Dateline: Morning on the beach on Sans Souci Island;
the chill of the night just starting to give way 
to the warmth of the day;
have you ever seen such a blue sky,
such green water, such white sand,
such a blazing sun?!
Coffee, juice, our bodies, our thoughts; 
no where to be but here, 
nothing to do but this,
all with an unobstructed view into eternity.
What else, (goes the cliché), could a person ask for?!

When men undertake a project there is always
a certain concern, constantly lurking and hovering,
whose presence is necessary for efficient labor:
the concept of  --   progress.
In the construction of a building  -- 
the work schedule for its completion.

When a man undertakes to awaken his consciousness from its dreamy state,
he could not have a worse enemy --
one who ultimately binds him.

On the construction site, it’s constantly:
“Are we on schedule?
Will the cement be here in the morning?
Will the ironworkers be finished by Friday?”

On the brain site 
whereat a man undertakes his neural project, 
such concerns are blasphemies, insults,
work-stoppages, union-corruption, 
sharp pokes to the eye of the architect. 

Progress is the solid partner in physical constructions,
while in the enlightenment project it is distinctly otherwise,and in fact is a kind of on-site bedeviler,
going by such names as: “Tomorrow,” 
“Progress,” and, “Yeah….well,”
but it’s all the same thing -- all the same game.

Without the concept of making “progress”
work on a physical project will never get completed,
while just the OPPOSITO-EL-TOE-TOE is so
on the enlightenment one.

A man would never survive the first few miles & years of this journey without the concept of making progress toward the destination,
but those who begin to get hip to the trip
eventually realize that via the concept,
they have been traveling with a hobbler.

When it comes to long distance travel,
a man could not make up a worse foe than,
”Tomorrow.” 
There is no greater enemy to a man’s real progress
toward awakening than the idea of progress.

As long as there is a future
then no matter how asleep you are right now,
at least you can be more awake later……tomorrow…  …..when things are better   --  NO YOU CAN'T.

Thinking that you can always be more awake at some
future time after you have made more progress
will ultimately stop you from any progress.
For those who would internally step into a new, expanded version of this life,
there is no tomorrow,
the future is just another dream,
progress, warm covers to keep you in bed.

“The struggle to awaken!” --  how grand it sounds;
”I am not yet awake, but I am gradually getting there.” --   how comforting  --   and REASONABLE!

A struggle one must undertake;
a journey one must make, 
a trial one must endure,
and in the beginning, (which for some can last 
a lifetime), it sounds right, it feels right,
and from your thought’s experience,
it must BE the rightful view of the undertaking --
--  but it supremely is not. 

The strongest, okay --  the onliest opposition there is to you being awake, enlightened & liberated 
this very instant is --  Later….some other time….
…when circumstances are different.
”Rome wasn’t built in a day.”  --  Olè!……Touchè!….
”Weasel-me-out-of-it-mama, eight-to-the-bar!”

Thoughts are serial  --  awakening is not.
Thinking about awakening is serial --  doing so is not.
Pondering the progress you’re making 
toward awakening is serial  --   dah de dah de dah.
 

“I must do that which I have not yet done;
I must complete that which I have left undone;
I feel confident that even though it did not 
arrive today,
the cement will surely be here tomorrow.

A man must have faith in the future;
he must take heart from the progress he has made,”
....   zip a de do dah -- 
toss another log on tomorrow’s imaginary fire.

If an inadequately prepared sojourner was made to believe that there really is --  No Tomorrow!
he would be instantaneously disabled, 
and rendered unable to move;
his view of the awakening project would be 
fatally shattered, and him left in a prison of despair,
while an alert traveler, when this information is made available to him, is LIBERATED  --
he is set free from the totally confining dreams of:
”I’ll be more myself and awake tomorrow;
all I’ve got to do is --  keep working on it.”
…  Wamp bamp a lu bop --   jump back in the alley.

Ahhh --  here’s the fresh coffee, hand me your cup….. 
Lean over and listen:

            Nothing is required of an awakened mind,
        while the work of a distracted one is never done. 

A man’s consciousness, when distracted,
is consciousness asleep,
and a man’s consciousness when distracted by
the wrong idea about waking up,
is still consciousness asleep.

Everyone thinks they’re in prison;
it’s an illusion.
If you think you can get out -- 
you’re more imprisoned than everyone else.
 

             Nothing is required of an enlightened mind,
            but the work of a distracted one is never done.
 

You can never get there from here as long as you believe that thought has correctly identified, “here.” 

You’re making no movement toward being awake
as long as you think that you’re moving.
 

              Nothing is required of a liberated mind,
         while the work of a distracted one is never done.
 

On the Waking Up Project,
that which is labor intensive
is never the most efficient.

It will startle a traveler when he first hears that:
”It takes effort to stay asleep”
whereas the opposite is surely so.
Being asleep and distracted is automatic,
while struggling there against requires 
constant exertion.
Yes, yes --  be that as it certainly seems,
but nevertheless:
It takes effort to support a sleeping mind
as opposed to the, “nothing-is-required” state of
an awakened one.

Only a still-captive, still-distracted mind 
has a concept of, ”making effort;”
to “be asleep” is to believe in fairy tales;
to “be asleep” is to  --   believe in effort.

To be deluded, in prison and in dreams is to be busy;
you must in fact stay busy to stay asleep, stupid,
and in jail.
To, “wake up” merely requires that you stop 
dreaming in the daytime, and being dumb enough to believe that you will ever get out of a 
self-invented confinement;
all in all  --   simply abandon the busyness.

Let your conscious mind learn the art of relaxation from a master  --  from your instinctive one.

Oh, look  -- a shark with a watch!

                                                    JAN
 
 
 
 
 

First guy says: “Do you realize that if we’d just keep quiet we’d be awake?!’ 
and the second guy says: “Yeahhh…
but if we didn’t talk we’d be…..ahh…..ahh…..  orangutans!”
   “So?!” says the first guy, 
   “We’d still be awake.”
 

                                 Here, try the papaya juice.