Notes on Jan Cox Talk 3188 by cFish
/Jan Cox Talk 3188 - August 18, 2004
Copyright Jan Cox, Jan’s Legacy 2018
Notes by cFish January 2018
Suggested Title: Waking Up The Storyteller
Begin: Last time I presented “consciousness” as a storyteller and that when consciousness is doing something useful it is telling stories about the physical world and how the physical world could be. (ex. science and technology)
And when consciousness is not telling stories about the physical world it is telling stories about intangibles (ex. religion, art), things lumped into culture versus the natural environment. But lets be more specific. Consciousness is not so much a storyteller as it is a scene screener.
And only in people like us, in an attempt to “wake up,” does consciousness actually tell a story. The rest of the time it’s not so much storytelling but brief scene presentations, almost entirely about “you and it” (consciousness) to be precise.
Consider the ordinary view of consciousness, internally, “How many scenes does consciousness show in the theater of the brain about someone else?” It is like the old joke where the guy talks about himself the entire time on a date, and realizes it, and then asks the date, “Well, enough about me. What do you think of me?”
These brief scenes of ordinary consciousness may be replaying something from earlier in the day. (ex. an encounter with a sales clerk) But the encounter is still about you. The basic scenes of consciousness are brief and followed by another scene.
05:00 It is just like an in house theater at a Hollywood studio. They have what is known as screening rooms where directors and producers go in to look at the scenes for a movie they are working on. And there is a projectionist that is hired to sit in there all day, on call, for any producer and plays these small scenes that last seconds.
They are either showing material objects (car or garden) or the scenes are mostly about you. But the area that interests us is when consciousness is not dealing with the material world, but with scenes about you and it. (consciousness)
10:00 “Consciousness and you” is tricky to see. The scene could be about you and your girlfriend. But if you keep looking, the scenes about “you” are about you and consciousness.
The second thing to investigate is the ordinary complaints about specific scenes. It is the hobby of ordinary people and it drives them to counseling. Speaking for you folks, people like us are not bothered by specific scenes. We are bothered by the scenes being replayed endlessly. And it is not that we want particular scenes to stop - we want them all to stop.
15:00 After years of looking at what consciousness does thru man naturally, just for myself, if nothing else, all the descriptions I have used for consciousness fit perfectly with the description of consciousness as a storyteller. Even the physical stuff works. (ex. agriculture, inventing the wheel.)
16:41 But one day a refinement hit me of the storyteller description. And this description was “being asleep” was “ordinary consciousness” never telling a complete story. “Being asleep” is fragmented consciousness. It is just flashes of seeing things in bits and pieces, never seeing the full picture.
So even though it was delightful to see consciousness as a “storyteller,” the only time “ordinary consciousness” gets close to anything resembling a real story is a moment in time (speaking crudely) “when you awaken.” The rest of the time it’s a scene screener.
20:00 When some feature about life/man is forever changed in your understanding, that is a form of awakening. That is when consciousness tells a complete story. It happens in a split second. You never again have questions about that scene anymore. Your consciousness does not play scenes about it anymore because the scenes that consciousness plays are like question marks. Like “ What the hell is this? “
22:00 The scenes are limited, shown over and over, and to ordinary consciousness are like question marks. They are soundbites, trailers, that come and go. The scenes are predominately of a disturbing nature, annoying, maybe frightening, but never a satisfying conclusion. It presents bits, pieces, soundbites, scenes, trailers, excerpts.
30:00 Consciousness is in charge of showing scenes, and without extraordinary effort, will never get beyond scene screening. In conclusion; when looking at or studying the scenes, it’s not you looking. It is you making consciousness look at and examine itself.
You did not make consciousness examine the scene. It is consciousness “by its nature” showing the scenes and asking “whats up?” Ordinary consciousness may say I shouldn’t be looking at the dark side, but with ordinary consciousness the good news scene does not last long. It is like consciousness shoving an 85 pound weakling out of the way.
35:00 . Your consciousness, ordinary consciousness shows disturbing and frightening scenes. What gives? What can you find out by making consciousness look at itself? Insights. They are there. Almost everyday I see something. But I’m not saying I know the difference between the worthwhile and the entertaining. I don’t really see much of a difference. That’s my “urging” for the night.
Ends 38:04
