November 20, 2003                                                                 © 2003: JAN COX

The History Of Everything That Means Anything (To The Few).
Before life (you, man) appeared on this planet,
everything was physically just like it was;
once man had thoughts, he began to rearrange things on the planet
to make survival easier (technology);
when he had survival in hand, he began to spend his time telling stories (culture);
you could say that the first is essential and the second not,
but both are for man as we know him now;
you can’t live without food, but you can without myths and culture,
but clearly inherent in man is the desire for same.

The more that a man’s thinking dwells on matters of culture and not survival,
the more important to him seems the former,
reaching in some, such a pitch that they will sacrifice the latter
in the name of some cultural/political/religious idea,
but in all men does story telling become so intermingled with descriptions of
the physical world as to be perfunctorily indistinguishable therefrom.
Same as with all life forms: man’s special instinct keeps him alive;
the technology his thinking has created makes his staying alive more likely;
the culture, also flowing from his thoughts, makes his life more interesting.

Before he had thoughts,
man had no more questions about being alive than do other animals,
but once he had free time to think about matters other than survival,
he became full thereof and disturbed that he could find no answers thereto  --
so he began making them up, via mythology, religion and psychology,
stories which he found sufficiently entertaining to keep his initial disturbance at bay.

A few humans show up now and then on this planet
who do not find the stories acceptably pacifying and search for more:
they want to actually understand: Why the questions!  --  and:
Why are no answers forthcoming in the same area in which the questions appear?
(in other words):
they see that physically, man’s life is no different than that of other animals,
that it is his life in his thoughts (his cultural story telling) that is his singular feature,
and that therein lies what they seek.
But most of these people still fall into story-telling’s trap
of believing that the info they are after is in some story,
(confusion compounded; letting an apparition subject you to a mirage it created).
No words/info from any of man’s story telling contain what the few hunger for;
the only thing that will satisfy them is the full, personal recognition of
what has been herein mentioned.

“Tell me, old man, “said the kid: “What is the most difficult thing to overcome?”
    “Moods.”
“Is it impossible?”
    “You’d do yourself good not to use that word   (even if it’s true).
      You need to always weigh the sound of a word against what
      your mind will take it to mean.”
 
 
 
 

Whenever he’d look in the mirror at his nervous system, one man would always say: “You should be nice to me:
for all you know, you’ll never see me again.”
 
 

News Of The Kitchen And The Cranium.
Father points to head  -- and to a son says: “Shake well before using.”

Inside his cortical cupboard door, one non aligned thinker has posted this reminder: “Keep nothing on hand.”
(Indeed: the nervous system chef’s motto: “Use it  --  then trash it!”)

Definition.
Philistine: Those with an inherent aversion to:
enlightening entertainment (that is):
the exposing of man’s story telling and myth making.

The rule in city kitchens: “Never anything new!  --
                                              use what’s available, then use it again.”

From our: In Spite Of Everything Department.
If  --  in this entire universe  --
there is anything remotely resembling freedom  --
and if it has a name, it is: man’s thinking.
“That’s a mighty big if,  huh, Dad?!”
      “Rhetorically --  but to our obscure family line, if  is irrelevant;
       if you are controlled by, if   --  you will never complete the course.”

The dense are programmed to believe they know everything;
a fact they are wired to disguise by saying: “Well I certainly don’t know everything…”
One legend says that consciousness has a first name: P.T.
(and one man says: “Being a sucker is not so bad  --
it’s the being reborn one over and over that is.”)
 
 
 

As the knight prepared again to go out on his quest,
he cinched tight his armor,
sheathed his sword, and said to his trusty steed:
“Should I today fall in battle, and you return here alone,
and any ask about me, tell them I smiled at fate as I fell.”
A man-who-knows embraces the inevitable as well as ordinary men do,
semi attractive women.

A man’s allegiance to any group, institution or myth bars any chance for the independence of thought necessary for success in the special quest.

Math Update.
Anyone who can count to two should be able to count to three,
(unless of course, you’re ordinary).

One guy says that he ain’t gonna be a patsy for anybody!  --
including his own thoughts! --
an admirable aim  --
but few ever recognize in what precise direction to shoot.
 
 

                                                 The fish who catch-on,
                                                 are not those who study water,
                                                 nor those who study fish,
                                                 but students of gills.