December 4, 2001.
 
 
 

“The stranger stopped his medicine wagon in the middle of town,
and when a crowd had gathered round,
commenced his spiel:
‘I come here today offering not miraculous ways to a new mental state,
but rather ways to make your present one unlivable’” ---
the father laid down the book and said to his son:
“Based on what I understand now, if I decided now to speak publicly on that
certain matter to those with an interest therein,
I believe I might employ the pitchman’s approach,
and rather than trying to tell people how to go from their present,
intolerable mental state of, being-asleep
to the more desirable state of, being-awake,
I would instead advise them of things to do that would make their present state
truly intolerable;
make it impossible for them to remain where they are.

                    Looked at it from my life long experience and perspective,
                    I do believe that could be a more profitable approach.”

These words got the younger’s attention, (although he wasn’t at all sure
he was going to instantly like where they might be going...............................ah! –  but:
such is the price you pay for living with an old man like this one, what?!)
 

The elder seemed to be hunkering down deep somewhere inside himself; his brow lowered and furrowed; his eyes cut left, then right,
and finally his lips started to reveal his thinking:
“The few of our family line know from any early age that they are disquieted in some fashion that neither their parents nor peers can make sense of
when they attempt to talk about it;
then when they reach a certain age of comprehension proper to them,
they usually come across some book that says something similar to:
'Man believes himself to be fully conscious and awake --
when in fact he lives life almost as though he were asleep and life a dream,
but through certain methods he can awaken from this sleep,
be enlightened and free from dreams and see things as they truly are,’
and they feel:  ‘That’s IT!  So that's what has been bothering me all of this time!’  --
it is indeed a great relief and a memorable day,
and if that special blood of our family line runs rich enough in them,
the rest of their life will, to varying intensities, revolve around the idea of:
‘awaking from the dream state --  and achieving the awakened one.’
 

As you are WELL aware my boy --  there is nothing in the human experience
that is in ANY way comparable to this curious & delightful affair,
but after having been vigorously involved in it for many years,
and with a personally gained understanding of exactly what it is,
I do believe that if I were to now speak to some one just starting out on this journey
I might suggest directions to them substantially different from the ones
normally offered.
 

Men will undertake no new effort unless they believe it will lead to a benefit
which they do not presently enjoy;
thus, once they are so told,  the few accept as fact that they are currently in
an inner condition with which they are seriously dissatisfied,
and that the efforts they may be induced to undertake has the potential
to produce in them an entirely new condition which will be totally satisfying
and explanatory       --       and this is not not so --
                        but it is also not the only way of approaching the matter.
 

Thought automatically works in such manner that the affair is seen as an:
all-or-nothing, win/lose game:
you are either in your old, disgruntled sleeping state,
or you are in the awakened state,
(and even if you have never had that extraordinary experience referred to as,
‘being awake’  you are well aware that you are still in the old dozing one),
but struggling under the weight of an: all-or-nothing concept carries the same limitations as does all such divisive views churned out by man’s routine mind.
When you picture life as divided into two separate parts/choices/possibilities
you are still seeing life through a dream;
for this is not the structure of the universe --  the nature of physical reality;
reality is just one big something:
one big BIG;
one big ONE;
it is just out there --  all together in one single lump,
and it is only to man’s mind that it seems otherwise --
a perspective that enables him to make changes to the world outside of him
which benefit him,
and which leads him to dream of also making changes to the world inside of him:  dreams which remain only dreams –
                but dreamers never know they are only dreaming if they never awaken.
 

Yes my boy, if I were to speak to them, I might tell those who have not yet
reached a place of satisfactory understanding of this affair
to forget for a while the often, impossible seeming goal of --
‘moving-to-a-new-state-of-awakened-consciousness’
and apply yourself instead to doable efforts which will at least turn your present state into one that can no longer be classified or experienced as  --  ‘being asleep’.”
 

The old man took a long deep breath, seemingly preparing himself for something, and the lad feared the worse, (which of course in their case, was the best),
and after a moment, spoke again:
 

“I might suggest to interested, but frustrated seekers of the secret,
such tricks as these:
extract you from all daydream scenes:
make your daydreams silent movies;
refuse to think of any time but this exact instant;
move at a tempo different than your usual one;
always offer the appearance of agreeing;
never think or speak another person’s name;
never offer any complaint about anything;
never refer to the past; never think about the future,
and never mention anything you have done;
never reveal the reasons you believe what you do;
never explain why you did what you did;
never ask anyone else a question about their self;
never tell anyone how you feel, and: never look inward  --   only outward,”
 
                                         then father got up and left the room.
 

                                   “Whew!   That wasn’t so bad,” mused son.
 

                                                                J