JAN’S FRESH REAL NEWS
                           © 2001: Jan Cox
                                            *********************************************

September 22, 2001.
 
 
 
 

Man's thinking exists amidst a near unshakable illusion;
similar note has long appeared in various sources,
but scarce is its nature correctly mapped.

In the usual instances it is simply said that man lives in a,
                                       world-of-illusion,
a notion for which a few men,
notably dissatisfied with their understanding of the world
as limned by the thoughts routinely appearing in their heads,
are a ready audience.
The idea sounds like the perfect explanation-of,
and perhaps solution-to their discontent.
 
 

There are a variety of stories alleging the genesis of this
unreliable situation man finds himself in,
ranging from a supernatural curse, to an evolutionary misstep,
down to man’s bringing it on himself
through his own carelessness:
such are but minutiae,
for in practical activities, the cause is immaterial  --
all you can work on is  --  how things are now,
and some quite sane & intelligent people throughout history
have held that one significant thing is that:
                      Man lives in a world of illusion,
and that this explains his persistent bouts of otherwise inexplicable behavior and beliefs.
 
 

But for this to be a useful tool, clarification is required:
man, the being as a whole, does not live in any sort of illusion;
not your stomach; not your lungs; not your hands, not your feet.
Your physique resides in a world of pure reality (non illusion),
did it not do so, you would not be here to read these words;
so it is not true that, “man” lives in a world of illusion --
only his thinking…….....................and that, selectively;
for even here, man’s thinking is not in a state of illusion when
it is involved with survival activities.
If a man is cornered at the edge of a deep ravine
by a ferocious animal, and needs desperately an escape,
when he looks at vines hanging from  near by trees,
his thinking will accurately judge whether they are long enough
for him to swing on to the safety of the other side.
 

Thinking, in its primary role,
does not operate in a state of illusion, for if it did  --   again:
you would not --  in today’s world --  still be among the quick.
 

No, the reality of the idea that man lives in a realm of illusion
is a great distance from all of its usual interpretations,
and the challenge of the distance is not in its length,
but its direction.
The illusion that actually exists, which influences all men’s lives,
and so bothers the few is set in a location --  quite close by --
                           --  but near impossible to see.
 

When thought’s attention is not engaged in some specific activity
in the material world outside of you  --  it IS the illusion.

This is not literally true;
this statement is not a fully accurate description of
the nature of the illusion --  but none is possible in that
they all must come from human thinking,
which as was just above noted – is itself  --   the illusion.
But there is another way to approach this greased rodent:
                     No one is conscious of him self.

                     No one is conscious of him self;
                     no one is conscious of him self;
                     no one is conscious of him self;
                                  the idea is insane;
                     it clearly cannot be true  --  and yet:

                    what is it that says it cannot be so?
 
 
 
 
 
 

We are in an area which no words can adequately describe, since,
in one sense, we are trying to step into a part of our brain’s operation wherein are produced words;
wherein neural reality is composed entirely of words  --   but:
                         abandon not hope,
                         ye who enter the weasel grab;

it can be done --  and it vanishes all questions & complaints;
it can be done, but it is almost impossible to tell someone else how to do it, (but as long as it is just “almost” --  why stop now.)
 
 

The reality of the illusion so long verbally embraced by those
people with an inbred hunger to understand things beyond the ability of their innate mental processes
is in this, (be prepared; this at first can seem impossibly slippery;
excruciatingly frustrating, but also be fully assured;
it is not some “word game”
nor an attempt to be enigmatically “cute” and mysterious;
the explanation will be as straightforward as words allow,
and based entirely on it being experienced & understood:
just hold tight and stick with it):
 
 

              You have no consciousness of your self.

Your thoughts have an awareness of their coming & going,
and this produces what men call their,
consciousness-of-themselves.

If you are told that you have no consciousness of your self –
what occurs?   In your head you hear words automatically rejecting the notion,
and their very act of denial “feels-like” proof of its veracity;
but as a first step, let us try this:

(Let us pause a moment…………

……………………………................................okay, another step):
 
 
 
 

Thoughts are not really conscious of themselves --
--  how can they be?
This is not mere verbal hocus pocus (except to ordinary people);
ponder:
                 how can thoughts be conscious of themselves?
(or if this helps):
               how can thoughts think about themselves?

Who or what is there to  --   think-about-thoughts?

You know that you cannot stand beside yourself,
and introduce you to other people:
“Hello, meet my friend here – me,”
yet inside your consciousness this is in essence, the situation.
 
 
 
 

Here is another perspective of it:
               No man has any knowledge about himself;

you have knowledge of your body;
you look at the end of your arm and you know that is your hand,
but you have no knowledge about your self.
And again, when you are told this, thoughts instantly appear
in your consciousness, vigorously denying it,
but these are your, “self”  --   not your hands, or kidneys,
but your “self.”

Can you immediately spot what civilians might term a possible: “conflict-of-interest”?
Your thoughts (fulfilling their foremost responsibility of assisting
the rest of your operations in keeping you alive)
have knowledge correct of your physical being:
your thoughts have knowledge of your digestive condition;
they know when you have a headache;
thoughts know when an ill has persisted long enough to
seek treatment;
thoughts have sure, non illusionary knowledge of your body, but  --  thoughts have no knowledge of themselves,
and since what everyone calls their “self”
is composed of nothing but thought:
                 No one has any knowledge of themselves.
 
 

There is nothing more difficult to realize,
and rational analyzation of the attempt before hand will tell any ordinary, sane man that it is impossible  --  and there it is!
By accident,
the reality of the situation momentarily comes to light;
just for a second the thought flashes in your mind that there is no way to actually determine whether your thoughts have any knowledge of themselves since there is nothing in your consciousness but thoughts so there is nothing in your consciousness to say whether they have
knowledge of themselves or not.

When you are lucky  --  you glimpse it for a split second --
                                  --  and it is gone,
and your consciousness is suddenly back fully in the grip of ordinary thought which for useful purposes,
has no memory of what was just seen,
but if you persist in this  --   something begins to change;
you gets glimpses more frequently   --  and it does not take many;
one, in fact, and you will never be the same,
but it continually needs to be seen-to and refined.
 
 
 

If this strikes you as genuine and potentially profitable
(which cannot be predicted, nor affected) then do this:
keep repeating to yourself:

     “I do not actually have any consciousness of my self;”
 

This approach is demonstratively not for everyone who believes
they seek a non standard comprehension of what is going on in life, and few of those few find it even of interest,
but if it instantly intrigues you, pursue it;
for it can be more direct and personally efficient than any of the accepted disciplines & approaches to this elusive goal.
 
 

                                                  J