Said a father to a son:
“All of man’s religions, legends, mythologies, fables, fairy tales, allegories,
classical novels and other fictional enchantments
can be validly viewed as his mind’s dream of transformation;
the tales of Daedalus to Buddha to Moses to Muhammad to Siegfried
to Gawain to Cinderella to Luke Skywalker,
all tell of a man who experienced a radical transformation;
when man’s nervous system has time away from survival essential activities --
it dreams  --  and but one dream it has: of transformation.

Something instinctive to the consciousness of man’s nervous system
drives it to dream of change: in one form: dreams of change to its external environment to make its survival more likely and comfortable, and in another form: dreams of change to the genetic temperament that causes the human
of which it is an indissoluble part to be the individual he be.
A man’s mind looks at the physical world around & in him,
and his nervous system motivates it to dream of how certain rearrangements could be made to material things therein to his physical benefit (technology);
his nervous system also shows itself in a man’s thoughts by spurring them to
dreams of how certain rearrangements could be made to the intangible world within,  (his personality) that would benefit him by transforming him into a better person.
The first order of dreams are (for us creatures with consciousness) as instinctive as
our desires for food, water and safety (all of which are made more probable thereby);
the second type are just as indigenous, but apparently less necessary
for our physical survival;
but what the dreams of personal transformation are is singularly striking;
under the right inner and outer conditions,
men can experience a marrow tingling sensation over the idea of transformation
(the death of an old self, with the birth of a new one) that for the moment,
can revive the excitement inherent in  survival drives (plainly posed):
a man whose instinctive needs are currently met
finds no higher joy in life than his mind’s dreams of a transformation,
be he feed it via religion, philosophy, great literature, popular novels, movies,
comic books or video games  --  ‘tis all the same:
men’s nervous systems cause their minds to dream up, write, film and in other ways, make available these dreams for other men’s minds to take in,
and give pleasure to their nervous systems.

If staying alive is man’s first duty,
his second is to dream of transformation:
to dream of himself not only as staying alive, but of becoming a better person,
but men’s standard idea of being able to transform themselves is a profitable illusion;
it is not possible, yet it is not possible for ordinary minds to directly confront it.
You cannot tell people that men cannot change what they are;
they will point to a man who was once a drunk, but who has stopped drinking,
and say that he has transformed himself, but all that has changed is his behavior
(from consuming alcohol to not consuming alcohol) and without being able to
fully confront it, even ordinary people unwittingly acknowledge this,
in the instant example by the commonly accepted assertion that:
“Once an alcoholic --  always an alcoholic” --
and that all a recovering one can in truth say is:
“I am an alcoholic --  but I have not had a drink in three years”  --
it is the unrecognized, intolerable realization that
no man can change what he was born as;
he can apparently change his behavior (which itself is not a closed subject
for the alert few), but can never change what he by genetic temperament IS.
 

As always: there are two versions of this affair on the human tree:
the one exercised by ordinary men,
and the special edition pursued by our family’s outlier neural branch,
and while conventional men are by and large satisfied with their dreams, discussions, and stories of transformation, the few of our unconventional blood line actually try to experience it (commonly called [inter alia] throughout the ages:
waking-up-from-a-dream; achieving enlightenment; being freed from captivity,
and all who even vaguely consider themselves involved with such
(whether they think of it in this term or not) are motivated solely by their
nervous system’s dream of a great transformation, and also inherent to this dream, (regardless of whether their thoughts are ever so verbally specific in the matter,
or not) is that the transformation will be of what they are,
but this is simply not so my son:
waking-up, achieving enlightenment, realizing-what-is-going-on
does not transform what you are, but your consciousness of life.
A man who has experienced enlightenment
is not a different man from what he was before,
but his mental perception of life, of himself, of others, and of all strictly human activity is fundamentally changed forever.
Men’s dreams of being other than they are, are but dreams  --
profitably motivating dreams  --  but still (in real time) -- just dreams,
but such also seem the norm for the less than full grown.
A transformation that is actually actionable
(for the few born with wiring and programming that presents the possibility)
is that of one’s perception, comprehension, understanding.

The belief that the great transformation changes what a person IS,
is what drives 99% of those who say they are struggling for it:
a man who thinks himself a part of (let us imagine)
The Muze School, or Tradition For Transformation
believes that when he has his time of enlightenment or awakening he will be transformed into a Muzer   --  a new man  --  a completely changed man,
and this dream has a deep, inherent attraction to men and their nervous systems
which make possible their thoughts and dreams,
and while it is strictly impossible to tell ordinary men that they cannot change
what they are, it is only slightly less so regarding those who seem to be involved in actual efforts to achieve the great, mystical transformation.
There appears no way to make those with our extraordinary interest
comprehensive of this fact in advance, and cause them, early on in their struggle,
to understand that what they are after will not change what they are,
but their consciousness of their self and of all things;
if told this, many will readily agree and insist they know this already, but they do not;
it is one of those things that you truly cannot know until you have personally
realized it on your own.
Someone can tell you that Istanbul looks like this or that:
give you detailed descriptions: draw you complex maps,
you can hear so much about the place that you can even talk about it
with a tone of authority and expertise,
yet when you finally step into the place, you are totally surprised:
it is not remotely like anyone ever imagines it will be;
and in the same way, until you realize for yourself what is really going on with life,
you cannot be usefully told that no man can change what he was born as,
and that the great transformation so cherished in principle by the few like us,
changes nothing other than the conception in your head of what you, others,
and life are, and that that is ALL that is needed (and indeed that)  –  that is all there IS.

Realizing that, is all there is to metaphysically realize;
understanding that, answers every question you ever had;
discovering this tells you everything you ever wanted to know;
this and this alone is  --  The Great Transformation;
after having it: you and everyone else are same as before,
and same as they have to be,
but now you know it  --   and by knowing it, you are in an inexplicable way, simultaneously NOT the same.

I have never said to you that this is how it is, but if man is a ventriloquist’s dummy
with someone else’s hand in its back working the controls and speaking the words,
then the great transformation of waking-up, achieving enlightenment, being liberated
is the personal realization of what is going on; (still not saying it is so, but):
even if man turns out to be a lip synching puppet in a play,
what could conceivably be of greater transforming force than understanding this,
or if it is not true (since even ordinary men under the right conditions
continue to debate the question) to conclusively see it?!
 

The reason I bring this up just now is to encourage you to look at the matter
in which you are so deeply involved in as precise a manner as is possible,
saving yourself wasted efforts down meaningless though attractive side paths;
think of what you are seeking not as a transformation of
what you by genetic temperament actually ARE,
but a transformation of all that you call knowledge and consciousness,
(more exactly): the totally unexpected transformation of the thing in you
that for so long has dreamed of transformation.
 

The Great Transformation is not that of a radio being changed from what it is, a radio, but of its receiving bandwidth being expanded: that would be the radio’s awakening.
 

 *If it did, you'd know everything you want to know.