*image by Ben Harubin

Rats in a maze,
rats in a maze,
you know, hits amazin' that
them damn rats are stupid enough
to stay stuck in that simple maze.
(Downright ah-mazin'!)

The unrealized reason that men are so enamored by ideas concerning death
is that they non-mentally know that they essentially live their lives not in
the mind (where the mind says that they do) but someplace else -- a someplace else
that could be more attractive were it freed from the mind.

A Feathery Ode:
"I shot myself into the air,
and where I fall, I do not care."

To experience life newly and differently you must be in a particular "balance,"
a new and different balance that each person must discover for themselves.

For you to be free, the mind must be let free to be itself -- not let be itself, but let free to be itself.
The man who knows the difference, knows the difference.

As men begin to arouse themselves from slumber, they start to see their own life as a metaphor;
for what, specifically, is unclear, but they feel most assured that their individual existence is
but a metaphor for something greater.

Then as they become able to actually arise from their bed of distraction and step out
of their darkened room into the natural light, metaphors and allegories disappear
in the splendor of everyday things just as they are.

"No mental allusions for us, thanks -- we're driving."
"Oh, really? -- where you folks off to?"
"Well, originally we wanted to go to Istanbul, or Shangri-la, or somewhere mystically east of here,
but now we'll settle for wherever we go."
"Well that's just great! You folks have a nice trip, and be sure and don't ever come back -- er,
that is, except for a visit. Bye now."
And off they went, getting maximum mileage from their efforts
by seeing and taking things just as they are.

One man says that all of his metaphysical efforts and studies are finally beginning to pay off,
and with such intensity and with such magnitude that on some mornings he is able to stand free
in the middle of the room, holding on to nothing – and put on his socks without falling over and
hurting himself!