August 4, 2001
Today
we cover another father-son dialogue,
with
the reminder that although it can be read as
a
conversation between two people,
(one
of whom understands more than the other),
it
is radically, a report on the arrangement & operation of
a
man’s consciousness.
___________________________
____________________________
It
is early Saturday morning,
and
the unified duo are already pretending to goof-off -- out on
the patio,
relaxing
on chase-lounges,
next to bring-‘em-down
refreshments,
and
after a period of expected verbal nothingness,
the
father began a spiel concerning a subject to which he returns periodically.
“There is another thing that
men refuse to face:
that no one can impart any wisdom to anyone else,
(and again I cannot resist adding
parenthetically the note that something is terribly amiss even in my opening
statement,
for what men ‘face’ is whatever
they are conscious of,
so whatever it is that I am
about to say that men will not face --
is clearly already known to
my consciousness –
and I am just a regular person
-- so it is assuredly known by
every other normal person --
so it cannot be that there are
things that the human brain knows
about that it can then refuse
NOT to know about.
I am aware that I raise this
issue continually as an aside,
but if you keep screwin’ with
me I’m gonna finally drag
the whole thing out and force
you to confront it as a major topic!
…But -- it is the weekend,
and I will, [for the moment],
let by gones be hot scones
-- here boy, have another & pass the jam).
Consciousness’ world of thought
is both useful and entertaining:
the former obviously being its
primary role,
and the latter, what it does
when not being useful,
but men normally make no defining
distinction between the two;
this failure does no harm in
the many, but devastates the few,
a scant few who irrepressibly
want to understand more about --suddenly finding themselves here --
alive --
and with conscious thoughts
endlessly running through them
which everyone else seems satisfied
with.
For this minuscule minority,
not facing this clear fact
-- speels doom!,
(Even, I might add, if your
spelling is not all that good.)”
The
son smiled – but then again,
the
old man liked to imagine that his son was
always
happily-receptive, after all:
what
is a man’s imagination For,
if
not for him to delude himself in ways pleasurable?! --
and
this e-mail just in:
”Sometimes
while reading your daily news, I get confused?!?!,
(but
my twin brother says I was confused LONG before you came along.”
“Everyone is aware that, ‘wisdom’
in the form of
practical instruction &
information is not only possible,
but is fundamental to sustaining
man’s civilized existence;
any wisdom that one man has
concerning something that you can physically put your hands on --
he can impart to another:
a man with automotive knowledge
can show you how
to replace spark plugs --
but a man who says he receives metaphysical wisdom from the ghost of Henry
Ford cannot --
for the life of him --
pass it along to you;
you’ll just have to take his
word that he has it -- and that it is valuable.
For the säke of this conversation,
(yes, pour me some more, please),
let us use two different words
to make an expedient contrast:
we will speak of: knowledge,
and of, wisdom
as being two separate entities:
now, knowledge, (as I mean it
here),
is always about physical things:
either about your own body,
or about the world outside of
your body,
and this kind of information
that we are calling knowledge,
can be conveyed from one person
to another,
(as in my automotive example)
-- but -- ‘wisdom,’
(as we are calling it for the
purpose of comparison),
is always about things that
are not physical,
and whether they use these particular
two words are not,
ordinary people do understand
this distinction,
even though its conscious acknowledgment
is not on mankind's standard
menu.
What I point to is that which
has given birth to the word, ‘wisdom,’
(as opposed to, ‘knowledge,’
which concerns physical things),
and it is a realm which has
no physical reality --
a whole universe of things which
exist only in man’s thoughts.
This mentally invented world
serves purposes both useful,
and entertaining --
not as immediately useful as
his body’s constant monitoring of
its own internal and the world’s,
external conditions,
but useful nonetheless, (as
always, the idea of God being the
most significant example, in
that the ostensible belief in
a supernatural being with supernatural
knowledge & power
who wants man to act in a civilized
manner --
-- with painful consequences
does he not do so --
is a strong incentive to act
civilized),
and since the human brain, via
its thought production -- invented God,
it must also invent what it
says God says,
so whatever wisdom one man,
(be he priest or layman),
says he has concerning God --
he cannot impart to anyone else;
he can certainly repeat aloud
the words his brain has used in its construction of its idea of God, but
whatever, 'wisdom'
you get from these words will
only be whatever thoughts they
stir up in your brain’s collateral,
deity-creation.”
The
baked, and the half-baked goods beckoned,
and
the father reached for the pilsner-doughboy.
”Of course God & religion
are not the only examples of this:
If, let us say, through his
studies, (or in spite of them),
a particular psychiatrist has
gained some real
personal understanding regarding
some feature of
man’s non-physical being about
which
some of his patients say they
have a ‘problem’ --
(and let us even call this his,
‘wisdom’),
but he too will be unable to
impart what he understands;
no matter how conscientious
and well meaning he may be,
he will never be able to convey
what he realizes,
in a manner that is useful,
(like is knowledge of spark plugs),
to a patient about their
problem.
He can read to them the Clinical
Diagnosis that the
mentally invented field of Psychiatry
has adopted for such occasions, and may even recognize that what HE understands
about the patient's so-called, ‘problem’
he is not able to adequately
describe to him,
or at least, no patient has
ever shown any sign that he did so --
which would be obvious in that
the patient would suddenly be as
pleased & excited --
nay, enlightened -- as was the psychiatrist
when he first realized
it.
No, my boy,
when it comes to, ‘wisdom’
as opposed to, ‘knowledge,’
any wisdom that one ordinary
man may believe he has
is stuck in him -- and
for very good reason:
it is imaginary wisdom --
in that
it is wisdom about imaginary
things.
Knowledge is knowledge about
things;
wisdom is knowledge about things
man made up.
Certainly, (if you want to),
you can pretend to describe
to someone
what God, (or Henry Ford’s ghost),
was like when you saw him,
and they, (if they want to),
can pretend to believe your description,
and under routine conditions,
routine people are not harmed by such episodes --
look around you --
they transpire day & night, everywhere;
under various sobriquets, (such
as: The Arts, Literature,
Culture, Education), they are
the very bedrock of civilization,
but when we move the matter
into the area of interest to
the likes of us
polecats & outcasts -- it gets -- SERIOUSSSSSS!
Those born with the added gift
of wanting to
subsequently give new birth
to their own thinking operations,
have faith in a specific form
of, ‘wisdom’
even more so than do the ordinary in their futile flailing:
those who speak in terms of,
being-asleep & wanting to, awaken,
have, built-into their thinking
there about,
the seemingly undoubtedly correct
assumption that
if some other person IS,
‘awake’ -- with the wisdom attendant thereto - that they can
impart same to you;
(they may demand large payment,
and require you jump through
hoops, [or, hops, as per taste]),
but at the very heart of the
entire concept of there being a
great ancient, honorable &
secret, Mystical Knowledge
is the unquestioned belief that
it is wisdom -- information --
that can be conveyed --
one person to another;
if this not be so --
then of what possible use is it?!
Ah HAH! Me thinketh we
geteth somewhereth now!”
The
father stood & stretched,
as
the son stretched his mind in preparation.
”’Waking-up,’ (as has been so
long called),
certainly apprises a man of
a -- Real Secret:
via the life long ripening of
this eye/I-opening experience,
a man comes to have an understanding
-- yes, a wisdom
--
regarding being alive; being
human; having thoughts,
but The
Liberating, Enlightening Secret
is not in any
of those thoughts, and thus cannot, thereby, be conveyed.
For those with, The
Interest,
hearing it talked-about by those
who know -- even by those who don’t - is a singular pleasure
-- unique entertainment -- but that’s all it is,
(of course the few who, really
know -- know this,
the others delude themselves
as much as they do their listeners).
But having your thoughts entertained,
(even though that be one of
their two natural features),
is not the same as having your
thoughts, usefully informed;
your thoughts can certainly
be entertained by ideas about,
being more conscious & wise --
but thoughts are still thoughts
-- no matter their subject,
and there are simply no thoughts
which = Enlightenment, nay my boy –
damn near the opposite!
-- yes sir -- real
damn near.”
The
father began to police the area, and the son joined in;
and
as they walked the utensils & artifacts back into the house,
(or
at least the physical structure in which they seemed to reside), the elder
said:
“In concussion, let me say this:
the second stickiest, and, most-difficult-to-see
snare
is in believing that the ‘wisdom’
a man gains when he escapes from
the thinking inherent in ordinary consciousness,
and moves to another one -- is transferable;
the most captious of
all traps is: believing that -- expecting
that --
the conversations you hear in
your own head about, waking-up
have the potential of conveying
the necessary, inner-cranial-wisdom
to bring it about,
(in otto words): that you listening
to me talk about waking-up
will eventually WAKE you up;
the most ridiculous of pictures: that your own brain is going to somehow
reach down, grab its feet, and
hoist itself above its head."
They
were now in the kitchen, setting down their load, and the father said:
”So -- that is the, Good
News,” and the son said:
”So what is the bad news?” and
the father replied:
“Now you know
-- there IS no bad news,”
and they both had
a hearty, unifying laugh --
-- at wise men’s expense.
J
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