Summary = TBD
Condensed News Items = See below
News Item Gallery = jcap 1999-02-17 (99023) -2318
Transcript = None
Key Words =
The News
99023-1
THE NEWS FOR FEBRUARY 17,1999
THERE WAS ONCE A MAN WHO HAD SPENT HIS LIFE INVOLVED WITH THAT CERTAIN EFFORT, AND ONE DAY HE STOPPED, LOOKED BACK ON ALL THAT HAD HAPPENED,
REFLECTED ON HIS TRIUMPHS AND FAILURES,
AND PONDERED THE POSSIBILITY OF WRITING A BOOK, DETAILING HIS LIFE & STRUGGLE, SO AS TO ASSIST OTHERS WHO MIGHT JUST BE STARTING THE GREAT ADVENTURE.
BUT — HE WAS BY THEN AWAKE ENOUGH TO REALIZE THE FOOLISHNESS OF WHAT HE’D MOMENTARILY CONSIDERED.
YOU WANT IT SIMPLE & DIRECT? — THEN I’LL GIVE IT TO YOU: SIMPLE & DIRECT:
THE ONE INFALLIBLE SIGN OF A CONSCIOUSNESS ALIVE & AWAKE IS THAT IT HAS
NOTHING ELSE IT WANTS TO HEAR, AND CORRELATIVELY HAS NO DESIRE TO IMPOSE ON OTHERS WORDS WHICH WILL SERVE THEM NO BENEFIT.
IN THE HOUSES OF THE ENLIGHTENED-: — ALL IS QUIET,
IN THE HOMES OF THE ORDINARY — ALL IS NOISE AND CONFUSION.
* * *
SOONER RATHER THAN LATER SHOULD YOU CLEARLY RECOGNIZE & ACCEPT THE FACT OF YOUR OWN UNCHANGEABLE, PHYSICALLY INHERITED “DISPOSITION”:
IT IS SLEEPING AND SELF DELUDING THINKING THAT DENIES THIS OBVIOUS REALITY, AND INSISTS THAT A MAN IS WHATEVER HE DREAMS & THINKS THAT HE IS,
AND IS THUS CAPABLE OF ANY CHANGE IN HIMSELF THAT HE MIGHT DESIRE.
IT’S ALL MERELY A PLEASANT, MEANINGLESS DREAM…UNLESS YOUR WISH IS TO AWAKEN.
* * *
PASSING NOTE: ANYONE WHO TELLS YOU HOW MAN IS AND HOW HE COULD BE, OR SHOULD BE,
IS INCORRECT: THERE IS NO REALITY WHATSOEVER TO SUCH WORDS….UNLESS YOUR DESIRE
IS TO BE FREE.
WHICH CAN LEAD ONE TO THE QUESTION OF: “WELL WHAT CAN I DO THAT IS WORTH WHILE?” THERE WAS ONCE A MAN WHO HAD ACRES OF POSSESSIONS, WHICH WERE DIFFICULT TO
KEEP UNDER HIS CONTROL, SO HE CONDENSED THEM ALL DOWN [NT° JUST ONE LITTLE PIECE, ABOUT THE SIZE OF A PENNY.
…ONE OF THE NICE THINGS ABOUT A PENNY IS THAT IT CAN NEITHER HEAR NOR SPEAK.
99023-2
WHEN IT WAS LEARNED THAT THE KING WOULD BE VISITING THEIR MONASTERY
EVERYONE WAS QUITE EXCITED, SAVE ONE MONK,
AND WHEN ASKED ABOUT HIS APPARENT INDIFFERENCE TO THE UPCOMING
AUSPICIOUS OCCASION, HE REPLIED:
“WHAT CAN FURTHER INCITE A MAN ONCE HE HAS BEEN IN THE PRESENCE OF ONE AWAKE?!”
SAME ALSO AS REGARDS ALLOWING ROUTINE IDEAS, (THE SAME KINDS THAT OTHER MEN HAVE), TO EFFECT YOU — ONCE YOU’VE TROD IN THE LAND OF CLEAR AWARENESS.
* * *
PASSING NOTE #2:
ANYONE WHO CLAIMS THAT MAN IS GOING DOWNHILL, DOESN’T KNOW ANYTHING: AND ANYONE WHO SAYS THAT MAN IS PROGRESSING, DOESN’T KNOW ANYTHING, ALL-IN-ALL: ANYONE WHO HAS ANYTHING TO SAY ABOUT MAN AND HIS DESTINY IS TOTALLY IGNORANT.
SEE, SINCE THE MIND IS NOT LIABLE TO BE ACTUALLY “HURT” BY ITS MISTAKES,
(LIKE IS THE CASE WITH THE BODY),
IT IS FREE TO SAY WHATEVER MOMENTARILY STRIKES ITS FANCY.
…AND THERE IS NOTHING INHERENTLY “WRONG” IN THIS SITUATION,
JUST AS LONG AS YOU KNOW IT FOR WHAT IT IS.
BEING AN IGNORAMUS IS NOT THE WORST FATE THAT CAN BEFALL YOU — BUT, NOT REALIZING IT — IS.
PASSING NOTE #3: THE AWAKENED DON”T KNOW ANYTHING….AND ARE PROUD OF IT!
* * *
THE HEAD OF A CERTAIN MONASTERY DECIDED THAT THINGS HAD BECOME TOO COMPLACENT, SO HE CALLED ALL OF THE MONKS TOGETHER AND BEGAN TO TELL THEM THAT HE WAS AN ALIEN FROM ANOTHER PLANET, AND THAT THE ENTIRE CONCEPT OF BECOMING, “ENLIGHTENED” WAS BASED ON THE NATURAL STATE OF CONSCIOUS OF CREATURES OF ANOTHER WORLD, AND WAS SIMPLY TRANSPLANTED TO EARTH BY SUCH AS HE,
AND JUST AS HE WAS REALLY WARMING UP TO HIS VERBAL UNDERTAKING, ONE YOUNG MONK STOOD, AND SAID: “IF THIS ISN’T GONG TO HELP ME AWAKEN, THEN I’VE GOT
CHORES TO DO.”, AND THE ELDER THEN CONCLUDED THAT THINGS THERE WERE PROBABLY GOING ABOUT AS WELL AS COULD BE EXPECTED.
99023-3
AFTER MANY YEARS OF STRUGGLING TO AWAKEN,
ONE MAN LAID OUT BEFORE AN ORDINARY FELLOW, ALL THAT HE HAD DONE, AND ASKED THE MAN: “DOES THIS MAKE ANY SENSE AT ALL TO YOU?”, AND AFTER SOME EXAMINATION & REFLECTION, THE MAN REPLIED: “NO”, “GOOD”, SAID THE STRUGGLER.
FACT: IF THERE REMAINS A SINGLE IDEA THAT STILL “MAKES SENSE” TO YOU, YOU STILL DON’T GET IT.
THINGS “MAKING SENSE” IN MAN’S MENTALLY BASED SECONDARY WORLD AMOUNTS TO JACK OBVIOUSLY HAVING TO “CLIMB THE BEANSTALK ” SINCE LIP IN THE SKY WAS WHERE THE,TREASURE LAY.
* * *
IF YOU PICTURE THE MIND AS A RIVER BED,
AND THOUGHTS AS THE WATER FLOWING THRU IT,
THEN ALL COULD BE FURTHER PICTURED AS “BEING WELL” UNTIL THERE IS A STOPPAGE.
…DOES ANYONE BESIDES ME NOT UNDERSTAND THIS?’
OKAY, HOW ABOUT THIS:
YOU WOULD NOT SEE SLEEP AS A PROBLEM, IF IT WERE NOT PERIODICALLY — INTERRUPTED.
ONE MAN CONCLUDED THAT THE KEY TO EVERYTHING IS, “CONSISTENCY”….
…BUT LATER CAME TO BE LESS AND LESS CERTAIN AS TO WHAT PARTICULAR FORM OF
CONSISTENCY HE WAS SPEAKING OF?!
…CONSISTENCY OF “EFFORT”‘
….CONSISTENCY IN REFRAINING FROM USELESS EFFORT’
….CONSISTENCY IN NOT BEING SURE WHICH CONSISTENCY IS OF IMPORTANCE?!
NOW DOES ANYONE ELSE BESIDES ME BEGIN TO NOT UNDERSTAND IT? ….COME ON, YOU’RE IMAGINARILY — WALKING-TOO-SLOW.
* * *
IT IS A SETTING, (THORNY INDEED), WHEN YOU ATTEMPT TO RIDE A STEED, AND ALL THE WHILE, YOU BELIEVE,
THAT YOU AND THE MOUNT ARE TWO.
99023-4
WOULD YOU LIKE FOR ME TO AGAIN RE-STATE THE ULTIMATE CHALLENGE AS I NOW SEE IT TO BE (IT IS THUS):
THOSE DESIROUS OF ACHIEVING THAT SPECIAL CONDITION OFTEN CALLED, “ENLIGHTENMENT”,
ARE PEOPLE WHO ARE SEVERELY DISSATISFIED WITH A CERTAIN ASPECT OF THEIR
MENTAL LIFE, AND WHO ARE PREPARED TO MAKE EFFORTS TO CHANGE SAME.
(BUT THEN THE TRICKY PART MAKES IT APPEARANCE),
THAT ASPECT OF THEIR MIND THAT IS DISSATISFIED WITH THAT OTHER ASPECT
IS JUST ANOTHER ASPECT OF THAT ASPECT.
IT IS A SETTING, (THORNY INDEED),
WHEN YOU ATTEMPT TO RIDE A STEED.
AND ALL THE WHILE YOU BELIEVE. THAT YOU AND THE MOUNT ARE TWO.
WHY WORRY ABOUT THE POSSIBILITY OF BEING FOOLED BY OTHERS WHEN YOUR OWN THINKING ALREADY HAS THE JOB NICELY IN HAND?!
AND YET STILL ANOTHER WAY OF CONSIDERING THIS ENTIRE CIRCUMSTANCE IS LIKE THIS:
YOU STRENUOUSLY SQUINT
IN AN ATTEMPT TO GET A GOOD VIEW OF THE SQUINT.
…WE ATTEMPT, FOOLISHLY, TO SEE OUR OWN EYEBALLS.
(AND I SAY, “FOOLISHLY”,AS REGARDS YOU NOT BEING AWARE OF THE CIRCUMSTANCES).
PRIVATELY, ONE MAN SUMMED UP HIS LIFE TIME EXPERIENCE IN THIS AFFAIR THUS: I CAME TO RIDE,
AND EVENTUALLY BELIEVED MYSELF IN THE SADDLE:
THEN OFF I WENT FOR MANY YEARS, ON A MOST EXHILARATING FLIGHT,
BUT SLOWLY I BECAME AWARE THAT I HAD ACTUALLY, GONE-NO-WHERE,
AND THAT THE RUSHING OF THE WIND,
AND THE FRANTIC PASSING OF THE SCENERY AROUND ME
WERE ALL BUT MANIFESTATIONS OF MY OWN MIND
AS I HAD BEEN SITTING MOTIONLESS
ON MYSELF.
A LITTLE KNOWLEDGE MAY BE BETTER THAN NONE,
BUT KNOWLEDGE OF A CERTAIN LITTLE MATTER IS BETTER THAN ALL THE REST COMBINED.
DO NOT FOREVER ATTEMPT TO RIDE THAT GHOST HORSE:
BELIEVE ME, GETTING BACK IN TOUCH WITH SIMPLE REALITY IS MUCH MORE FUN& BENEFICIAL
A HORSEMAN WITHOUT WANTS IS A HORSEMAN WHO’S HOME.