The minds of the ordinary want to make more out of life than there is;
the minds of the few want to make more out of their minds than is there.

The job of the mind is to aid in survival, 
and it does so by  --   COMPLEXING THINGS UP  -- 
figuring ways of rearranging our physical environment that makes it more conducive and comfortable
to the life of man.

            Of this, all sane men approve and partake.

But note: in this process, the mind has created a 
collateral world to our physical one  --  a cultural life,
and it is the mind’s making more of this life 
than is there
that is of interest to us here.
 

Man’s cultural world consists quite simply of 
everything that is now part of his life 
which was not  --  in physical latent form --
laying around when he showed up here;
a world of activities based solely on thoughts --
not physical materials.
Taken in toto, man’s cultural life constitutes a 
second, parallel reality, contemporaneous-with, 
and normally supportive-of the physical one,
for example: religion has no natural, 
physical existence --  the minds of men made it up -
but indirectly, and overall, it aids in man’s survival.
(You can look for yourself, and see that such is the case with all other facets of man’s cultural life.)

         With this too, would no sane man find fault.
 

But if you desire a super-sane understanding of what life, and being a human therein is about,
there is more to be considered regarding this 
parallel, mind-made, second reality
than routine thought ever ponders.

Being that this reality, (as de rigueur as it be), 
is not palpably real --  and men know it --
they are driven to make more out of it than is there;
a kind of enforced, pragmatic rationalization,
or: a type of necessary, species-wide, 
self-sustained --  mass hallucination.

Men realizing the survival benefits, if not necessity of,
this parallel reality,
but also knowing that
their own minds made the whole thing up,
for obvious reasons it is to their advantage 
to treat this intangible realm reverently and rotectively,
and be its vigorous cheerleaders,
but to do this,(since there is nothing there),
they are forced to treat the matter 
with a certain style of seriousness that is singular 
to say the least, 
(seeing as how the matter being promoted & protected 
is illusionary).

           Still, herein can no fault be found,
            inasmuch as the arrangement works.

All that is necessary for a man with that-certain-hunger
is that he plainly recognize the matter for what it is,
but if you have any preferential sentiments about any of the activities in this mental-based reality
then you do not plainly see it for what it is. 
 

           When you understand a matter,
            you have no feelings about it,
            pro, con, or sideways.
 
 

Ordinary people are supposed to pretend that they 
take seriosuly such things as: art, politics, religion, education, nationalism, sports, morality, reputation, justice, literature, wealth, honor & social position,
but a man trying to get-a-head
is supposed to  --  (in private)  --  not so pretend.
 

Things that are literally, (that is, physically), 
necessary for survival do not need to be promoted,
nor their image protected;
men do not have to be urged to rest when tired,
but must be so, to attend church, or join the army.
 

            Only that which is literally, non essential 
            must be encouraged,
            and that’s the full title of that little ditty.
 
 

To actually be one-of-the-few
you must realize the reality of the above,
and be beyond illusionary entanglements therewith, (what a sight! -- illusionary struggles & complaints with 
that which is illusionary!)
 
 

But then we come to this,
(regarding those with that hunger):
let us assume that they are people who see the mentally-based, entirely-made-up, 
second reality plainly for what it is,
and do not make any more out of it than is there --
(which is literally --  nothing),
and thus are no longer captured in their minds thereby.
They then are people who want more out of 
their MINDS than is there -- 
--  that is what, ”wanting to Wake-Up,” and 
”the search for Enlightenment” is about.

The few want more out of their minds than is there,
and unwittingly treat the matter with 
misplaced seriousness, and make more of the idea of, 
“Waking-Up” than there is to it.

This is not to diminish the quite extraordinary nature of 
a man actually creating for himself a mode of thinking,
and mental perception that is different from the one that he and everyone else is born with --  not hardly,
for the reality of, “Waking-Up, Enlightenment, and Liberation” is life changing to those who achieve it,
but with those who have not  --
--  their thinking makes more of it than is there.

From one view, this is why the affair seems so elusive, secretive, even metaphysical & otherworldly -- 
--  but it is not.
As I have indicated, it is actually much less complex
than your unknowing mind would have it.
The mind makes more out of, “waking up the mind”
than there is to the  whole affair.
 

      Your natural born tendency in this matter 
       is to look at the steps the dancers’ feet do
       when what would wake you from the stupor 
       is to watch the floor on which they glide.
 
 

See --  all you have to do is look at the right thing;
relentlessly  -- 
with the cold-headed consciousness of a snake --
watch the milieu in which your thoughts cavort --
--  not the thoughts themselves, 
but the environment, the background,
the conditions in your head wherein 
their ceaseless activity is carried on.
 
 

Human knowledge, 
(even that claimed to be mystical),
is the ability to describe 
some of your thoughts’ dance steps;
 
       Enlightenment is knowing the dance floor.
 
 

Do not let your present thinking make more out of this than there is  --   it is not necessary;
this activity is exciting & astounding enough on its own,
but being forever distracted by your own 
mental irrelevancies, (which are, since you asked:
everything you now think),
will keep you from ever looking in the right place,
and getting-to-the-bottom-of-this-matter.
 

Don’t passively allow your mind to make more out of things that is there --- 
                     that’s all that, “Waking Up’ is about.

                                             JAN

                 …(don’t you just love the way I said:
                      “That’s ALL” that it’s about?!)