A
father said to a son:
“The
reason man sees life as binary structured: (all things are: right or wrong;
good
or evil; true or false) is because his mind is T.P.B.
-- Third Possibility Blind;
not
being able to conceive of a third view in every human situation is what
causes
all
of the contention inherent in every human situation.
But
what is going on is much more subtle, and wrap-around simple than this
--
more
subtle than any words can say;
so
subtle, simple, and yet strange --
that
man has never invented any words to describe it;
he
has never thought about needing words to describe the situation
because
his mind is incapable of directly thinking about it --
and
get ready -- here it comes! --
and
its strangeness is so subtle that even when it is laid out simply,
and
your natural born mind looks right at it -- it is still programmed
to miss the point;
the
mind can look at it --
can
say that it sees what is being noted –
then
instantly forget the whole affair,
(and
here it is).
Let
us use as an example from the endless ones that make up man’s purely
human
existence (all of his interests that are non essential to survival):
the
ever present idea of -- change.
Once
men are fed and have the free time to create and pursue activities
that
are merely entertaining rather than essential
(the
core of them always being verbal)
a
major topic is the subject of change.
There
is an urge inherent in man’s nervous system to change;
every
human says they want to change this-or-that about their self,
but
man’s nervous system by its nature has no desire to change
(with
an interested eye this is easy enough to observe outside of yourself,
and
equally as ready realized when you look inward at your own temperament)
so
here is the quite open and obvious situation:
by
their nature: all men say they want to change,
and
by their nature, no one wants to change,
and
from any ordinary, rational view -- this can’t be so;
the
mind says: ‘You either want to change, or you do not want to change:
it
has to be one or the other’ -- which totally ignores a third
possibility:
another
possibility that is always present in every purely human (that is: non
essential) situation, which is precisely what I have already stated:
man’s nature makes him say he wants to change,
and man’s nature has no desire to change,
(and
here is another example of T.P.B.):
men know this, and they don’t know this,
which
the natural born mind would again insist cannot be so;
it
would say: ‘You either know something, or you do not,’
but
in isolated examples men routinely acknowledge the situation I have noted:
in
speaking of a heavy drinking acquaintance who continually swears that
he
wants to change (that is: quit drinking) men are commonly heard to say:
‘Yeah,
every time Bob gets in trouble over his drinking, he says he’s going to
stop,
he’s
said so a thousand times, but you know what: he doesn't really want to
stop:
he
says
he does, but I don’t believe he truly means it;
in
fact I don’t think most drunks who say they want to stop actually want
to,’
(and
same with many other everyday matters
such
as so called: psychological quirks, and sinful behavior).
Men
constantly make passing note that even though people say they want to change
(stop drinking; being unfaithful; over eating; being depressed, angry,
or obsessive), they commonly do not believe that people really do
-- and there it is! --
just
for a second: the full awareness of the situation to which I point:
their
mind makes a momentary acknowledgement that men are driven by their nature
to say they want to change this-or-that thing about their self,
and
in the next breath they say they do not believe it --
but
the ordinary born mind of man is incapable of seeing these two matters
simultaneously (or at least from a personal perspective that profits
them
[since
their aim is not to shake their mind from its natural lethargy,
and
get to the actual bottom of things]).
Do
you hear what I am describing, my boy:
every
human who is not starving is aware that he and every other human
wants
to change,
and
yet is also aware that neither he nor apparently anyone else
has
the least interest in changing:
there
it is -- yet no one can see it:
it’s
the way things are.
The
mind by its nature on the essential, non verbal level approaches life
as
a binary structure: you either live or die;
you
either get food or starve: find water or die; seek shelter or suffer;
the
ultimate binary game on the physical level is life or death,
a
situation which clearly motivates all life forms to the peak of efficiency;
and
the mind seamlessly carries over this approach when it shifts to matters
non
essential (religion, politics, gossip, movies, music, sports, literature,
and
all other activities whose reality is totally dependent on words;
reminding
you for instance that movies are not the celluloid film on which they are
printed; nor sports, the physical activity on a field; nor literature,
the words in a book; the reality
of all such things is in the thoughts they incite
in
the minds of their audience).
People
do not go to the movies to see the movie up on the screen,
but
for the thoughts it will prompt in their own head,
but
the natural programming of the mind is such that it ignores any question
concerning the profitable propriety of talking about/thinking about these
word-based
activities as binary constructs:
(‘Such-&-such
book is either a masterpiece, or it is not;’
‘The
’57
Yankees was the greatest team ever,
or it was not;’
‘You
are either a Christian/Jew/Muslim/Buddhist
and thus favored by god,
or
you are not, and thus doomed,’ and so on).
Mentally
and verbally treating an incorporeal realm in the same way you do the physical
one is obviously the norm for man, and the contentions this spurs are undoubtedly
what life wants, so it cannot be said to be of harm to man (in general),
but
for the few like us my son, this is like a secret fireworks factory ready
to blow
(and
to your advantage -- if you learn how to ignite it).
Every
thing man talks and thinks about, and seems to participate in which is
not an essential matter of life or death his mind sees as a binary structure
or game;
every
question, every dispute, every confusion that plagues man arises from his
thinking being unable to see that in all such affairs there is always something
else --
always
another possibility --
a
third one besides the two which are always visible to his mind,
and
which, if it was seen, would reveal the reality of the situation.
Such
a realization is quite obviously not needed by collective humanity (as
I noted):
they
constantly, for brief moments in specific situations, give overt acknowledgement
to the indisputable reality that humans say they want to change,
yet
humans do not want to change:
everyone
says they do -- no one wants to (and remember: the idea of
‘change’
being
locked into a blinding, binary structure is but one of an infinite number
of examples from everyday human affairs I could have used).
As
a tool of astounding keenness and efficiency, there could be none better
than
the
approach: ‘There is always something
else;’
no
matter how impressive, or copious be the thoughts on a subject from another
man, nor from your own automatic mind --
there
is always something else: always a third possibility;
there
are no exceptions to this, and the complete pursuit of this five word notion
would
perforce shake an interested man’s mind out of its natural born dreamy,
and
distracted state.
To:
‘be
asleep’ (as ‘tis often called)
is to mentally live in a binary world:
that’s
it --
that’s
what being unenlightened, asleep, and in-captivity is;
your
thoughts dwell (quite satisfactorily for an ordinary life)
in
a two dimensional reality --
whereas
there is clearly a third perspective to this inner constructed scene,
and
a continual remembrance of this and the accompanying attempt to see
the
third possibility (which is constantly fluid)
IS
the struggle to awaken; to achieve enlightenment; to experience the great
liberation (or as I call it); to realize what is really going on,
and
what is NOT really going on is a life composed of contrary binaries.
The
always present third possibility is like a gigantic invisible creature
astride this planet which everyone knows is here, but no one can name;
this came about from Adam naming all of the animals after
he
heard the voice in his head telling him
to
do so -- which kept him from naming
the voice -- and
that's what is missing.
Now chase after this beast full bore my boy, and maybe I won’t have to shoot you.”
J
JAN'S
DAILY
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