If a rightly wired man pursues his hunger for expanded sight past the pubescence stage, he will most certainly, on his own, come to the realization that each and every one of his likes and dislikes concerning things that are not essential to survival, things about which he has no instinctive reaction, are things that indeed, mean nothing to him…save when his consciousness is fully in their momentary grip.
As soon as he comes to his senses and realizes what is going on, his mind is free of their hold and he is aware once more that his consciousness, the very seat of who he is as an individual, had just been swamped and obliterated by unsolicited thoughts which automatically appeared in his head and high-jacked his awareness, proclaiming likes and dislikes about matters that mean nothing to him when he is in his best state of willfully controlled attention.
Thus, while at the outset it seems the proper course, the day comes when such a man must pull himself up close into his own face and confront and address the situation as it is: he is trying to suppress or vanquish meaningless thoughts of likes and dislikes regarding matters that mean nothing to him anyway. Is not something askew here? You are fighting what so far appears to be a futile battle against pesky little uninvited gophers whose heads keep popping up through your lawn. Then finally – FINALLY it hits you. You have no lawn….and even if you do, it means nothing to you.
Here is a Revised, Revamped, Recapitulation of the major theme:
First you have the majority of humanity; those never allowed to stop pretending that the likes and dislikes they express regarding non-physical matters, really matter to them.
Then you have those who see at least partially through the game, and decide it would benefit their understanding if they would free themselves from the hold of these meaningless and distracting likes and dislikes.
Then there are those who believe themselves cognizant of the above, but who never take that final step beyond.
(The arrangement could be thus limned):
The first group is entangled in a collective criticism of Cinderella’s wardrobe.
The second is engaged in trying to stop these criticisms from appearing in their mind.
And the third are those who never quite get around to the big realization: “Oh!…Cinderella’s imaginary to begin with…Oh! Now I get it.”
(…it is predictable that some readers will not like today’s News.)
J.