Under specific circumstances wherein a person is caught behaving in a manner obviously to his disadvantage, an ordinary man may offer the explanation: "I don’t KNOW why I did that.", a verbal variation of the, "I-must-not-know-who-I-really-am" theme, but such conditions notwithstanding, this subject seldom comes to routine mens’ minds. But amongst those interested in the so-called, "Awakening" & "Enlightenment" the matter of not actually knowing-who-you-are, and the need to rectify said condition looms large and occupies much of the attendant literature. You would be hard pressed to find any self-respecting, would-be "waker-upper" who would not vigorously support the dictum and need to: "Know thyself.", yet you would be equally challenged to locate in their ranks any who have personally inspected this now, most-acceptable-&-proper-sounding directive. Without mental rambling, just ask yourself simply and directly: "How is it possible for everyday, sane men to believe that they do not KNOW who/what they are?", and further: "From what source within them does this inquiry arise?" Without doubt, the question comes strictly from the mind. A man’s hand shows no sign of not "knowing" who the man attached to it is, (and this is obviously so regarding all other parts of a man.) ‘Tis only in a man’s mind does the notion exist, thus be the situation: one function of the brain -- consciousness, (what men refer to as their "mind") -- expresses what would appear to be its unilateral-belief-that, "It -- a man’s OWN mind -- is ignorant concerning its place of residency." Insanity on the face of it!………..except for this possibility; that a man’s mind is not saying that it doesn’t know who the MAN is, but rather that the mind doesn’t know what IT is. Ah HA! Now perhaps we’re getting some where! But wait -- is that not even greater foolishness?! Are we to believe that the mind is obliquely stating the it does not comprehend itself? That, I say to you, is precisely what is going on. This is the mind’s constant condition, but one that is ignored almost unanimously by men….the one exception being, those involved intelligently in activity such as is called, "Seeking Enlightenment", and, "Struggling to Awaken", inter alia. Such men, (if they personally come to realize what this affair is actually about) ,become initially engaged in the direct attempt to get-to-the-bottom-of what their mind really is. They do not study writings; they do not study gurus; they do not study disciplines -- they study but one thing -- their mind. But then,

If their efforts bear fruit, they gradually, (or, suddenly, according to which version most titillates your fancy,[assuming of course that by that time your fancy hasn’t been completely worn away], but, back to the main track), they eventually come to the plain realization that their years of sincere study of their mind has netted them nothing by way of anything even remotely resembling, "objective, scientific knowledge" of said subject. But again the question: "How can this be?! How is it possible for the very seat of man’s intelligence to seriously study itself with no results?!", and here is where the herd of the would-be-enlightened gets so thinned out that about all that remains are a few strays here and there, quietly roaming around on their own, with slight little smiles of bemusement on their bovinian lips.

A man who professes not to have full knowledge of himself -- of what he is -- is a normal, sane, everyday person. A man who professes to want to know what’s really going on in life who says that he has undertaken the study of himself, but that it is not yet complete is, (I fear to note), a failure. (oh yeah, if he says that he has succeeded in his study and that he now DOES "know himself", he is an even greater failure, and has become even more deceived than he was when he began his quest, [how’s THAT for "justice"?!])

What does it all mean? -- this; men have, throughout recorded history, expressed the belief in a "Great Secret", the feeling that, just beyond the grasp of the mind, there exists something of great importance that is presently unknown to them, (an idea taken to totally unfounded extremes such as with the contrived ideas of gods, destiny and the like), but I say that there is reality and substance to this suspicion; there IS a piece of information -- a "secret" -- unknown to the minds of men, and you wanna know what it is?, it’s that the mind doesn’t have a clue to what it is, and in fact doesn’t even know for certain that it exists.

This is the nature of what men call their "mind", and this inherent self-ignorance I’ve just noted is the unrealized basis for what some refer to as "man’s state of sleep and delusion", and it is in rebellion thereto that a few undertake the so-called, "Struggle to Awaken & achieve Enlightenment", which, (on this fine weekend morn) I translate to say; "The relentless attempted study of one’s own mind until such efforts reveal its futility and a man suddenly realizes what’s been going on in life all the time that he’s been involved in THINKING-ABOUT, what was going on.

All-in-all: To be "Awake & Enlightened" is to know absolutely nothing…………..same as everyone else……….the difference being that only the awakened realize it.

(and one guy says: "MAN! -- what a RELIEF!" [glad I could be of assistance, sir.])

Monday August 21, 2000 10:05 a.m. EST. Dateline: Some where in south Georgia. Another dispatch, fresh from the infinite, inner battlefield wherein a man-in-the-know has no knowledge of such vacuous concepts as, victory and defeat, gain and loss inthat everything occuring in his mind he turns to his advantage.

After all these years, almost all of those with an interest in the idea of changing their basic condition of consciousness, their actual understanding of what it is to be a human and be alive continue to believe that the efforts required to achieve same are PHYSICAL; that the way to gain a dreamed-of extraordinary comprehension of what life is about is through some sort of sensual effort, (such as, sitting, chanting, reading, praying, fasting, excersizing, meditating, or listening to the words of some purported purveyor of wisdom).

The mind, having no tangible substance of its own, looks for, (and properly so), the physically real when it looks outside of itself. Without this being so, men would not have developed the technologies that make survival more likely and life easier, and that is not in question here. What I point to is that the mind does not exist in any real physical sense, yet it is naturally attracted to things-tangible, and in thinking about such does it enjoy its greatest success. But -- when it turns its attention on itself, (or more correctly put: When it TRIES to turn its attention on itself), it not only fails totally, but also -- totally fails to realize its failure.

What is called, "The search for Enlightenment", and, "The struggle to Awaken" are undiagnosed effects of this mental condition, (which strike but a few). The other ordinary, six billion inhabitants of this planet give the matter no particular notice, (except under infrequent circumstances wherein they are unexpected confronted with having acting in a way that afterward could clearly be seen as detrimental to them, and otherwise inexplicable save for the possibility that when it comes to dealing with itself, and the reasons, logic and motivations that it attributes to itself, the mind is spasmodically confronted with the clear reality that it does not KNOW what it is, what it is doing, or how it operates -- AND -- generally has not the slightest awareness thereof, but just blithely flows along with the thinking that continually and automatic runs thru it and which men accept as proper, if not inevitable.) Save for such meaningless, passing glitches in routine mens’ lives no one gives any notice to the nature of the mind except for those who do become involved in the sort of activity that I write about in these pages. And with them there is a danger of things getting even worse, that is; they undertake an investigation of their mind, then after a time are inclined to believe that they are making pragmatic progress, and that an understanding of their mind has been started and is regularly increasing. Here is where the alert and the dilettantes go their separate ways, for a man who begins to, (let us call it): "Wake up a little", eventually must face the fact that what he calls his knowledge of his mind and its workings might as well have come from the pens of the Brothers Grimm. There is no way this can ever be shown conclusively or proven to the mind. Such a fact is antipodal to the mind’s very construction, and such knowledge is as literally beyond its ability to grasp as is your hand’s ability to grab itself.

Believe me, there truly is reality behind the notions of a "Great Secret Work, and Struggle For Enlightenment" but from top to bottom, from beginning to end, and from every direction but loose -- it all takes place in your mind. Not in my mind, not in Buddha’s mind, nor Lao’s, nor Moses’, but in YOUR mind. If you feel attracted to the idea of achieving some secret piece of knowledge about life, or of learning some extraordinary "Secret", or of "Raising your level of consciousness", all such exist only in your mind, and the potential payoff of trying to realize such goals also exists solely in your mind. This in no wise is a diminishing of the affair, but is rather the needed and proper telling of what it plainly doth be.

A man who says that he wants to awaken from his normal, prevailing state of mind, but who talks about it, reads about it, and, (God-have-mercy-on-Zarathustra) -- THINKS about it, is being deceived, (I could have said that he is: "Fooling himself", but more accurately phrased is: "What seems to be his "self" is being fooled by his mind which he deceptively takes to BE, "himself"…………..got it?!)

Trying to get to the bottom of things for yourself is a joy and reward without equal, (for the few truly wired to do it, and not mere week-enders), but to extract the maximum pleasure and benefit from your efforts you must eventually investigate the very thing within you that has been investigating your desire to get to the bottom of things.

(Hint: Down at the very, very bottom is nothing but your mind,(wasn’t much of a hint, huh?!)

One man had one good eye and one glass eye, and his goof eye always wondered what the glass eye looked like, and spent much effort and trying to get a glimpse of it, until one day……..no, wait a minute, perhaps I’ve got the story backwards?!…..maybe it was the GLASS eye that kept wanting to see the GOOD eye?!……no-o-o-o-o, now that I think about, I may even be misspelling the word eye?!……Hummmmm.

….(Okay, a REAL hint: Your consciousness without question seems to exist in your head -- in your brain, and in a specific area of your brain, (check and you’ll find that at any given moment you can, (so-to-speak), "FEEL’ that your mind & thinking is located in a particular part of your head, but if you try, you can feel as though you have willfully moved it to another area. While it is as accepted neurological fact that the brain has no capacity for physical sensations, (it can’t feel), you can discover for yourself whether what I just described is doable or not. (perhaps thereby doing your own internal separation of the pro from the amateurs). Go for a leisurely walk and try to keep the feeling of where your thinking is going on in your brain always being moved from where it wants to be.

(P.S. In my writings if I use words such as,"the danger of a man doing this or that thing" as he struggles to discover what’s really going on, do remember this: there ARE no such dangers; the closest thing there is is in a man simply wasting his time in useless notions and concerns. There is not in reality any down-side to the sort of activity that I write about; so, if you insist on having feelings of self-condemnation you should probably not even be reading this……….. but otherwise;

Welcome aboard. Jan

Okay scouts, roll up those sleeping bags -- it’s time to MOVE OUT!

To ever get-to-the-bottom-of-things, (and, "Wake up" as some are given to call it), a man must eventually take head-on the question: "Do I direct my life?"

One sign of normalcy among the ordinary is that every man feels as though he could and should be better, and that if he were to make sufficient effort he could change himself and the life he leads. Those non-standard types who have a deep-rooted desire to understand for themselves just what is going on with life are in private, NOT normal exactly in this fashion. Oh, they too feel fault with themselves in the beginning and indeed the so-called "Struggle to Awaken" can be viewed as the supreme mortal endeavor to bring about a change in one’s life and in what one seems to be, but there is ultimately a most significant distinction in that those after the radical truth of things must eventually investigate with sang–froid the very matter of whether men HAVE the capacity to change. You might note that this question, (though periodically raised by professional philosophers as sport), has never been taken seriously by man. And why not? Because the mind is put into a state that can only be roughly described as, "gridlock" by the inquiry. A mind attempting for the moment to be completely honest cannot honestly say that it knows, and can see with absolute certainly that man is either free to change, or not free to do so. Try it and if you force your mind to attend to the question your thoughts will first race down one alley that immediately wants to affirm that indeed men are free to change,but if you persevere, thoughts of a contrary texture will soon appear, and for the briefest of moments you will get a quick picture of a life in which a man is clearly incapable of being anything other than he is presently . But then -- BAM! -- the realization is gone, and your thoughts are back in the place whereat they picture man as being quite free to change whenever he has the mind to do so.

Amateurs at this sort of thing believe that achieving the so-called, "Enlightenment" will make them see miraculous and extraordinary sights—not so. What an enlightened man sees is simply—Things-as-they-are—which ordinary men do NOT see, and will never realize they do not see.

Having thoughts makes man unique;

Having thoughts makes man feel as though he should be other than he is;

Having thoughts makes man feel apart from direct contact with life—the thoughts passing through him pass between him and what’s actually going on in life. The non-thinking parts of your body know quite well exactly what’s going on…..only your thinking part doesn’t. Weird, huh?! Intelligence is intelligence, and yet—intelligence doesn’t know. Neat, huh?!

The desire to know for yourself, (and trust me, it will be strictly for yourself) what’s really going on in life, affords a pleasure for a few that cannot be adequately described; only the few who have it, know that they have it, and only the few who have it find any sense in words such as mine herein.

What I keep referring to as, "so-called" enlightenment and awakening, are matters quite real, I just call them, "so-called" to encourage the sarcastic, turn away the suspicious, and give the alert few something to chew other besides their own tattered paw, (you’re not really caught in a trap—you’re just entangled in your own mind and don’t yet understand what to call the condition—that’s what I try to do here—point those with the interest in the practical direction, [but never forget that the direction is inward; it’s not toward me or any other human; the only profitable direction in which to look for The Enlightenment & Awakening is inward; turning your thoughts on themselves; attempting to engage in activity that goes as contrary to nature in the 3-D world as does construction of anti-gravity-based flying machines. Thoughts are clearly not intended to think about themselves; the mind is plainly not constructed to see itself, and men are obviously supposed to be and stay exactly as they are…..and yet, having been given the power of thought, their thoughts tell them that what I just said is patently not true. ……..what do YOU say?!

Forget about looking for UFO’s or the Locksmith Monster—you wanna see something TRULY astounding?, then move your mental awareness just slightly away from the thoughts uncontrollably passing through you for just a moment, and look at what is going on all around you in life without the filter OF those thoughts, and with the necessary practice you will see sights that would make Edgar Allen Poe soil his casket, (What?!, you mean to tell me that Edgar died without informing me?!)

I suspect that this is sufficient spontaneous verbal eruptions for most of you, and so – Adieu—see you here , on-screen tomorrow, (unless of course I join monsieur Poe before then….but then when dead, my words might become more popular and acceptable as "weighty and wise",at which point you can then properly ignore them and go back to your previous snoozing.) A suggestion: Go for a leisurely walk, and every time your right foot goes down, turn your head slightly from its present position and try to "look" with your head momentarily empty, (all you can do is to plan for it to be like I describe it, and then try to do it. Keep trying and you’ll find your own way of experiencing what I am talking about.)

One man had a favorite sleeping bag in which a ferret took up residence. The man so loved the sleeping bag that he could not bear to abandon it merely because of the ferret, so he undertook a vigorous campaign to drive the creature from his slumber pouch.

For quite a time his efforts proved futile, and he cursed the ferret constantly……. until one day, from within the sleeping bag came a voice, and the ferret said: "From your view out there you see the problem as being my presence in here, while I on the other hand from my view from in here see your meddling presence out there as the problem.", and with that, the man sat down on a stump and tried again to make sense of the statement he’d heard that claimed: There is no "out there" separate from the mind’s "in-here", and not holding a constant awareness of this most obvious of realities is a sleeping man’s signature delusion.

The ordinary and the enlightened are all fishes in the same sea, the difference in them being that the latter do not suffer thoughts to impose on them the illusion that they are some how something apart from the water in which they swim.

Okay, scouts, everybody -- IN THE WATER!……and don’t be thinking about gills this time, (you’ll breathe easier, and enjoy life more.)

Our senses adapt to our environment. The hearing of a foundry worker becomes accustomed to the deafening din of his work, then when on vacation in a woodsy retreat the abnormal silence keeps him from sleeping the first several nights -- his hearing was not used to such, but soon adapts, and the process is repeated in reverse when he returns to work.

Men’s minds can be viewed as a sixth sense, and the mind has adapted to the relentless noise of the endless thoughts that pass through it. A din that continues even as they lay in bed at night in a non-conscious state. The noise and the endless flow of thought is obviously natural to man, and can be seen as an always-on-duty sentinel to aid in his survival. But most of the time the noise and activity appear to be serving no useful purpose whatsoever. Yet few people seem to notice, and fewer still are those who complain about the situation,(excluding for my comments, those deemed by their peers to be mentally deranged.) Ordinary, sane people simply do not find fault with their mind being totally and constantly occupied by thoughts that they did not create, nor invite. (And here is a truly interesting area for a person trying to discover what’s-going-on): Ordinary people are not aware, nor can they be made aware of the more than obvious fact THAT the thoughts running continually through their mind do not originate with them, and they have no control over their uninvited presence. (I note for you one more time that I use only ordinary men as an example, and am not taking into account those non-ordinary ones who do complain about the "voices in their head", etc.) Normal humans simply find no fault with the basic way in which their minds operate as a medium for the thoughts that pass through them. Now -- there are a FEW reasonably normal men here and there who DO take exception to the world in their head withwhich they seem to have been born. Some have described it as "A kingdom without a king.", "The sanctum of sleep.", "The land of captivity.", and some have historically undertook to change this arrangement in their brain. That and that alone is all I am talking about in these instant writings.

Men have attempted to effect change in that part of their brain that produces what they refer to as their "mind" through a variety of methods; meditation, drugs, chanting, prayer,(silent chanting), even fasting and whirling around in circles. The most popular approach is by reading or listening to the thoughts of another who purports to know how to bring about the desired change, and those doing the reading and listening assume that by doing so the wanted change will eventually occur in their neural wiring.

What is lacking with almost everyone who ever gets involved with supra noted endeavor is a personal, impartial and THOROUGH investigation OF the thing they call their mind. Everyone continually refers to what they think, yet no one, (neurologists and psychiatrists included), have any idea of what the mind actually is, or how it does what it seems to do. Please note however: admission of this reality is never forthcoming from anyone, (professionals included; they insist that they are, "making progress".) I am not attacking anyone by these words, I am merely pointing out for the few who might hear the unassailable fact that no human has any understanding of what the human mind is or how it works, and those to say to the contrary certainly constitute 99.97% +/- of the world’s population, but the easily observable fact of the matter is constantly right there before you, (or IN you, we should say).

You then might ask; "So why are not intelligent, educated people aware of this situation, and why do they not try to correct this glaring lack of most important knowledge?" I give you three reasons which have practical consequences for anyone really trying to get to the bottom of all this.

First: Ordinary minds are not aware that they have no actual knowledge of themselves, and cannot be made so aware. (Ordinary men when called upon to explain some questionable action on their part may say to others and themselves: "I don’t know why I did it.", but they are not acknowledging any lack of knowledge regarding their mind -- they are referring to behavior, not thought.)

The second reason is that any attempt the mind makes to study itself proves so vexing and frustrating that quick abandonment of the project is almost universal. Try it -- you’ll see.

The third reason that men are not involved in an on-going investigation of their mind is that -- it leads no where.

A man who does not understand what his own mind is and how it works is (as some say): "Asleep, deluded, and in bondage", yet men who do not understand their minds or how their minds operate are the men who run the world, from politics to religion, from commerce to education, from warfare to body & fender work. So it is obvious that an understanding of the mind is not all at necessary to live a normal mortal existence, or be a world leader, or renowned religious personage. So what is it that a few people with a certain special interest are after?

An understanding of what is going on constantly in their brain. You can call such an understanding: "Enlightenment", "The Awakening.", "The Great Liberation.", but it is all the same. And it is in no way a religious matter, a social matter, an intellectual matter, a matter of self-image, a political matter, a financial matter, a debatable matter, or a matter of having faith in and "following" (as they call it), some other human being.

There are no miraculous, secret "Schools Of Enlightenment" up in the mountains of Tibet, or Patagonia. Oh, there may be things going on there and else where that are called by such names, and the operation may have a lengthy history, a revered reputation and many contemporary followers, but what the few truly seek exists only up in their own heads.

"Try to achieve Enlightenment" is obviously a quite satisfying hobby with many people – always has been -- but few who speak and dream about it ever have the LEAST idea what the affair is actually about. Now you do…………cause I just told you.

Everything ever said deserves ridicule.

Everything ever said would get no more than unspoken ridicule from a man-who-knows, (should he mentally entertain it for a second).

I am not speaking of overt, actual ridicule, for what ordinary men say and think is irrelevant to what really goes on in life, and only those who think about what they say and think about life are unaware of this, (read, six billion people and growing).

A man who has gotten-to-the-bottom-of-all-this, ("this" being the mind), is plainly aware that everything his or anyone else’s mind may say is mere prattle, (exempting as always the brain addressing physical matters of survival, [and don’t waste your time e-mailing me to ask if what I am saying is an exception also; if you don’t already know the answer to that then you have no reason to even be reading this other than for strictly entertainment].)

The mind being completely ignorant of what it is; how it has thoughts and where the thoughts originate, can bring forth no words on matters non-physical that are worth an awakened man’s slightest notice.

Adults give no serious notice to the noise the children make on the playground.

If you do not undertake a vigorous, a bloody, a heartless and relentless struggle to understand your mind -- and ultimately FAIL, with an impartial realization thereof -- then my efforts have been in vain. …..but, no big deal. I can still join the other chillen out on the playground, where blabber and palaver are recognized for what they are.

Everything I refer to from secret mystical schools, to education, religion, politics, love, history, psychology, philosophy, reputation, social position, true, false -- they are all in and from the human mind. Men did not discover such things lying around on the ground like they did, iron ore, water, wheat. Thought-derived "things" as in the list above are not real "things" -- what could be more obvious?!…….EXCEPT to the mind! Except to their mother, their creator. The mind naturally looks on the issues of its loins with the same sort of favor as does a human mother on her child. Under all ordinary conditions the mind simply cannot grasp and hold-to the plain reality that thoughts or not things; they simply do not physically exist as does the rest of the reality in which men live. Thoughts can motivate actions that may bring about physical results, (all of technology & science), but thoughts themselves are a non-entity. Do you begin to suspect why I point this out, and how it may be most significant in an investigation to get to the bottom of things? The "Things" to which those seeking Enlightenment want to get to the bottom of are nothing less than thoughts themselves….which I just pointed out -- do not exist.

Question: Then describe what a man achieving enlightenment is like?: Sherlock finally capturing Moriarty and realizing what had actually occurred. Do you get it?!…..are you hearing me, or taking it seriously?

The mind is a marvelous thing -- certainly deserving of ridicule, (once you understand what I’m really talking about, and know yourself, how to do it.). In fact, the reason that I am here today in the fair city of Ammunition is because it is their annual celebration of, "Ridicule Day".

Keep smiling, and keep taking those leisurely walks while keeping your head off balance. And above all -- keep this all to yourself, (in fact, don’t even let your own thoughts know what we’re up to.)

Jan.

Friday August 25, 2000 dateline, some where in the midlands of Georgia, U.S.A. Based on recent events, there is much to report to those wanting to get to the bottom of things -- but thus has it always been. Every morning would Erasmus eagerly turn on his pc to receive the latest dispatches pertinent to The Activity as it existed in his day and time. And still today, as the alert arise, do they immediately switch on their thoughts to frequencies and bandwidths most likely to bring them news conducive to their search. Of what benefit is hearing the continual rehashing of ordinary mens’ news to a man with that certain interest? Oh what profit has such ever been? A man who knows what he wants, (in the non-physical realm), knows that it will not be found in the mouths and minds of ordinary men for if t’were so, everyone would have become wide awake and fully enlightened five thousand years ago. But enough of slamming our forefathers……. after all -- what’d they ever do to you?! So, on with the real news from our time and place.

For multiple millenniums has conventional wisdom held that it does a man good to talk about his problems, an idea to which contemporary psychiatry has added its support. And without question do ordinary men profess to feel better after describing the ills and calamities of their lives.

The mind was made to talk. Did not it have this ability the survival-enhancing benefits of thought could not be passed, one man to another. Plus, talk can be just plain fun. But for those to whom the idea that man generally lives in a kind of mentally distracted daze, but can do otherwise when armed with the right info and experience, talk -- especially talk about oneself and one’s problems is an aurally identifiable hobble of the first order.

That –"talking-about-your-problems-will-keep-you-fast-asleep" -- cannot be proven to a man. It’s useless to discuss it with him. When he first hears this, he either instantly realizes its validity, or else he doesn’t, (even if he is not able to immediately refrain from doing same),

If you have any doubt as to whether you are still asleep and confused, it can be determined by your answering these three simple questions; Do you tell anyone about the down sides in your life? Do you tell anyone about the down sides in your life? Do you tell anyone about the down sides in your life?

Ordinary men telling of their problems can often be of help in treating them, (such as describing to a physician the pain one has which results in the dispensing of a relieving prescription). But what is accomplished by the man telling his friends about the pain?! And of more specific interest to us here is the talking about pains which are NON-physical, (that is); men detailing the "ills" of their inner life. But such is an everyday activity most common with sane, civilized and educated people. So what’s the problem with it as concerns those anxious to know what’s really going on? - -- funny you should ask.

There is perhaps nothing more blinding, confusing and stupifying to a man with the interest than for him to talk about his problems -- for such a man has no problems, other than the one of trying to shake himself loose. If a man says that he wants to know for himself what’s really going on, and simultaneously entertains the notion that there are even any problems to being alive -- then that man is deceiving himself . He doesn’t really want to get to the bottom of things -- he just wants to BITCH about things, same as everyone else.

(Now let’s go even deeper, inwardly -- the place where all of this REALLY exists.)

If you catch yourself telling someone about your problems, and you do not feel instantly ill, then your interest in this affair is too weak to ever lead to anything tangible. You may well enjoy reading about it, thinking about it, even discussing it with others -- as thoughts in you mindlessly complain to themselves about the other people’s stupidity.

The unlabeled motto of the low-voltage,would-be enlightened could be: "Ain’t it a bitch to be surrounded by such boobs?" Yes indeed, there are no limits to the number of things in life about which uninformed people have a perfect right to complain. Just one more damn problem that an super-intelligent, mystically-inclined man has to put up with.

A man who knows what he’s doing, knows that he has no problem other than the thoughts that are indigenous homesteaders in his frontal lobes. Your liver is not asleep; your lungs are not deluded, and your heart is not in captivity. Sure, they’re all going to eventually die along with the rest of you, but at present the only part of you that is asleep, confused, beset with problems and ready to describe them -- are the uninvited thoughts that naturally tend to fill up all of the room in your head. But they can be kept from occupying every square millimeter, as witnessed by the fact that you are reading these words, (and we’ll assume, with a degree of WILFULL attention). So it can be done; a man can drive some of the meaningless noise from his mind by the introduction of thoughts that never would have appeared there naturally. And here we are again; the primary unpaying tenants in a man’s mind are the thoughts that whine, complain and who , above all -- want to talk about it.

Once a man has gained some understanding of what this activity is actually about, he then has but one complaint -- that he doesn’t understand MORE, (but at least by then he knows not to give voice to same……plus, who’s he gonna complain to any way that he’s not more awake than he is?! WHO? [course you KNOW who, right?!])

The immediate, best thing a man on the prowl can do is to -- SHUT UP!,

Simply -- shut the hell up!………………….. and primarily in relationship to yourself..

Consciousness consists of two parts; a voice in the brain speaking, and an ear there listening. Stopping the voice is the hard part, not listening to it, the easier. And note: You can "hear" something and still not "entertain" it, (remember my foundry worker from yesterday’s news, and the ever-present din of his workplace?!)

Anyone who listens to their own thoughts is an idiot. If this not be true then why hasn’t your listening to them for the last 30 years accomplished anything?

The minds of the ordinary and enlightened alike are filled with useless garbage, the difference between the two is that the enlightened are fully aware of the situation, and no longer take it seriously …………………… much less complain about it.

There was once a man who was unjustly accused -- and he said nothing;

He said nothing because he understood how life works.

…..(A corollary to the subject of, "talking about your problems" is a fact that a few of you might find of interest:: Never mind the, "telling-all-about-your-troubles" -- a man who will tell you ANYTHING about himself has nothing about him worth telling ABOUT.

Well, the light’s running out, my ink’s running out , and worse than all that is the fact that I am beginning to pick up scents from some of those who are reading this, and they’re already whining and finding fault with what I’ve been talking about.. So, I’m gonna break camp and get on outta here before I start having to listen to them tell me how certain "personal problems" they have make them an exception to most of what I’ve said today.

So --

P.S.; My little trick/task for today; Make it a plan to go all day tomorrow without once saying aloud anything in the nature of the smallest complain -- about anything. (Then, if that doesn’t kill you, or ruin your life completely, next day you could try to not listen to the complaints being said in your own head.

Jan

…and one more thing;. You people out there do realize that it’s not required that you take anything I say personally!)