There are two separate features to the, different-state-of-consciousness thing
of interest to the few, (and they are):
what you know and the condition of your consciousness:
what you permanently know that people of the ordinary state do not,
and whether at every given moment your consciousness is taut or lax.
The actual practical difference between being asleep and being awake is whether your instant consciousness is lax: (loose, slack, wandering,
and servant-of-circumstances),
or is taut: (tight, trim, tidy, and at attention).
 

Under routine, non critical circumstances
man’s normal state of consciousness is lax,
which coincides with his spending of such time in pursuit of distractions
to which his attention may temporarily attach itself and be dragged along.
Note: you cannot enjoy watching a movie with taut consciousness  --
--  it will seem silly,
but doing so with lax consciousness will give consciousness exactly what it was looking for:  something to occupy it without having to provide the something, (viz): it is lax consciousness’ way to make up for not being taut;
it is man’s natural, off-the-critical-clock state of consciousness,
wherein thought has no significant survival related problem to solve,
yet cannot be turned off any more than can breathing,
and it looks for something to occupy itself and consume its ever flowing energy,
and when it is thus so naturally engaged,
consciousness is in the condition the few have historically described as it:
being-asleep, unenlightened, and in captivity.
 
 

It is one thing to have sufficiently experienced that truly extraordinary,
anomalous neural condition the few have termed, waking-up, or having-your-enlightenment, which, (if it does not result in you becoming a common nut of some sort), gives you unquestionable, unforgettable personal proof that another state of consciousness is possible in the human brain
(or at least yours), and also instantly makes pretty clear to most who experience it, the operational distinction between: doing and thinking;
their consciousness, suddenly freed from the restrictions of thought,
simply sees  --  without distortion  -- what is essential and real outside of
man’s mental concepts thereof, and simultaneously recognizes
to the fullest extent, the other role mental concepts play in man’s second reality, which has no existence outside of his thoughts.
 

Those who do not harmlessly crumble under the non standard pressure
of this non standard experience can never totally forget that they once saw
without the least doubt, the clear distinction, far beyond any words,
between what is real and what is real only in men’s thoughts,
but that does not mean that their consciousness will forever be taut,
(as ‘twas the case during that wondrous brain experience);
you can know what is going on in life and yet have reoccurring
laxity of consciousness, which, for as long as the condition lasts,
constructively causes you to forget what you know;
not enough to wreck your life or destroy what you have privately achieved,
but sufficient to irritate the hell out of you, (again assuming that the
initial experience did not turn you into a sorehead, street person,
or publicly proclaimed: Enlightened Master).
 
 

So while you know permanently --  overall  --  what-is-going-on,
you can still be momentarily stupid & distracted
regarding what is going on in your consciousness:
it could be put that while your knowledge is taut --
the librarian in charge can be loose as a greased goose,
and constantly wander aimlessly away from her desk for no good reason  --
--  other than because she can  --   and it is her nature to do so.
 
 

Those who actively try to ChaseTheBullet usually end up enchanted with
one or the other of the above noted two features of the adventure;
they either adopt one of several ancient, and well known methods intended to bring on, or better facilitate the appearance of that unusual condition in the brain they call, Their Enlightenment or Awakening,
or else study the words of someone presumed already Enlightened
so as to learn what is really going on.
If you will push on past what everyone else has always said they have
done and accomplished,
there is a whole other, totally open ended, all encompassing,
unknown experience of this, other-state-of-consciousness thing,
(at least proven in one human case).
 
 

Even if you do not presently know for yourself what-is-going-on
that the rest of the world does not know,
you can at every moment do that which the rest of the world does not do --
-- and which is the collateral condition to knowing: taut your consciousness:
do not passively let the dog of your thoughts chase every passing car,
and certainly, (if you are serious about this), do not actively seek cars
for it to chase  --  not without realizing fully what you are doing.

One of the most snickeringly beloved pictures throughout the world is that of the
absent minded, distracted professor:
the intellectual genius who forgets why he came into the room,
and bumps into the door on his way out:
why its popularity?  --   lax consciousness loves exculpatory humor.

 
 
 
 
 Three times a week Jan speaks in greater detail on the matters about which he writes
which you can hear on the net via subscription.