*image by Ben Harubin

That Certain Step is never taken without a particular taste of madness.

I once met a man who swore he was "truly religious." He said he was aware of the many philosophical arguments against such, and that he was familiar with logical disproofs. But he said, "No matter -- religious I am, and religious I shall always be." I expressed my interest in such an attitude and belief, and invited him to sit with me and persuasively explain the basis for his deep convictions. He screwed up his face, looked at his watch, and said, "Ah, to hell with it!"

 

I once heard a story:
There was a man who had been discoursing with a group of listeners about a thing he called "the mighty Battle," and one day he called them all together and said, "I need to confess. All this time, I have lied to you. I simply read about the mighty Battle in a book. I don't have any more idea what it is about than you do. I've made up everything I've told you. I'm a liar and a fraud. Everything I've done has been a waste."

Well, there was crying and screaming; people looking blank and confused. It was total shock and dismay as they all stumbled and ran away. All except for one man who just continued to sit there. The sham-teacher screamed at him, "Didn't you hear me? Didn't you hear what I said? Run, get away from here."
And the fellow said, "Never mind all that shit; it's too late. I almost understand it all."

Once, after many years of tiring effort and fortuitous fate, a man found himself "Enlightened" and in the presence of the G.S.S.I.O.S.T. (The Great Secret Spirit In Charge of Such Things) and the man just stood there for days and hours, smiling and grinning and marvelling at the whole affair. Finally his voice arrived, he laughed aloud, then said, "Woooooooo, wowwwwwwwww, ahhhhhhhhh; Great Spirit, I can't wait to go back and tell all my friends about it and help them gain this understanding." And the Spirit said, "Good Luck."

A wandering swami once came by and proclaimed that the secret of Enlightenment was to stand on one leg forever and ever, and a group of listeners decided he was crazy, and they were right.

Another swami came by and announced that one could gain Enlightenment by eating only camel-burgers. The same group of listeners said he was deluded, and they were right.

A third swami came to visit and taught that Enlightenment would result if only men would rhythmically beat on their temples with large pieces of broken pottery. The group of listeners went off and discussed the matter, and decided that the law of averages was bound to catch up with them, and began breaking up plates and pitchers to get on with the job at hand.

All hail and greetings, oh great men of earth. Is it not pleasant to learn that all ideas of change are far, far away, while the possibility of nothing is always right at hand.

There can be no possibility of "self-improvement" without a self,
and only those tied to an imaginary-self know this.

In the Life-of-Life, into which man is born, there is yet another something, a verbal map which I shall roughly sketch for the Consideration of the Serious. This something has to do with the general state of ordinary man, and also offers another possible threshold toward the idea of a true, positively-held emotion. This something is a Certain Discontent, a discontent with no name. Although it has no ordinary name, this Certain Discontent is known to all men by its relentless flow and presence, and its unknown manifestations are in truth, the known manifestations of all human activity. A discontent, a Certain Discontent.