Notes on Jan Cox Talk # 2682
/2682_05-11-2001
Audio of Jan Cox 11th May 2001
Copyright Jan Cox, Jan’s Legacy 2014
Notes by Cfish from MP3 Audio April 2014
Suggested title: Every characteristic of an enlightened man is unnatural
Begin: I was considering (from experience with all this) how much there was in common with the ordinary views and characteristics (culturally, historically, literally, both fiction and non fiction) of heroes and those of a person of a different consciousness. (An awake consciousness)
(I am not holding myself up or anyone else up as a model here.) No matter what part of the world, heroes are all described in a traditional sense. They are described as being soft spoken, they do not talk about themselves, they do not steal, etc. And in the descriptions, the heroes’ qualities seem to be effortless.
05:00 When I began to consider this model of a hero and their qualities (Do not steal, Do not talk about themselves, etc.) and how they parallel with an enlightened consciousness, I began to have my doubts and that is when this model began to swell up in me.
( I am not insinuating these model heroes were awake.) Mystical systems have all sorts of rules, suggestions, and absolutes. (ex. An awakened man does not talk about himself.)
10:00 Even if it’s true an awakened man does not talk about himself, if you practice it, you don’t have it. If you model yourself after a hero you don’t have it. Ninety nine percent of the mystics start out with a model. These ideas and characteristics of traditional heroes hit many (both mystic and ordinary) as being correct.
And the reason I see it strikes people as being correct is because it is at a deeper, cellular level. This hero example is just one of many examples. These things that strike humans as being correct are not religious or cultural or mystic.
The example of a hero who does not talk about himself just rings true. And for someone with an interest in all this, it is not a struggle. You just lose interest in talking about yourself.
15:00 I assume you know that “Losing interest in talking about yourself” is a part of waking up. And I assume you folks know “the more you understand the less you have to say. “ And I am assuming you are seeing the “great parallel” between the characteristics of being a hero and to what “waking up” is.
20:00 The cellular level runs us and all of life. And at the cellular level there are no morals. In the animal world it is pretty much eat or be eaten. (ex. Bears, lions, wildebeest, salmon,) And the most efficient way to get a meal is to steal it from another animal.
It expends less calories. So basically at the cellular level (where our ideas of heroes attributes ring true - like not stealing) we are all thieves.
25:00 Stealing is a holdover from instinct. But life has also given us a model (a hero) of someone who does not steal. It is brain splitting that we can even fathom heroes who are nothing like humans. Every feature of a hero is unnatural.
When we bring our attention to the notion that the whole world is full of thieves and then you realize it is also in you (this propensity to steal) regardless of religion or culture - well - “there it is” Its all in you.
30:00 You don’t need a monk or a monastery or Zen. There is really no word for it. And it is almost impossible to see. But just turn your attention on it. Neuralize it. "All men have a propensity to steal and all men have a notion of a hero and a hero never steals.”
This is what life is doing in us. (notions of heroes and propensity to steal) And wanting to be awake is wanting to be free of “what life is doing in us.” But its hard to get free of nature.
We can fathom heroes that are nothing like humans and they are the exact opposite of us and no one notices. Every characteristic of a hero is unnatural. (We go to movies and stare and identify with heroes.) Every characteristic of an enlightened man is unnatural.
Consider for a moment your options. Are we trying to escape nature? But where in the universe are you going to go? In your head one part of consciousness does not like the other part of consciousness.
Maybe on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays we can consider the model of a hero. Then on Tuesday, Thursday and a Saturday we can consider the model of how we can harm the environments. And on Sunday we can neuralize what door did we take to get into this universe?
35:00 The instinctive thief and the notion of the hero are both in your brain. “But,” you say, “I don’t like it!” And there you have it - the symptom is the problem.
35:24
