JAN'S FRESH NEURAL HOTCAKES
               © 2001: JAN COX
                     ******************************************
December 25, 2001.
 
 

Ordinary people (quite surprisingly!) do not see it this way,
for what goes in their head they do not equate with the activities of
a lone figure on the streets, mumbling audibly to an invisible listener,
but a difference between the two exists only in their own words to themselves.
 

Sophisticated, sane-by-the-majority’s-definition people are always apprehensive of  those who audibly and  publicly, (as ‘tis commonly called)  –  talk-to-themselves,
and have no doubt that such people are not part of the normal majority;
they are routinely felt to be in fact, dangerous,
in that a human must be extremely out of touch with reality to engage in such behavior, and be so apparently unaware of their condition.
Indeed, man institutionally, through law enforcement, the judicial system,
and the medical profession, treat the audible talking to oneself as a
prima facie sign of mental illness;
and yet, unheard, in private do all men:  judges, gendarmes, psychiatrists,
and everyone else, suffer-from  --   or: engage-in, would be their preferred term for
the phenomenon in their instance --  the exact same thing:
but as applicable to themselves, the majority call it: thinking.
 

Quite a fascinating, unpublished photo we have here  --  picture it:
a certain human something that if:  you do it quietly in private  --  you are okay,
but if you do the same thing vocally, in public, so that everyone else is
forced to be aware of what you are doing  --  you are crazy,
and throughout it all --  everyone on the planet does it --  silently --  in private,
and by merely changing its defaming name: “talking-to-yourself”
to: “thinking” --  cleanse it of all reprobation.
 

The expressing aloud of the thoughts in the brain is diagnosed by the majority as
an involuntary activity of an ill mind --  as compared to themselves --
in whose brains the same activity involuntarily occurs, but which they manage to
keep to themselves --  except under tacitly, collectively-agreed-upon conditions: conversations with two participants, and authorship:
the writing down of one’s otherwise, silent, private thoughts, which for some reason, via this process, is rendered acceptable.
 

Only those who have not directly looked into this matter,
(read: most of the human population),
can live with the common assumption that their “thinking” is voluntary;
that the process which occurs unceasingly in them, 24/7,
from the age of speech to death, (or noticeable dementia --
which ever becomes most apparent first --  assuming a distinction is discernable).
No question but that the brain’s thinking operation is not normally tuned to
confront this matter, or even have the slightest interest therein;
it is simply not possible for an ordinary human to see --  to face-the-fact that
what he and all of his majority-making-peers call,
“their thoughts  –  their thinking” –
is a completely mechanical, impersonal activity of their brain,
not substantially different than the heart’s pumping,
the lungs’ breathing, the pancreas’ insulin production.
This is a simple, obvious and undeniable reality --  and yet;
six billion educated, sophisticated, sane human beings do deny it, (if asked;
the rest of the time, they simply ignore it),
and they do both, (also quite obviously), as directed to by their
involuntarily, thought-producing brain,
(life-the-universe is nothing if not tidy --  it has no choice:
where does it have to sweep dust or dispose of leftovers?!)
 

Those who believe (or at least go along with the pretension to)
that the activity of thoughts automatically appearing and passing through their brains
is, “thinking”
do not know what real thinking is ,(or at least can be --
… for those who give up the pretense).
Those of ordinary mind, (at least in theory)  --
hold themselves responsible for their thoughts: for what they think,
not like their view of the strange loners in the street, expressing their thoughts aloud --  who are clearly not responsible for themselves.

It is easy to picture this situation as beneficial, if not required,
for man, an animal with thoughts & speech, both of which can differ more
from individual to individual than with any physical distinctions between
creatures of the same species,
to live collectively in relative peace.
Simply put: humans must accept the thought that says:
Each man is responsible for himself --  he MUST be!
--  to make this civilization thing work,
and an unstated, unexamined corollary of this is that a man --  a sane man,
is responsible for his thinking......but just in case all is not always in order:
it is best not to go around,  saying aloud, the thoughts in your mind.
 
 

To say the least: the brain is a funny organ:
your heart is not conscious of its pumping,
nor your lungs of their respiring –
only the brain is “conscious” of its own operation -- in part,
and the doubly funny thing is that the only part of its activity it is conscious of is --
                                                          --  its consciousness.
 

Forget about second party strangers in the street,
talking-insanely, if not at least, inanely, to only themselves  --
                                                 --  you have one in your head,

and if you settle for being just ordinary and commonly sane
you will never see or be able to usefully admit it,

but doing so will make you secretly sane in a manner that
defies all description and comparison....and which accomplishes nothing....other than: releasing you from the mass hysteria which everyone else is forced to call --
                                                            “their thinking”.
 

                                                                 J