For as long as man has been sufficiently conscious 
to leave written notes 
there are those who show an early intrigue by a few 
in activities of consciousness that were 
outside collective concerns. 
This interest has been labeled variously as: magic, 
the occult, the mystical, the spiritual, 
the-struggle-to-Awaken,
the-search-for-Enlightenment, 
or simply, The Knowledge.
The minds of some men have always sought to 
function in a manner not inherent;
it still goes on today,
but few of them ever pursue the matter deeply enough 
to get to the bottom of it;
they are satisfied to be students of:  magic, the occult, 
awakening, and enlightenment,
rather than understanding the reality behind such words.
There is nothing “wrong” with this 
any more than there is anything wrong with 
preferring to listen to music 
as opposed to making music,
but there is an obvious distinction between 
being a listener and being an artist,
and no purpose would be served in trying to deny it,
and likewise
if you really want to discover-- then create --
your own non standard running of consciousness
you need to face the facts about 
your interest in this affair, 
and not pretend to fool yourself, 
(like is natural for routine consciousness),
into believing you want to be an active participant
when all you actually want is to be a passive observer, and sometimes kibitzer.

To be conscious is to be dissatisfied;
this constant neural disquiet is an additional
survival technique:
at the non conscious level, everyone silently accepts this, 
and gives it no particular note;
a few always do  --   always have.

There is a sequence of stages that underpins 
such peoples’ history in this matter:
at first, (not too dissimilar from everyone else),
they do not like the way life is;
if they progress, 
they move to a stage of not liking themselves;
should they get past that point, 
they reach a stage where they dislike the way they
think about life and themselves, 
but beyond that stage --  few ever venture  --
--  but there is where the whole thing is.

Every ordinary, sane person thinks that 
the world outside of them is insane,
(outside of their mind, actually);
this is neither true, nor not true --
it is simply one of an infinite number of 
objectively meaningless concepts 
natural to ordinary consciousness.
All you need do to get stuck at this stage is --  be alive.

To a lesser degree, every ordinary, sane person 
also thinks of themselves as being short of satisfactory,
but this is entertained in consciousness only for brief
moments, and under non routine conditions.

A few sane, but unordinary people find their attention 
regularly focused on their own consciousness,
and think of its operations as ill-becomingthemindividually.
Their overall thinking accords sufficiently with the herd’s 
for them to function adequately therein,
but in the privacy of their own head -- they don’t like it.

It is people at this stage who seriously become involved with organized activity devoted to discovering another way that consciousness can run.
As befits the mind: the activity will have a particular method of achieving the goal,
and the participant becomes a student of the method.

To go from busy, monkey consciousness
to dead still, snake consciousness
you must go beyond the study of a method,
to the study of the goal.

The mind must have a map in hand to ever
believe that it has started a journey toward the goal,
but consciousness will quickly accept 
a periodic
glancing at the map 
as actual travel.

When you start, you cannot see the goal;
all that you can see is the map --  the method 
you have chosen to use as a vehicle to the goal.
This is how it works for everyone,
but you must eventually see that no method, discipline, 
map or teaching is the goal;
the reality of the other state of consciousness,
and all ideas & talk about it
are two different things;
so different in fact as to be beyond 
the widest definition of “different”;
they are from two different realities.

One method is as good as another;
if it initially seems good to you,
then it is good for you;
you have to have somewhere to start,
but the words & ideas that consciousness can entertain
are never the same thing as the goal itself;
they hide the goal;
they walk around on it while talking about it
so that you cannot see it;
they excitedly point off in one direction or another
where they say the goal lies  --
--  while it lies right under their feet.

There is no “way” to discover this other way 
in which your consciousness can operate;
there is no right way, and there is no wrong way; 
there IS no way --  but you must use one.

You cannot think an “enlightened thought”
until you think something,
but nothing you can think has any significance 
regarding the goal;
anything you think about the goal 
is actually you thinking about a method or a map;
you cannot think about the goal;
there is nothing to think about it;
whenever you are thinking about it
your thoughts are milling about on top of it --
--  hiding it from your view.

You can think that life is not right;
you can think that you are not right,
you can think that what you think about life & yourself 
is not right,
but if you really want your consciousness to run in a way that affords you an entirely different way of thinking
what you need  to focus on is the neural floor in your head on which your thinking is taking place.
Ignore what your thoughts think about life, you,
and even themselves,
and look instead beneath their feet --
--  look at what they are standing on.

There is that longed for --  other level of consciousness.

It is ultimately just that simple --  you just “LOOK” --
                             --  and there it is.
 

I grant you,
it can seem to take a lifetime of convoluted efforts 
to ever get to the stage where it is that simple to see, 
but you may as well know now that ultimately it is --
                   --   just that simple and obvious.

                                    JAN