WHAT IT IS, BRO?
 
 

What you are instinctively is the truth about you;
via thought do men try to lie about themselves,
always with the intention that it be to their benefit.

If by instinct you are not physically graceful,
through mental alertness to movement,
you can lie about what you are, and be less clumsy.
A person with a nasty temper can mentally curb his tongue, and a timid man can, with his mind’s help, project an image otherwise.

This is the background to all forms of 
“self-improvement”;
there is first some instinctive proclivity with which your thinking finds fault, and determines as costly;
instincts have no reason to ever alter their own behavior other than from physical pain,
an experience the mind does not favor, 
nor finds practical.
From the mind’s perspective, any changes to instinctive behavior will have to originate in it, 
and can only be accomplished using methods 
it must design.
 

Everyone’s instincts are perfectly happy just as they are  --  that is why they are your instincts --
but no one’s mind is perfectly satisfied with the instinctive truth-about-themselves;
this situation is responsible for all features of Culture, and all desires to be-a-better-person.
Civilization is based on men lying about what they are.
 
 

Most people’s desire to be better manifests itself physically; they want to change the way they look;
they want to be more attractive, 
(as defined by their mind  -- 
a definition that is determined by their body’s 
instinctive hormonal condition).
Dieting, the gym, cosmetic surgery, 
alcohol & daydreaming 
are all popular approaches to this goal.
Others feel the need to improve themselves in a way that does not seem directly connected to their physique  --  they want to change the way they feel --
--  they want a less disturbing emotional life,
(as conceived of by their mind --
a conception dictated by their instinctive
hormonal balance).
Analysis, counseling, the church,
alcohol & day dreaming 
are all favorites in this area.
A few other people’s desire to improve themselves
shows up in the backyard of the very thing promoting the desire: they want to improve the way they think -- 
--  they want a more knowledgeable mind,
(as such is pictured by their mind --
a function of their brain -- 
whose life depends on the body’s instinctive hormonal 
nourishment).
Reading, conversation, schooling,
drugs & day dreaming 
are all commonly employed
in this pursuit.
 
 

Thus is completely covered 
all forms of humans wanting to, ”improve themselves”!
 

…Well…...
there is this teeny faction that was left out; 
a small number of people who are driven by a 
hunger to change 
that does not neatly fit any of the above, otherwise, 
all inclusive categories.
Some of them may certainly desire a 
physical appearance different from the one they have;
and a more pleasant emotional life,
and an intellectual world with expanded boundaries,
and enriched contents  --  BUT! --
there is more;
alterations in those three areas of their life & body
leaves them still feeling that something is lacking,
and the lack is not nearly so susceptible to verbal description as the above of: body, mind & emotions.
This minute historical group is driven by a desire to
improve themselves that can only be understood through an understanding of the desire itself.
 

In truth: the desire has no tangible objective;
the desire is a throbbing arrow that has no target;
a thirst without a throat;
a need without a cause.
 

The cause IS the cause;
the desire is all there is;
the desire is its own goal;
the hunger is its own fulfillment.
 

Everyone is what they instinctively are:
that is the truth about themselves;
everyone’s mind wants them to be other than they
instinctively are, and to attempt this,
the mind must lie about what the person instinctively is.
With everyone else, this arrangement runs smoothly;
culture continues to flourish;
technology makes life increasingly comfortable,
and the entertainment industries meet the needs of people with much free time to fill,
but the normal market place responds not at all 
to the cravings of the splinter group;
a person, part of this faction, 
provides not only the desire, 
but must also --  its fulfillment as well.
 

There is no help coming  --
there is none available  --
none exists.
Those with the desire must invent its fulfillment;
must create it; must construct it; must make it up,  (which is to say):  they must come to realize the nature of this desire of a finger to touch its tip.

               Nothing else will ever do them.
 

                                     J