Who controls life?
No one knows.

Does LIFE know who controls life?
No one knows.
 

One day a man became more conscious than usual, 
and while in a state capable of communicating directly with life, he asked it:
”Where are you in the infinite pecking order?” and life replied: 
“I AM the pecking order.”
 

The difference between being partially awake, 
and full bore is that the further you remain from completeness, the more inane questions do you ask.

The better inquiry for the man would have been:
“Who controls my tongue,
and where lie my thoughts in the
universal pecking order?”
 
 

A man who talks --  lies,
a man who thinks about the talk that goes on in his head lies like an asphalt two-lane to nowhere.
 

With talk --  it’s never enough.
An author says: “The trouble with writing a book is that it makes you want to write another one.”
And a reader says: “The problem with reading a book is that it makes you want to read another one.”
And a politician says: “The vexation with gaining one office is that you want to gain an even higher one.”
And a scientist says: “The downside to making one discovery is that it makes you want to make another one.”
And a philosopher says: “The dilemma of having one great thought is that it makes you want to have another one,” 
and a mystic says: “The woe of having awakened once from 
the-sleep-of-words is that 
all you can ever think about after that is --  oh,
--  it’s just too sad to talk about.” --  and the boy 
damn near got it!

      With talk --  there is never enough.
 
 

The secret to everything is to -- shut up.

Forget about: meditation, mindfulness, 
self-remembering, prayer and all the rest,
all you need do is --  shut up.

…course the tricky part is that you think you know what that means  --  but  --    you don’t..

A boy asked a well known mystic:
”Approximately how long does it take a dedicated aspirant to fully awaken?” 
and the head-cleaner replied: “Go to hell.”
….”Hummm, that long?!” the lad mused.
 
 
 
 

                                         X X X
 
 
 

Because of the mind,
men believe there is MAGIC to be found in words --
even, liberating, enlightening magic.
This is inescapable in the beginning,
but eventually a man must come to realize that
the only “magic” about words is in their ability to 
confine you, and delude you,
and keep you from a fuller use of the conscious mind.

Aimed at the physical realm,
words are potent and profitable;
turned inwardly, they are rube goldberg rockets,
dangerously out of control, 
and always liable to turn back and attack, Command Central.

The liberating potential to words is in not saying them.
…(as ‘tis sometimes said on the special battlefield:
”If you don’t try to catch the bullets in your mouth
the danger is minimalized.”)

Question: Are you aware that the mouth not only makes shipments, but accepts deliveries as well?
Have you yet to notice that your consciousness 
not only speaks in your head, but listens to itself as well?
 

Only a man who has learned how to SHUT UP 
can hear what other people are actually saying.

Only a man who has SHUT UP 
can understand what HE is actually saying.

Only a man who has SHUT UP
can translate what the cellular activity in his brain
is actually saying through the conduit of his consciousness.

Once men accept life’s invitation to the party,
then end up married to themselves.

   Waking up in niagra falls in bed with himself,
   one man was able to achieve an instant divorce by
   shutting off the falls within himself.

A man who discovers what’s really going on  -- 
--  lives alone  --
even amidst a house full.

…(The secret is that once you SHUT UP, 
the house empties.)
 
 
 

                                          X X X
 
 

You Could Go See A Doctor: You Could Visit A Mystic: 

In the paper a man read an article that warned of a newly discovered danger: 
“The sudden – SILENT heart attack!”
and which recommended that people 
talk to their family physician about the problem --  which the man did,
and when asked what his doctor had to say about
it, he replied: “He advised me not to have one.”
(Do I really have to lay out the mystical version of the story?!)
 
 
 
 

                                           X X X
 
 
 

A man said to his torpid twin:
“Well, after hearing all of this I guess it must be obvious to even you that if you SHUT UP you can’t lie, and entangle yourself in foolishness?!”
and his duller counterpart smiled slyly and said:
”Ah! --  but I could still be secretly talking to myself,
and no one would ever know.”

  The man was momentarily at a loss for a response….
and even after some consideration 
concluded that even: “Stick your head under a bus"
was inadequate.

 A quick-nail test of your potential for 
clear-headedness is what you understand,
”Shutting up” to actually be. 
 

And if that don’t do you, translate this:  
                 Better lost than found.

                      JAN