The Daily News of February 11, concluded:
”Mind IS the deal,” but in that the opposite of any enlightening statement is equally so:
 

 IMPROV VARIATION ON THE THEME OF: 
                                THE DEAL
 
 
 

From a valid view, but two things are possible for man: acting, and thinking;
he inhabits concurrent twin worlds of: behavior, and the mind, 
and from an equally compelling perspective,
no amount or type of behavior will produce 
the understanding, and --  do-the-deal.
When the appropriate people first hear about 
the understanding, their immediate reaction is:
”What can I DO to obtain it?” --  what can I “DO,”
and off they go; sitting in meditation; studying texts; changing their diet; abandoning sex; 
dancing & chanting, etc, all forms of behavior.
No one is immune from this commencement;
it is natural for man, and everyone begins this way.
But there is no change in one’s behavior which will
bring about the understanding --
the deal all takes place in the mind.
The only possible significance of “behavior” in this affair is a negative one;
behavior will not help you do-the-deal,
but it can hinder you, (giving up coke won’t wake you up, but snorting it will keep you asleep.)
 
 

The matter of: Enlightenment, Awakening, Liberation & The Understanding is one strictly of the mind;
its essence is not in any book, or teaching,
nor does it occur in some far away, 
special physical setting.
The hunger for the understanding originates IN the mind:
it is nourished entirely BY the mind,
and when it is realized, 
the event is one solely OF the mind.
Notwithstanding, the kiddie-beliefs:
a man with the understanding does not:
”walk on water, read minds, or talk to the dead,”
he walks on the sidewalk, reads the paper, and 
talks to his dog.
You cannot recognize a man with the understanding
via his behavior;
a non believer can lead religious services;
a sleeping man can speak awakened words,
and a wretch can do charitable deeds.
Behavior does not produce the understanding,
nor does it reveal its presence.
 

    The deal-of-understanding is one entirely of the mind.
 

Having laid clear this protruding fact, 
let us turn it over, and from it, 
ring even further delectable juice.

              The mind is NOT THE DEAL:
              the mind is the ANTITHESIS of THE DEAL;
              the mind STOPS THE DEAL.
 

Though from one view it seems correct to say that man is capable of the two distinct & separate activities of: 
acting, and of thinking,
from another --  the idea is ludicrous to the extreme.
But what distinguishes man from the other animals?
all creatures “act,”  but only man both acts AND thinks, and it is this dual ability that sets him uniquely apart. 
He is not limited to simply “moving, acting and behaving” as unconscious instinct may direct;
no, man can also think about acting; plan and ponder, 
oft’times as even an alternative TO acting,
but always as an adjunct thereto.
But this is a specious scene, words lay before us;
it sounds all right --  but to whom? --
to the whom what said ‘em: the mind.

(Who but a mouse-eared moron expects 
objective information about a matter 
from a source with a vested interest therein?!)
 
 

So then, answer: what IS the real difference between a rhinoceros, and a man?
and men will reply: “Men can think,”
so we observe a rhino, standing motionless,
looking off in the distance,
and next to him a man, also still, and staring at the horizon, and you are asked again: what is the real difference between these tow animals?” and you repeat: “The man is thinking about something, 
and the rhinoceros isn’t” --    prove it!
What evidence is there to support your claim, 
other than the man’s agreement thereto  -- if he is asked?!
They are both standing there;
their eyes open, surveying the surroundings;
they are certainly of different size and shape,
yet both are mobile, sentient, breathing,
blood-pumping, recognizable living creatures
capable of appropriate physical action at any moment.
Externally, no distinction is to be made, 
save their shape and size.
No observation can be made of what goes on in their brains, which in his own case, man calls thinking.
There is no question that man differs extraordinarily 
from all other animals in how he 
lives in relationship to the natural,
”this-is-how-we-initially-found-it” environment
of this planet,
but this is known purely by his behavior,
and his thinking is merely assumed to have played a role therein.        But you can’t PROVE it!
   ”Oh yes you can!” responds the mind,
     yes, but prove it only TO the mind.
 
 
 
 

Restatement Of The Facts For A February Morn:

It is all a matter of behavior.
The deal is nothing but behavior;
outside of behavior, there is no understanding.

              What d’ya think? --  How d’you like that?
                           Is it getting more to your taste?
 
 

Even you start out expediently considering the mind & thinking as being separate from the body & behaving,
looked at from an equally supportable view,
the activity of the mind is but a form of behavior.
What else can you call it?!    What else IS it?!
The oil on the suppository is in the fact that the mind can talk to itself about both its activity and that of the body, but the body says nothing in return….
...not in any similar language.
And the mind can declare: “I am free and conscious! --  while the body is programmed, 
and captive of non conscious instincts,”
and there is naught else in a man’s physiology 
to say otherwise.
But this declaration itself is a form of behavior,
and an undeniable manifestation of the same inherent, physical instincts to which it just attributed
the rest of the body’s mechanical behavior.
 

      What a sight! --  behavior denouncing behavior!

Behavior of a mental sort, 
separating itself the physical variety.
One part of the brain claiming to share no 
cellular ancestry with the rest of the body.

      What a sight! --  and one that humans never notice.
             …(Who knows what the rhinos know?!)
 
 
 

So: the deal is both one purely of-the-mind --  but also one: strictly-of-behavior.
The understanding is nothing but an affair of thought, 
yet cannot be anything other than a form of behavior.
Describe to yourself anything a human can do that is 
not a form of behavior  --   ANYTHING!
 

The understanding is a whole bunch of this,
and a boatload of that;
you can turn it up, you can turn it down;
you can look thru it here, or turn it around.
It is this, and it is that;
all you believe, and all you’ve never thought about.
And you either get-it  --   or you don’t;
you either do-the-deal -- or else it slips you right by.
There are no “Half way Deals” -- 
no “contingency ones,” and above all -- no future deals;
this is not a commodities market;
you can’t deal-in-the-deal like 
dealing in pork futures.
Working your way up to the deal is
all a matter of half steps and fits & starts,
but the door to the deal is all black & white;
you go thru it or you don’t;
there are no gray areas;
gray areas are “teachings,” and other guesses about 
the understanding, 
and ultimately have nothing to do with it.
 
 
 

Turn so quick that
you don’t have time to think about it,
and see what there is about you but behavior;
some of your behavior observably moves ,
while some of it only moves via the 
chemical flows between neurons in your brain,
but it is all still movement, 
and it is all still behavior.
 

(Quoting again from The  Daily News of the 11th):

”Mind is the deal --  and you are more than mind.
…what “more”?  --  only the deal knows.”

Ask yourself: “What sort of, lilly-pad, squint-eyed mind 
is limited to just one side of an enlightening idea?”
 

  The 13th’s: Improv Variation On Previous Theme:

Behavior is the deal -- 
you are nothing more than behavior;
why did you ever think otherwise? -- 
.....only the deal knows.
 

       ….(stick to The Deal, my man,
                anything else’ll bust your chops.)

                                          J