For eons did humanity, each day upon awakening from the dark sleep, declare:
“We are not just an animal!   We are not just an animal!”
and once this matter finally seemed settled,
many years later an individual man began to announce to himself:
“I am not just a mind  --   I am not just a mind.”
 
 
 

In one land was a tidal wave;
one of such gigantic proportions and duration that
no one ever noticed it.
 
 
 

One way to determine that you are still ordinary is if every day you rediscover,
and are disturbed by
the obviousness of life  –   all over again.
 
 
 

An email from a reader:
“When I first found your web page writings I thought I was going to enjoy them ‘cause I thought you were going to tear into religion and politics and rap music
and fancy gurus and rich people and international conspiracies and stuff like that,
and expose ‘em up for the frauds they are,
but that’s not what seems to be happening here....
and most of the time I don’t think I understand what you’re talking about....
.....so I guess I ain’t as interested as I thought I was,”
here there was a long pause........................................then he continued:
“Looking back over what I have just written makes me suddenly wonder if I
am actually writing this to you or if it is all just taking place in my mind?!
                  ....but I suspect that you would say:
                      it doesn’t matter any way,

                     'cause which ever way it is,
                      you can either find it meaningless or else learn something from it.
 

I think I’ll close for now.
Yours,” etc.
 
 
 
 
 

The stranger rode into town:
metaphors strapped to his left leg, and symbols to his right,
only to be faced with the sheriff who came un armed:
a sight the mighty gunslinger had never seen before.

      Those too clever for too long shoot themselves in the foot.
 
 
 
 

In his closing defense of a client,
the barrister reminded the Court:
“Only the King can authorize death!”
and someone muttered: “Him and stupidity.”

        Those too hesitant for too long hang themselves.
 
 
 
 

One man became so frustrated in his efforts to awaken that he finally said:
“I’ll do anything now just to keep from even thinking about it”
and suddenly realized that he had finally stated a goal capable of fulfillment.

      Those too dumb for too long suffer serious self inflicted wounds.

            The first words he heard upon opening his eyes were:
            “Just get on your horse and ride out of here”
            and b’lieved t’was the voice of an angel.

                      Relief is never more than a sentence away.
 
 
 
 
 

There are four types of humor:
physical humor; verbal humor; insulting humor, and serious humor,
(only the awake find the fourth funny).
 
 
 
 

One man wrote a manuscript he entitled:
”A Short Cut To Enlightenment,”
but when he showed it to his best friend, the friend said:
“How can there be a short cut to no where?”
and the man was greatly disturbed by the comment,
and then decided that it was simply a part of what he had written.

   The wise warrior overcomes not by defeating --  but by absorbing.

    Definition: Fiction: Stuff people are ashamed to put their name to.

        And one man says: “I’m not embarrassed to talk about my life --
                            --  just to live it.”
 
 
 
 
 

How External Conditions Often Sound Similar To Man’s Internal Ones:
When asked his position on the weather,
the Obvious Party’s candidate replied:
“Some times I’ll like it --  and some times I won’t.”

  The mind believes that someone else created the world outside,
   and has no idea that it did the one inside....
   ....which it regularly confuses with the one outside.

       And one man says: “If my inner world was as stable and reliable as
       the physical world out there,  I would be a happy....no....wait a second,
       let me make that: If the world out there was as intelligent and insightful
       as my inner one, then the world out there would be a much better….
       no...let’s try it this way: If the world in me did not so clearly match
       the world out there --  no, that’s still not it, but now I’ve got it:
       If I could just remember that the world out there and the world in me
       are a perfect match   --   (yeah, baby  --  that’s it!)”
 
 
 
 
 

The winning song in this year’s San Remo SongFestival is one titled:
“Freeing The Mind” which goes like this:
"Freeing the mind,
 freeing the mind,
 you can think about freeing the mind ‘til the words become prison bars”
           and when the judges heard the last line, they declared a mistrial.
 

   They should have been tipped off by the composer’s pseudonym:
   Captain Irony since the festival long ago banned entries by
   the mentally handicapped (that is to say: unprepared).

    Those surprised by life have for too long lived too-self-looked-atlives.

         As the prince approached the day of having his dick clipped
         and becoming neurally responsible, the king began urging him:
         “Get out more!  --  but don’t forget your hands and feet!”

          Those who ride into town believing they’re sharp,
           and who want it known that they think so,
           are too dull to ever be able to cut themselves loose.

            ....”Loose from what, Daddy?”
                     “Why from their ghost selves, my boy  --   what else?!”
 

                               A mind that’s truly free,
                                             never sees irony.
 
 
 
 

On one world, men’s minds are directly linked to their stomachs.

         ..........."Heyyyy”  --  what’s unexpected about that?!”
 
 

A certain projectionist, overhearing all of this, pondered:
”If my thoughts didn’t make the film seem so jerky –
                           would irony even be visible?”

  Definition: Being awake is like wearing a suit made from seamless cloth,
  while being of ordinary mind is going around in tatters.

             The enlightened, if anything, are fashionable;
             unseen; unchanging; non hip, non square, non repellant --fashionable.
 
 
 
 
 

On one world, men’s minds are directly linked to life,
  “But Papa  --  isn’t that true for men everywhere?”
       “Yes, but most people believe that it is something else
             they hear talking to them.”

          Everyone has a radio,
          and the same programs go out to everybody;
          being awake is knowing the correct names of the shows.
 
 
 

One man had two beds in which he engaged in two kinds of sleep:
one was parallel to the floor  --  the other perpendicular;

                ....and the Musical Muse of Picket moaned:
               “Don’t fight it, just    --  Feel it!    Feel it!"

                                      J