Here it is Saturday,
Sabato, Schabat, Samstag:
the day named in honor of the hindu god of:
breath-o-lyzers & divorce lawyers,
and a 24 hour period especially suited,
wouldn’t you say.
And once more do we open our specialized,
Case Files, beginning this time with the matter of:
 
 

                 THE RESISTANCE FACTOR
 

Life as man knows it would not exist without a certain  physical resistance going on continually between men  -- --  which everyone recognizes  --
but there is also a mental one in constant operation
which is entirely misunderstood by ordinary men.

It is this mental resistance that keeps the 
non-physical, second reality of man running;
without it all of the arts would vanish;
there would be no culture or civilization,
and no human conversations not related to survival.


Mental resistance is a major component in the
sensation men experience of having an
invisible, strictly inner, and totally individual self.
This resistance is crucial to the mental distinction 
men make between themselves, and 
everyone outside their skin.
With no effort does everyone understand that 
they are physically distinct from everyone else,
but mentally --  this is not so clear,
for beyond ordinary men’s notice is the fact that
their ordinary minds are but a small, and 
insignificant  part of a large collective mind that 
actually determines overall human intelligence. 

Those who do not know how life works, 
condemn conflicts between competing religions,
and often have themselves a jolly good sardonic time
ridiculing the irony of an activity that preaches brotherhood, charity & tolerance 
being continually engaged in behavior that manifests 
just the opposite.
But they do not understand that only by 
resistance to a mental competitor can any religion survive;
be it another religion, or simply 
the non religious environment in general.
This holds true for any political party; 
economic model; school of painting, music,
architecture, literature, drama, criticism, and so on.
(Remember, we are speaking of the 
“schools-of-thought”;
ideas about architecture, not buildings themselves.) 
 
 
 
 
 

                   THE OPEN DOOR POLICY. 

Everyone would like to see how life works,
but that requires having the necessary vantage point
from which to look,
and what is needed -- 
-- but  is not  standard issue to man, 
is --  the open door.

The open door offers no 
meaningless resistance to
irrelevant breezes, and visitors.
The open door lets everything 
blow right through.
The open door is smart enough not to
try the impossible --  much less the useless.
The open door must be present for 
the understanding to have access to your house.
 

Important Practical Note: 

The open door is a  right-now-only proposition.  
The open door needed for 
the understanding to have a way into your place
is open only right now  --  this very instant. 
It was not opened yesterday, 
and it will not be open tomorrow.
The open door only exists --   NOW --
same as how the understanding exists only now --  
only here and now,
(the “here”  being just on the other side of the 
closed door currently set up in your mind.)
 

Rather than resisting any thought, or feeling in you, 
or any word, thought or feeling expressed by others, you become an open door welcoming all; accepting their but momentary presence with the apparent good nature expected of any ordinary host --
--  but it is all appearances.
You allow them to pass through your place, 
but you do not  hold them there;
you do not embrace them; sleep with them,
adopt them, or make them your business partner.

Pretend you are a member of an unnamed sect 
who is required to treat all passing strangers as temporary guests, 
and who must act graciously toward them 
for the brief moment they are here.

To be such an open door host to 
the intangibles of the world 
is to be a person actively on the trail of 
the understanding.
 
 
 
 

                                
                               ADDENDUM
 

With the understanding 
you go from thinking that what people say & think 
about other people’s saying & thinking is dumb, 
to realizing that it is merely irrelevant.  
In fact about the only thought a human can have about other humans that is not irrelevant 
is the one that makes note that their words and ideas 
are irrelevant.
 
 

Until next time  --   be careful --
it is the weekend  -- the time when many locales 
set up road blocks to capture the unwary --
but all you have to do is: 
                    KEEP YOUR DOOR WIDE OPEN,
                       and never offer  RESISTANCE.

                     
                        …it’s foolish;
                            it’s useless  --
                            --  the cause of all confusion.
 

                            ...…(plus it's foolish & useless).

                                             J