As opposed to, “being awake & enlightened,” 
(in the world of thought), 
being asleep & confused consists of: 
           Worrying over the irrelevant.
 

I say that this is every man’s normal condition;
I also say that everyone is aware of it,
and I further say that life forces most people 
to pretend otherwise.

These daily reports are for those people who are 
not part of the, “most people” crowd.
 
 

For thousands of years now 
a few people here & there pop up who claim that 
men are not routinely as conscious, alert, perceptive, and understanding as they could be.
They then generally tie themselves and their listeners into 
mental gordian knots, and run all concerned around in circles
that would make metaphysically inclined, 
british wheat farmers proud,
with outlandishly complex explanations for 
why men do not avail themselves of this possibility.

It can make interesting reading & argument fodder
for those who will never do so,
but it is all unnecessary,
for if you will but take an instant, clear-headed,
direct look at the world all around you,
and the one inside your brain
you see that there is a totally, over-the-top melodrama 
being acted out by homo sapiens 
which is the stage-direction-glue 
that binds ordinary men’s attention 
to a level of consciousness that is not the 
full representation of what it is known it can be. 

Under the routine, everyday conditions of 
every ordinary man’s life,
much of his thinking is taken up with -- 
--  worrying over the irrelevant --
fretting about the frivolous.

A matter that I call irrelevant, of course,
a man with an interest therein will see contraire. 
You can tell a man who voices great concern
over political ideas that his passion is being misspent,
but he will certainly not see it as so.
Same with people who have an attraction-to, 
and native interest-in: 
golf, music, fashion, religion, football, and so on.
No, what I herein highlight for the eyes of the few
has nothing to do with criticism of ordinary men’s
instinctive mental affinity for things in the second reality --
after all,
what could be more natural, 
in that this world is the brain-child of man’s thoughts?!

When other creatures are not engaged in 
life sustaining activities -- they nap;
when man is not --  he invents new mental pastimes,
and usually puts them into some physical form --
--  about which he can then begin to fret and worry about.

When a tiger is not out hunting -- 
he is on his back in the grass;
when a man is not out harvesting a crop -- 
he is on his knees in a church, or on his arse in a theatre,
or strolling the aisles of a bookstore.
Having a brain that produces thoughts, 24/7,
men do not find constantly napping 
between the periods of survival essential activities 
to be an acceptable filling of time.
Men’s minds have created a whole new reality;
a realm dependent entirely on thoughts.
Most of the lives of the people reading these words
is spent in this mentally conceived world;
this alone is neither good nor bad,
here or there,
but it is an obvious fact that 
the would-be awakened must realize for themselves,
and thus cease to take seriously. 

To be: asleep, confused, angry, uncertain, disappointed, afraid, envious, resentful, revengeful, pissed, and all of the other things
that the few hate and from which they wish to escape by
”waking up,” (whatever that actually turns out to be),
all involves a man --  worrying over the irrelevant,
(more specifically put):
worrying about matters not really necessary for survival.
There is nothing at all mystical, spooky or supernatural
in this;
ordinary men, 
satisfied with their ordinary lives,
live, to a large extent, 
in a world that exists solely in their thoughts,
but it is so much a part of their lives that the 
activities they pursue therein seem to them, quite relevant.

Thus, to whatever degree your sense-of-self is 
based in this second reality,
to that same degree are measurements made therein,
(such as): your reputation and acceptance by those whose
acceptance you seek
integral to your sense-of-self and being alive.
So, to an ordinary man, what other people think & say
about him is important and relevant,
while such is plainly not life threatening.
 

A man trying to get-to the-bottom-of-things,
and see-thru-all-this,
must realize on his own --  for himself  -- that
some things in his life --  with its unique goal --
are relevant,
and some simply are not.

From the most radical perspective, 
capable of any expedient verbalization,
the only truly relevant thing in a person’s life is --
to STAY ALIVE.
Putting it in these terms certainly does not do full justice
to the singularly rich and complex lives men lead
compared to the non thinking inhabitants of this planet,
yet its validity is beyond question.
No ordinary man, totally plugged into the common, 
collective reservoir that normally feeds mortal minds,
can ever make any profitable use of this 
objective perspective of his life.
Only a man who truly, wants to get-to-the-bottom-of-things
has any taste --  or even, tolerance for,
facts from-the-bottom-of-things,
(e.g.: “staying alive is the only really relevancy.”) 

But of course even a man whose life centers around 
his hunger to “wake up” 
has other interests besides just physically, “staying alive” --
yes, he also has an interest in  --   waking up.

Ergo, such a man, (same as everyone else sane),
first has an interest in  --  staying alive,
and sees thereto by not engaging in activities that amount to,
gradual suicide.
He then has the second interest of  --  waking up,
which he sees thereto by not engaging in activities that
keep him uselessly distracted, and thus, asleep. 

           Such a man simply does not bother himself with 
                        thoughts about things irrelevant.
 
 

Do not let life’s commonly available ideas 
misdirect your attention, and cause you to believe that 
certain things from the second reality are required to be, 
on-your-plate for awakening to ever take place.

For instance: amongst the various systems proposed as 
methods by which to achieve enlightenment,
is the routine insistence that a supplicant must be: 
religious, or charitable, or deferential to some guru, 
(or be a Democrat, or Republican, or member of the PGA, 
to take the point to ridiculous extremes).

Put plainly: Nothing --  NO THING
from the mental, second reality is needed to wake up -- 
indeed --
the inclusion of any ideas there from are anathema to the aim. 

The only thing suitable to think about when you are struggling
to wake up is --  “waking up.”

Anything else is irrelevant --
totally, 
entirely,
absolutely,
completely and indubitably -- E-REL-E-VANT!
 

If an enlightened man learned that he had a terminal illness,
would he worry over an obviously irrelevant matter,
irrelevant in the radical sense of it being inevitable?
Would he be concerned if he heard that someone was
talking about him in an unfavorable fashion?
Would he be troubled by the continuing world wide disputes
between people of different political, religious, 
and cultural thoughts?
Would he fret over the fact that 
hip hop now outsells speed metal,
or that jesus is coming back, and bell bottoms may not be?

But --  here is the grande dame of  ALL irrelevancies:
       What your thoughts think of you.
 
 

To:
be asleep,
thoroughly confused
totally in the dark, languishing in chains
is to be worried over the irrelevancy of what the thoughts 
that come & go through your head --
THINK ABOUT YOU.

(I’ll give you this much if you temporarily need it):
you can be a little concerned if you 
have found out that you’re dying,
but not if you’ve found out that 
someone made fun of your ideas.
 
 

You are not on the right track yet
if you still fight un-winnable battles; 
sweat the inevitable,
and think about what 
your thoughts say about you. 
 

If you’re gonna listen to ANYBODY talk about what you are,
listen to your stomach,
your lungs, your kidneys, your heart -- 
guys who have something to say that is RELEVANT.
 
 

Wake up! dammit --  if your desire is to  --  “wake up,”
and begin to relentlessly distinguish the
relevant from the meaningless in life --  TO a
person who truly wants another state of mind. 
 
 
 

Today’s Concluding Reminder For The Few With The Aim:
Any thought that you can have
that some other person has already had
is irrelevant.

If it is not original --  it is irrelevant,
and if it is irrelevant 
it is not in any way,
pertinent to waking up.
 

           A life lived by this understanding
           is a life of enriched simplicity,
                  and free from worry.
 

                                       JAN