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2665_040201
Audio of Jan Cox 02 April 2001
Notes by CF
Title suggested — ” Do I have freedom of will?”
Begin: I was listening to a radio advertisement about how increasing your vocabulary would increase your success in life. At first sight and to those with an interest this is true.
05;00 This is the kind of example that first hit me that even though at first sight it appears true (to the portion of the collective mind that has an interest) there is no basis for saying it’s true or not true.
There are willfully propelled arguments for saying that increasing your vocabulary will increase your success (Ex. An interview for a job at Harvard and only having an eighth grade vocabulary) but it is still no more true than not true.
Where I am pointing tonight and probably the best overview of my example (You cannot say if is true or not true) is the question “Do we have Freedom of will?”
10:00 The freedom of will question “Can I change me?” cuts through years of examples. There is a continuing daily process where you are faced with two choices. (ex. Should I take this new job or not? etc) or when you are reflecting on choices made in the past. (What if I had majored in science instead of English? etc.)
The question “Do I have freedom of will?” gets to the heart of this. I could get anyone with an interest to nibble on this. You can look around and ask “Why are people like they are? Do people plan to be like they are? Why do people make the choices they do?”
15:00 “Do we have freedom of will” is closer to reality than questions like “do we have a soul? or is their a god?” Do we have freedom of will is at the heart of everything.
Asking yourself “Am I permanently awake?” after hitting your hand with a hammer; well, rest easy, sleep easy Buddha.
The real question is not “Am I permanently awake?” The real question is “Can I really do anything?” Can you decide you are going to change? You read that man can become more conscious and you want to do that. But if you have no freedom of will to become more conscious you wouldn’t know it.
20:00 But it gets better. If you have no freedom of will to become more conscious but are programmed to think we have freedom of will (to be more conscious) you will never know anyway.
(When thinking about all this you have to be prepared for a certain amount of internal dizziness)
It is impossible to know if we have the freedom of will to become more conscious. It is only possible to know what I am saying now. Think about all the choices you make on a daily basis. Do I want to go or not go to the meeting tonight? Do I want a cup of coffee? Do I need a cup of coffee? Should I have a cup of coffee? It is like a fractal.
I’ve recommended in the past to ask yourself constantly “Who is in charge?” Where do these decisions come from? Finally it hits you “Do “I” have freedom of will?” And am “I” actually doing anything.?”
Who is asking “Do “I” want a another cup of coffee or not?” When I reach for a cup of coffee and then stop-who stops me? That’s not one person. And then there you stand with your hand in mid air reaching for the cup of coffee and wonder “Should we bomb China or not?”
So I keep encouraging you to ask “Who’s in charge?” and beyond “Who’s in charge?” ask “Do I actually have a choice?” When you get good enough you can bring in the science of why coffee may be bad for you?
25:00 Does science change your mind? Does freedom of will change with the facts of science? But then you ask do the scientists have any freedom of will when it comes to doing the science? Why did the scientists pick out coffee drinkers?
It will strike you that the whole world could be predetermined and then it will hit you that the whole world could never know it. It is not possible to know if we have freedom of will. The implications of what we’re doing (wanting to be more conscious) after all this freedom of will stuff wrestles with you.
(It is not actual wrestling but it is like a phantom match.) It’s like you are whipped and stripped and laid out on the table. You look around and ask “How did I end up like this in life?” It is not possible to know. If there were no choices-that could be the key to enlightenment.
But I want you to go far enough to see-there is no such key, and if there is, it is not possible to locate it or even think about it. It is idiocy to say that anything that is non-tangible is either true or not true. Anything a human says is foolishness-even physical matters.
All you can say is some of it works. (ex. Keep whittling off the corners of that thing you have on that axle and the more corners you whittle off the better it will roll.)
30:00 You can say you understand the geometry behind the wheel but compared to what? All you can say is the wheel works. You can say you are not permanently awake but that you feel better and feel like you made progress. In other words-it works.
Yes it works but I am not permanently awake. But you don’t know if you are permanently asleep? This freedom of will to be more conscious never gives up. It is like the sky just gets brighter and brighter. I know its pretentious to say that “you don’t know anything.”
Nobody likes hearing it. (you don’t know anything) I did not like it when I first heard it. It is hard to make sense of it but it is the ultimate sense. It is the road that has no end. You have filed all these facts as being likely true or not true away in your brain and then you realize you don’t know anything.
You are free when you realize you don’t know anything. People study this stuff to get a head full of awakening. They do not realize that awakening is a head full of emptiness. Consider the ultimate question. “Do I have freedom of will?” Am “I” internally free or not free? It is impossible to know.
How can you figure your way out?
35:34
Jan’s Posted Daily Fresh Real News
April 2, 2001.
IT DOESN’T MATTER WHO HE SAYS HE IS —
— HE CAN’T TALK TO YOU LIKE THAT!
_______________
One man had a relative move in with him,
and while they superficially seemed to speak the same cultural & genetic language,
it soon became clear that something was out of phase at the relatives end of the communication dialogue.
One man had a relative move in with him,
and while they physically appeared to have
much in common,
it quickly became obvious that the relative was often operating as per some agenda unfamiliar to the man,
and not necessarily to his accountable advantage.
One man had a relative move in with him,
and based on their shared lineage
you would expect they had much to talk about,
but it proved otherwise — in a most curious way.
One man had a relative move in with him,
and they went everywhere together —
well..there’s another strange matter:
while they physically traveled together,
in that otherwise manner unique to humans,
it proved otherwise;
they were together, and yet — not together.
One man had a relative who moved in with him,
and while he was unquestionably kin to the man,
it turned out that he was equally related to everyone else on the planet — as his life long actions subsequently revealed —
and yet the man appeared not to notice
.(well, he acted like he didn’t notice?!
[curiouser, and curiouser]).
One man had a relative who moved in with him;
everyone on the planet has the same experience;
most accept the situation, and go on with their lives;
a few do not, and get embroiled in trying to change it;
most of these never accurately realize what it is that
they are attempting to do, nor what it is that drives them to make the attempt.
Fact: Even if you do not love, nor
particularly like them,
everyone still should accept their relatives for
who they are — like you have a choice, right?!
okay, so it does seem as though you have a choice,
but that’s the most curious slight-of-voice
ever experienced by ordinary man
in that it is the moved-in relative who says this.
(Ponder that during the commercials.)
*
No parent wants their child to end up crazy —
so they tell them not to talk to themselves —
they say it is unhealthy.
(Shows you the power the people in the box seats have over those in the bleachers, [and vice versa]).
*
On one planet the beings can look at the eastern horizon, then turn and look at the western one;
this totally disorients most of the population — but, most never notice it.
Fact: If you are discombobulated,
and not aware that you are — then you are not.
Fact: If you believe you are discombobulated,
but actually are not — you are.
Fact: No one is discombobulated —
— everyone believes they are.
*
Everyone wears a raincoat;
no matter the weather —
they’re always in the raincoat.
This of course is fortunate —
when it happens to be raining — but,
when it is not.welllllll
Fact: It is always raining somewhere.
in some poor slobs head — hence,
life’s preemptive measure of having
everybody wear raincoats
all of the time.
(Fact: Enlightenment is in
wearing your raincoat only when it is raining.)
*
All men have an inborn Information Detector,
but most of them have the annoying habit of
going-off in reaction to almost any noise,
(more precisely put is to say that hardly anyone
finds this annoying —
most men in fact enjoy it —
and will even purposefully seek out situations
that cause it to occur.)
Generally speaking, the Information Detector
signals in survival pertinent situations
when it is truly needed,
and thus fulfills its primary responsibility,
but most of its time is spuriously spent in going-off
in reaction to activities not literally necessary for physical survival — but by gawd!
activities that most men find entertaining!
Fact: A few like you do not find these activities entertaining enough to justify their Detectors constantly signaling over such.
Solution: Well, hell — that’s pretty obvious now, isn’t it?!
Fact: No it isn’t!
well, it may be “obvious,”
but it is not obvious what to do about it, now is it?!
And why is that? someone asks;
because it is not YOU complaining about the Detectors indiscriminate actions — it is the Detector doing so — SO, (and now the REAL question): NOW WHAT?!
Answer: WISE UP — simply:
take a look east — then to the west,
then to the one that
you love the best.
Hooray for ME !
…Cept for the fact that
there aint no ‘me’ here but the one doin the hooin’ –
(and some times doin’ the booin);
the one that never shuts up —
— or even actually speaks the language I do,
(least wise at those times when I suddenly
come-to-my-radical-senses, and am not distracted by
the Information Detectors specious squealing).
Well, (though you took a circuitous route),
you got there all the same;
you nailed it!
You pulled the squatting relative out of the shadows,
and saw him finally for who he is.
Congratulations!
NOW — what is your next problem?