoughts to some
personally interesting challenge, 
from the solving of a crossword puzzle 
to the conceiving of a new scientific theory
to the composing of a symphony, or completion of a painting,
their brain’s consciousness is pleasured –
it looks upon what it has been a part of,
and --   likes it. 

All that I have thus far described is plain enough for 
any interested person to recognize when it is noted, 
(although such recognition is strictly momentary, 
for it appears to be information about which consciousness 
prefers to feign ignorance.)

Kings and commoners alike are given to say:
“I want to know the truth! –
I do not care how painful the facts may be! –
I want to be told how things really are!” --  but they lie!
The electrochemical activity in their brain that churns out
conscious thoughts 
just -- LIED! 
(en passant: If you want to “wake up” to unadorned reality
forget about studying some mystical path,
just take on the full time consideration of that fact that 
in the process of its thinking,
the brain will lie to itself!  --
when perforce of being the sole source, 
it does so knowingly! 
To what end?   For what possible purpose?
Pursue this inquiry --  non verbally  --
to its end, and you will have no further need for
books or disciplines.)
Even though men’s tongues are made by the brain to say
that they want to hear the truth,
it is not quite such a straightforward matter,
for demonstratively what the thoughts which 
make such statements really want to hear are words that will 
trigger a pleasurable response in consciousness.

A man can see a movie whose theme and dialogue is one
of horror, and yet his brain be so wired in the conscious area
as to receive pleasure therefrom.
Same with a suitable parishioner and a priest 
who weaves verbal pictures of condemnation and torment,
and likewise people’s love of gossip,
the more unsavory the better.
That which thoughts, when questioned,
will clearly identify as painful and frightening subjects,
they nonetheless, observably --  enjoy hearing about.
And the scientist, the researcher who insist that 
all they want is the truth -- 
that the search for same is in fact, “their life”
also mislead and are misled themselves by
such words issuing from their mouths.

  (And what I am going to say now is so subtle,
  in fact subtle does not begin to cover it,
  there is no word for the challenge here,
  in that what I am about to put into words is a reality
  totally outside the scope of words.) 
A church goer can not only accept, but indeed 
receive mental pleasure from hearing words about 
impending destruction and calamity -- 
but he would not enjoy hearing his minister
say that in truth he had no idea what he was talking about,
and the scientist who says that his only pleasure is in the
discovery of the truth, does not experience mental joy when
a colleague scoops him in same.
If you do not stand just a bit away, for just an instant
from the thoughts in your own brain
you will totally miss that to which I point,
which is right in front of you all the time,
which is to say that:
it is the milieu of consciousness itself.

Multiply the subtleness & outlandishness of the above
by a factor unreal, and you have an approximation
of the situation 
when consciousness turns its attention to 
the research of itself.

That certain neural hunger genetically inherent 
historically in a few men and women,
and often called, “the wish to awaken,” or
“the desire for enlightenment”
can even more pointedly be labeled as,
“wanting to know the truth about consciousness,”
which can be even superiorly stamped,
“consciousness wanting to know the truth about itself,
and making us do the work.”

But does consciousness really want to know?
Do thoughts truly seek “just the facts” regarding
what they are and their significance?
and at first run-in a man would be most likely to respond:
“Well, certainly consciousness and its operational
connection to us --  thoughts  --
if they say to and through us that they seek Goal X,
they must surely seek Goal X.
Why would they lie?! ….in fact,  how can they lie?!"
And in the mind of a man who has become involved in 
the effort to change the operational condition of 
his consciousness, and thinking
it sounds absurd --  impossible  --
that his own brain is causing him to believe that he is engaged
in an activity that is a sham.
A man’s own best, most awake & enlightened thoughts 
say to him --  and make him then say
that what he seeks,
and all he wants to hear
is the truth about things.

                This is observably --  not so.

A man’s thoughts do NOT want to see themselves for
what they are.
A man’s mind does not want to comprehend its own nature,
and a man’s consciousness does not want to “know itself,”
and all for good reason  --- 
--   in the above, for the words, “does not”
substitute, “can not” and the story is told.

I truly wish there were words to use other than, “can not”
for they do not accurately map this situation,
but without hesitation it can be validly said that 
the thinking that ordinarily goes on in a man’s conscious mind
can never lead to neural self-realization.
Thus, a man and his thoughts will only accept & believe 
thoughts they hear which he likes,
and which give his consciousness pleasure,
and what are NOT pleasure provoking thoughts 
are any which conflict with the pictures his thoughts
presently have of themselves.
A suitable person’s impartial investigation of what I am 
describing will clearly reveal that the thoughts
that presently occupy and constitute your consciousness
are not able to absorb, or agreeably digest thoughts that
tend to lift off the camouflage covering what they are.
If thoughts were literally & physically exposed for what they are,
humans would be unable to think.
Thus understandably does consciousness have no 
positive interest in such a, 
“self-knowing-inspired-thing” occurring.

The consciousness that life has produced in the 
human brain certainly has,
among its many, far flung interests,
an interest in itself,
and has driven men to develop: neurobiology, 
psychology, and related areas of study,
but no such investigations carried on by men of
ordinary consciousness and interests ever threatens the
self-established, self-perceived status OF 
thought-manifest consciousness.
In utter words: Consciousness wants to know about itself,
but not enough to endanger itself.

If a mirror could be somehow turned around
quickly enough to look into itself and see itself,
its ability for reflection would be lost.
 
 

If you truly want to get to the bottom of what, 
“waking up” is really about, and why you desire it
then have no commerce with any idea that is
pleasing to your mind.
If you “like it” --  it is worse than useless.
Even if it is presented as a cure,
if your thoughts like it,
it is a reinforcement for your illness.
 

Restatement of the fact:
“You will not believe something you hear 
if your thoughts do not like it.”
Onward:
“Anything your present thoughts hear 
that they like 
will always be something that agrees with 
their present picture of life and of themselves."
Blinding yourself to this fact is – 
“being asleep & living in a dream.”

A man’s ordinary intellectual fun comes from his thoughts
meeting up with other thoughts that trigger pleasurable
thoughts in him --  and what fun this can be!  --  but
if your true aim is to be as conscious as is possible for you
then your real pleasure AND profit is elsewhere.
This does not mean that the thoughts you need to hear
must be painful or offensive,
but they cannot be ideas that give your present thoughts
a sense of self-satisfaction, and validation of their ideas.
This happens most subtly; 
I cannot describe it adequately;
you must learn to identify its occurrence for yourself,
then wean yourself from its attraction,
and seek out only thoughts that assault the 
very foundations of your own 
and you will quickly become familiar with 
their delicious taste of liberation. 

When it comes to matters of the mind:
               If you like it  --  ignore it.
               If you REALLY like it  --  flee it like the plague.

To maintain the status quo and stay in a world of pretend,
your thoughts must remain in, “Re-play mode”
for it is this condition that gives ordinary men’s
ordinarily wired up brains
pleasure.
You, (I am dramatically assuming), 
are not of “ordinary mind”   --  so  --
take profitable and pragmatic heed of what I have today
herein said for your benefit and use.
 

                                           JAN