January 3, 2002.
 

(Elabradoration of 1/2/02)
 
 
 

If you know-what-is-going-on, you can look at a fresh litter of any pack species
and tell which ones will be subservient and which one(s) will be dominant,
(in more human terms):
which ones will be followers and which one(s) will display originality.
 

People like other animals, come with such traits,
and those born passive cannot be turned aggressive, nor imitators made creators;
thus cannot all people become boxers, nor awaken to what-is-going-on,
the latter being an obscure art that requires a special originality & creativity
that cannot be taught  --  with which a man must be born.
There is no more visible rationale to this than there is one person being short or shy, and another tall or assertive --  but there it is all the same,
and so too is it in the invisible realm of mind:
some are by nature followers -- emulators who want to fit in to the pack,  and do so by taking their cues from the actions of others, or from a dominant leader.
Natural followers do not see themselves in a negative light;
zebras do not feel that their stripes make them inferior to the leopard with his spots,
and the world of both beasts and men is made up mostly of followers and few creators.
 

In the animal world it is non thinking, physical aggression, requiring no originality,
that marks the leader of any pack,
and while same is certainly not absent in the mortal one,
the instant interest is in a type of human non follower for whom the demands of creativity are paramount if he is to succeed in his quite private enterprise.
 

Trying to rework the conscious operation of your brain,
(or your understanding thereof, better put) is not a pack activity;
groups do not awaken; prides do not achieve enlightenment,
and even twins do not discover TheFact (not without the dispatch of one).
Seeing-what-is-going-on is strictly a solitary endeavor;
you cannot follow anyone else and do it;
you cannot submit to any one or any thing and do it;
and you cannot use any of the materials common with the pack to do it;
seeing-what-is-going-on is entirely an act of original creativity,
that is why the GreatSecretFact is so difficult to find –
you cannot find it --  it does not exist for you until you create it.
And you might think: “How can I be so creative?” and as noted:
originality and creativity cannot be taught:
you either have such talent or you do not;
and it can be latent in you  --  needing but to be utilized,
and how will you ever know without you attempt it.
 

While it is not possible to teach the non creative to be creative in mind,
what is possible is for you to abandon all participation in the
wholly unoriginal & unproductive mental/verbal games of the pack.
If you yap, either overtly or to yourself,
in response to whatever the pack is yapping about
you are forever stuck with being a copy cat follower,
and it does not matter whether you yap back a yea or a nay in reaction to
any other pup’s particular yap;
you and he both are being lackeys --
submitting your mind and its potential to the domination of another,
and in our special case --  not the domination of another person,
but the domination of ideas not original with you,
which, by your useless interest therein, dictate the very life of your mind.
 

By the arrangement of things is the mind of the pack forever entangled in
questions/ problems of a non disruptive nature;
matters labeled important by the pack’s mentality are always meaningless,
in that they have no immediate material impact on their physical lives or survival;
the hot topics in any pack are always actually quite cool, bland & harmless,
and only inexperienced pups are fooled into believing otherwise –
primarily via their own heated yapping:
(“Look how excited I am over the question --  that proves its significance?! --   right?!”)
 

The originality & creativity of mind necessary to see ThisThing through
cannot be specifically described since it is unique to each person,
but what can be accurately said is that whatever it is,
it is not anything that the pack, or its nominal leader(s) are ever embroiled in;
never has been --  never will be;
as the pack’s topics gradually change,
so too does the creativity of the individual few.
One hint is feasible: take any topic/question/problem in which
large numbers of humans publicly profess concern & about which they are in dispute, and consider --  not any one side of the argument --  but rather: “Why arguments?
Why men argue over food, land & water is obvious –
but why arguments over words & ideas?
What is going on  right here in front of me that everyone misses,
as their eyes/I’s stay affixed on the opposing sides of the argument itself?”
 

Making that your non exceptional private enterprise
will ultimately awaken that special creativity in you, (if it be in you).
Separating yourself mentally from the never-original-pack
IS the first step to exerting your own originality;
no matter how you say you feel about them, pro or con,
you simply cannot run with dogs without forever smelling mentally mangy.
 
 

                                                               J
 
 
 
 

...oh yeah: if you want to, you can take all that was said above about, “the unoriginal pack, and the creative individual”
and assume it was referring entirely to the situation in your own head.