Jan Cox Talk 2690 - Notes by Cfish

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Jan Cox Talk 2690  -  May 30 2001
Copyright Jan Cox, Jan’s Legacy 2014
Notes by Cfish December 2014

Suggested Title: Anywhere you Look (The Simplicity of Everything) 
  
From Jan’s Daily News 30 May 2001 > Thoughts, in their naturally occurring state, do not distinguish themselves from tangible entities, and even though they clearly be of a different reality, it is almost impossible to make them so aware. 

Begin: Do any of you consider how you, me, and others, have made time and  continue to make time to study mystical systems - to change the state of mind? But if you know how, there are things in ordinary life exceedingly more efficient. Anywhere you look, “man is instructed by the brain to do things.”

And no one analyzes it. Anywhere you look the simplicity of everything is astounding. A general feeling in life is that there is nothing to depend on.  An old protestant hymn had echoes of this in the line  “Change and Chaos all around I see, and Thou (God or Deity) that changeth not abide with me.”   

“Nothing to depend on” is a feeling - some people have it more than others. People are annoyed by the constant change and constant change is a form of chaos. Your wife may leave, the house you live in may burn down, and people are constantly lying.

So folks are looking for the unchanging. (Thou unchanging God) Abide with me and God in my heart are some of the ways the feeling is reflected. But what about “God in my Head?” Well-the head is strange enough without God being in there. (May be why none of my religions caught on) 

05:00  But other than a few anomalies there is very little change in the heartbeat of the world. So what are people looking at when they have feelings of change and chaos? And what are they looking at in having an unchanging God abide with me? Most lives are fairly hum drum. (Look at your parents and look at you.)

These feelings are the brain talking about itself. The brain is seeking structure. This also hit me. It is better for the safety of the state if many changes are made (when they are made) rather than a solitary change. It’s an obscure line and I am not sure why it is still remembered.

But it would be true and functional in the physical world. For example instead of a solitary “no wine on Sunday” if there were numerous changes such as “garbage pickup days,” “taxes on fuel lowered,” “and you no longer have to bow to Caesar when he goes by.”  People would not resent the many changes as much as they would the solitary change.

10;00  Any time you hear some conventional wisdom, and it sounds true, you should ask “why does it sound true?”  Just look around and don’t stop looking there. There is no answer but there is always something else. And there is value in the “something else.” 

(What do you think of the chances that you would come up with this alone? And it’s not because I am any smarter than you folks.) Popes to widows want the unchanging God to abide with me. It is the human brain looking, talking, and listening to itself. 

Do you realize when you are listening to comments in non-physical matters you are listening to what the brain said? God did not say it. Even if another human said it - it comes from the same place. And it is in the open. Conventional wisdom is the brain talking about itself.

15:00  Once the brain points outside of itself, (ex. God unchanging) after that, what does the brain see? It is not an unchanging God, it is the brain aware of its own operations. And it comments on them. Anytime it is not commenting on the physical world, the brain is commenting on itself.

The brain is like Mr. Hoover vacuum cleaner. If it is second reality, ( a term I made up a while back) if you can’t put your hands on it, the brain does not care which directions you blow. (ex. theology is good and then another brain saying no, theology is bullshit) 

Dust swirls this way and dust swirls that way. It is atheists supporting God. Once the brain sucks you in, you forget too often, commenting on the non-physical world (swirling of dust) means nothing. It is not that you did anything wrong. The brain is a franchise of the collective mind.  

It is not that you have gone wrong anywhere. The brain cannot look directly at itself and realize it is talking about itself. Dogmatically, if you can’t lay your hands on it - It is the brain (Franchise of the collective mind) talking about itself. 

20:00  But notice how difficult it is (I know you have glimpses) to keep that as your permanent state of mind. When someone starts talking movies, currency manipulation, it is the brain standing in front of Notre Dame chapel saying “Here is God.” It is the brain talking about some manifestation of itself.

Politics, Religion, Economics, all represent something humans do. There is always something going on. But the human brain made it up. And you miss the point calling it illusion. Once you realize what kind of reality we are considering you realize what “waking up” is. 

Waking up is being able to distinguish the physical from the non-physical. (Everyone’s brain can do it.) And it is still fascinating to me that the brain almost refuses to do it. Or the brain is not capable of doing it or of knowing it is doing it to itself.   

And if you ask why the brain almost refuses to distinguish the physical from the non-physical (things that represent what humans do) there is no answer. Why does the brain make something up - look off - and then pretend it did not make it up. (ex. The human brain made up God.) 

Forget it is a fundamentalist that made up God. The fundamentalist did not make God up, the human brain made God up. And when you ask the ordinary mind plugged into the collective mind it will say that God is not made up.

25:00 Does the brain refuse to see it made up this non-physical reality or is the brain incapable of seeing it? What possible reason or purpose does the brain have when it refuses to see that  some things humans do represent non-physical things the human brain made up?

And it continues to make stuff up everyday. What about the someone who is saving a “bottle of wine” for some reason and dies without opening it. Do you realize no one can know anything about themselves? Whatever “you” say about “you” is “you.” It is the “you” “you” say “you” know about.

To be sure you get it. You can look down and say “I have a foot.” You can know that. But to say you can know anything about yourself non-physically, it is literally not possible. And surely I have weakened you folks enough that if you work on it, it will hit you. 

It is a relief when you realize “you” is a dream. It is called “waking up.” It is not possible for “you” to know “you.” How can it be possible to go more than your whole life and never realize that?  

End (31:02)

an intro from the 90's, maybe Paradigm

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I found this in a random place and, not knowing what to do with it at the moment, and not willing to let go of it, I thought I would put it here.  We did some public presentations to random audiences - and this was written and presented by one of our group. The null characters are just that - not a thing.

-----------------------------------------

Welcome to the place where sane, passably intelligent folk try to

communicate with a piece of you that, unless you've been around this,

hasn't been communicated with before; 'cause this is the one source of

food that can nourish a little, nascent nerve ending poking into your

neural future.

 

This, this©©what is this activity we have invited you to hear about? 

We've called it neuromorphics, new intelligence, personal evolution,

this kind of activity, this.  Whatever name we use, no matter how

impeccable our descriptions, we're this close to©©I hesitate to say

lying because that might imply that we're deliberately trying to

deceive, and that is far, far from it©©none©the©less we are this close

to inaccurating, if inaccurating was a word.

 

This activity is a verb; an ongoing process; this is alive and a most

tricky, slippery thing to try and shape it into a word; to try and

nounify this verb.

 

Yet being the sane, passably intelligent folk we are, we know that in

order to let people who might be interested in this nourishment discover

that this exists, this exists here, we have to say something.  And so I

will present you with not one, not two but two and a half ways to

consider what this might be.

 

First I want to introduce Mr. Nervous System diagram to those of you who

haven't met this map Jan Cox gave to us.  This is the base of the spine,

the spine itself and up here is the brain.  These are nerve endings

culminating at the Line of Consciousness.  (This line literally exists.) 

This line represents the level to which humanity collectively, and a

person individually has developed neurally; the upper level of man's

consciousness.  Just as you grow to a certain physical height, you

ordinarily grow to a certain neural height.  And up here is the escape

hatch, the little, loose wire we're trying to communicate with.

 

Back to what this is:  this is word maps, explosive verbal maps©©maps,

not destinations©©processes, not descriptions©©that you can use to

propel your energy, you, into other areas of your brain; not just above

that line, but all over into areas of understanding and knowing you've

never explored before.  Maps, incendiary devices you can use exploding

you into virgin neural territory.

 

Above the line is the land of This©©and if we have to give a

destination, that would be it, but it doesn't count since above the line

there are no boundaries; above the line is humanity's tomorrow possible

for some today.  

 

This is anyone and everyone involved in this, anyone actively engaged in

pushing their own neural development.

 

We encourage you to listen to these presentations multi©dimensionally. 

You just might have one of these little guys and if you do this dude or

dudette is hungry for this kind of food.  Listen.  You just might hear‘∞∞

Added to Paradigm 4 and 5

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Added streaming audio and summaries by TK to both 315.4 and 315.5; otherwise known as Paradigm 4 and paradigm 5 .

  315.1 thru 315.6 were  talks that Jan gave to a new group of people in the absence of the old group.  These people had been attracted via plays and fliers and been made to sit through several nights of listening to members of  "the group" that , like it or not was about to become the 'old group' -- before they could meet the man behind it all.

  These 6 talks will separate out the serious from the mildly curious.

Jan Cox Talk # 2689 Notes by Cfish - Made Up Memories

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2689_052801
Audio of Jan Cox   5 May 2001
Copyright Jan Cox, Jan’s Legacy 2014
Notes by Cfish November 2014

Suggested Title:  Made Up Memories  (A Relentless World Wide Hustle)

Begin: Someone was being interviewed on TV.  And as the interview got going, the phrase “you will find this interesting” was followed by details of the person’s  family life and their high school memories.  The interview could have been of someone you found interesting or of someone you like.  (ex. an actor or musician)

And I wondered if you folks had listened to an interview of this sort, and if you listened to yourself that what was promised as “interesting” was not interesting to you, to anyone else, and if you put yourself in the place of the person you liked, the details of your grammar school adventures  would not be interesting to you.

I am not making fun of all this.  You either know what I mean or you don’t.  Its a chamber music game.  Pretend you are sitting in a crowd, sort of friendly, and you pretend to listen to somebody - then they pretend to listen to you for a while.  

05:00  If you stop and listen to what you are doing, almost everything you talk about socially,  (ex. rock and roll, cars, TV) even if it appears to have some passion, you do not find it interesting.  (I believe some of you are seeing this)  Even if your mind is arguing the point  (“maybe it will become interesting”) , you actually have no interest in what you or anyone else is saying.

So the question is “why do humans do it?”  “Why does the brain make us do it continually.  Though you may not start every conversation with the preface “you will find this interesting” - its implied socially.  (ex. Interrupting someone or someone interrupting you to make a point.)
 
But no one notices.  (And I don’t know why I keep stepping in that small hole.)  I proposed last time the running commentary of “the mind” is seeking structure, where it has no structure.  Not when compared to instinctive structural life. (ex. muscles remembering not to stick their hand in a fire) 

“The mind” continually talks about things passionately and that appear to fit the facts.  Something I have laid out before is  “the mind” is not for entertainment or to drive us crazy, it exists to help us survive. But when it is not helping us to survive, then this other thing (social conversation) drops by.

10:00  And as always it is a valid point that social conversation may be good for survival.  It always gets back to something real.  But the surface of it (The preface “you may find this interesting”) if you look - an objective panel would say, of someone coming up with ten minutes worth of memories about high school, they would find it ‘not’ interesting.

If you are ordinary, ten minutes worth of memories may be interesting but it is faulty memory.  Large parts of memories did not happen to you.  Memories of non crucial matters is faulty.  Muscle memory, (anything done for survival)  things like not sticking your hand in a fire,  or riding a bicycle, muscles do not forget.  (discounting aging at some point)

15:00  When the brain unreels, “Let me tell you what happened to me” (social conversation) it is mostly fiction - maybe with a few facts.  (ex. a fact maybe that you are living in Atlanta in 1980)  Half the memories you have now are probably from movies you saw.  

This “unreeling of memories” is “the mind” trying to establish a stable memory based on the fact “the mind” has no stable memory.  Socially, you do not need a good, stable, mental memory.  Its chit chat and the sound of running in place.  I can’t prove any of this.  You either know what I am saying or you don’t. 

20:00  Conversations do not usually start with “Let me tell you what I made up.”  Conversations usually start with “let me tell you what happened to me.”  And then your brain jumps in and wants to do the same thing. “Your mind” says, “That reminds me.”  And if you listen to yourself what you relate did not literally happen. 

(I don’t really like to put it that way.  No one knows literally what happened. The whole universe just happened in that moment.) And I asked myself “why are social conversations like that?”  And it struck me it is irrelevant.  It’s not doing any damage.  It’s the brain doing it.  Social conversations are fiction but not lying.

People just don’t listen to themselves.  It’s not them doing the social chit-chat. It is “the brain.”  It also struck me,  “my memory” is not trustworthy at all.  And then it struck me everyone else is that way.  Then I said to myself “whats going to happen?” and I realized - nothing.  Its just the way things are.

So “what kind of understanding can I get from this?”  Why does the brain say in our head, then out loud, and then the brain listens to itself -  “Let me tell you what happened to me?”  It is just bits and pieces of yesterday. And these bits and pieces of yesterday, require no conscious planning.

It is just something that fits or relates with what the other person is saying.  I say the brain is trying to make memory - constantly where it has none.  The story the brain comes up with - and it never seems to have any trouble - is a substitute for a substantial memory.

Even if the tale the brain comes up with is interesting enough to listen for a minute, the brain knows, it has no stable memory for non crucial events, and all it is doing is compensating for it, by a relentless stream, of made up memories.

And the greatest one, is the one where you are a “culmination of your memories.”  If you see what I mean.

25:56

Set up first 3 Paradigm talks

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On the Talks page, you will find active links for 0315.1, 0315.2, and 0315.3, otherwise known as the first 3 Paradigm talks that Jan gave to new people, and Dana used to begin the ParadigmII page on Facebook.  There may be 20 or 30 in the series.

  In the Curation section,  added a ParadigmII page, which is  a page of links that makes it easy for the reader to find these talks in the main body of Jan's works.

  It will also provide a space for someone to describe the talks as a set.  ( and maybe a blurb on each.)

                                                        -dh

Jan Cox Talk # 2688 - Notes by Cfish

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2688_052501
Audio of Jan Cox 25 May 2001, Talk # 2688
Copyright Jan Cox. Jan’s Legacy 2014
Notes by Cfish October 2014

Suggested Title:  Daydreams ( Cargo without a Ship )

Begin:  Not wanting anyone to feel left out or to be impressed with me (because I am not) I am assuming since you are still showing up, you receive benefit and pleasure from this information coming from outside yourself.  Because without any doubt I have enjoyed it as much or more than anyone. 

From experience there is nothing that comes as close as examining “whats going on” with you, nonphysically.  Last time, I was pointing out to anyone who cares to look, that in spite of the contrarians, men apply themselves to further restrictions.  (ex. leaving a political party to join an anarchist party)

I also pointed out (behaviorally) how a career criminal keeps going back to jail because he is seeking further restrictions.  A professional criminal avoids jail if they can.  If you call this stupid or ironic you are missing the point.  If you accept people want a regimented life, then the question becomes “what’s going on?”

05:00  I don’t know the answer and only the brains behind the reality knows.  I just keep scratching, trying to get to the bottom of it.  I look at the instinctive physical creatures.  The lion, for example lives by instinct.  It does not think about what it is doing.  The lion will  simply do it.

It walks in the same territory, it hunts in the same places, and the lion hangs out with other lions.  It is all pretty much habit.  The physical creatures (pack animals, social animals) do not have tax laws and traffic laws. If they see food across the street they will not wait for the traffic light to change to cross the street.

10:00  So “what is going on?”  It comes down to the head. (but its not the source)  The head is the only place that “seeking further restrictions” is manifested.  Your hormones cannot give direct messages on regimenting your life.  That is why I often bring up animals.

You can look at them and realize they live by habit.  Life thrives off habit.  (heartbeats, blood flow, etc. are regimented) And humans seek further restrictions, habits, and regimentation, on their behavior regardless of what the neurons say. (ex. the whole world saying it wants to be free.)

(By the way.  We do not know what makes sense.  Only the brains behind the reality know.  Does the universe make sense?  We do not know.)  So you keep digging and scratching, meditating, and asking “what is a further basis I may be able to see with “whats going on” with this seeking of further regimentation.

15:00  From one view, the mind is born without any structure.  (ex Blank slate- psychologically and mentally)   We have to learn what we know and think. Software so to speak.  We are born physically hardwired.  (ex. race, height, etc.)   The mind has no skeletal system.

It aids in survival and it seeks intelligence.  (ex. fire and the wheel)  To me that covers everything and it sounds good but nobody really knows.  But once the mind has some free time, it seeks structure.  It seeks out further restrictions, regimentation, and habit.

You can trace these further restrictions back to the mind and trace the mind back to the hormones.  Clubs, churches, girlfriends, etc. are all external restrictions which is what the mind is seeking internally.  The mind may say it is based on their interest.

20:00  And the more serious the interest - well, the mind will say that is why it is seeking the interest with the most restrictions.  I can bring up all these good points and “the mind” will say ‘but’.  The mind one ups me. But I still say the mind relentlessly seeks structure.

When I saw that - it came from a dark corner I did not know was there.  And it revealed another explanation for the meaningless and redundant daydreaming.  You can look at daydreams as psychological. “Why would I have them if they were not important?"

Daydreams such as missed birthdays, arrests, Uncle Charlie, getting fired from a job, and etc. is cargo and not the ship.  There is only the cargo but that’s another story.  I don’t care what the daydreams are about, “the mind” will never agree to them being irrelevant.

Just in case you think you may be missing something, our minds are plugged into the “great collective mind.”  And the mind will never agree that its specific content (daydreams) is irrelevant.  The mind can’t do that. Years ago I asked you folks to consider the mind as having a number of lumpy thoughts that go on and on. 

These lumpy thoughts that went on and on (uncle charlie, arrests, missed birthdays) - it struck me that they were the same ones over and over again.  And it struck me that they were all irrelevant and that I did not give a damn, I just wanted them to stop.

25:00  Just consider this:  Its the mind looking for structure.  And to take it further, it is possible that is where our whole feeling of having a personality comes from.  Its the conscious part of the brain looking for structure where it has none and never will.

That explains fanatics.  They insist God exists and they are ready to kill you over it.  “I” was an accidental byproduct (being kind of facetious) of the mind’s relentless search for stability.  It was as if “the mind” caught on that survival is a matter of habit.  (ex heart beating, breathing etc.)

The mind, being part of the body, picked up on the regimentation of heartbeats, but instead of heartbeats and breathing,  its daydreaming over and over. Even though the daydreams have become irrelevant, “the mind” will say they do matter or “I” would not remember them.

I say “the mind” is setting up its own habit so it can feel more comfortable.  Here “I” (the mind) am, out in a place that does not exist, floating in the air, and metaphorically, I am trying to build a Sistine Chapel on the foundation that floats somewhere above my eye level. And in mid air.

The body knows better.  It knows the body, including its insides, and the rest of the world are the same thing.  You don’t have one without the other.  The mind does not see this. The mind’s daydreams are a way to accidentally or incidentally say, I am somebody solid.

Of course anyone who has looked “in there”  knows, they become “in there.”  Using mystical terminology “being asleep or unenlightened” is nothing but the manifestation of the mind seeking regimentation.  Which it can’t find or has not found.   

30:01 

recent activity

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The Talks Page
Talks 1 - 356 and 2521 - 2528 are now linked on the talk page.
The links to Talks 1-99 were moved to a sub-page because of lack of audio.
Added a "Selected Sample" of talks at the beginning of the talks page so that people could get a handle on the different types of media. 

A Diagram Gallery link has been added to the right sidebar.  This leads to galleries of diagrams and each one of those images will be clickable - and you are taken to a separate page that explains the diagram.  ( a lot of work went into this by several people and it looks great. )

The Home Page is new and now sports a clickable image and a link at the end that takes the viewer to the talks page.

Jan Cox Talk 2687 - notes by Cfish

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2687_052301
Audio by Jan Cox 23 May 2001
Copyright Jan Cox, Jan’s Legacy 2014
Notes by Cfish September 2014

Suggested Title:  The Last Contender 

Begin:  There are some well known collective quotations in literature.  One of them being “How careless men are in the formation of their beliefs.”  The only thing missing from that quotation is “How ‘thoughtless' men are in the formation of their beliefs.”

The quotation has a connection to Monday night’s “being held captive” topic.  From artists, metaphysicians, the political and the religious, people feel like they are imprisoned.  Sane people are not bothered by the physical laws.  (ex. gravity and death) 

05:00  Non physically, people feel they may be held back by the power of Satan.  (I can’t believe that is so common as to be called normal.) Folks like us feel like we are being held back by being asleep. From us to the rest of humanity there is a belief of being held back in non physical ways.

What is never noticed is the effort people make to put themselves under additional non physical restrictions. People who join a new church, people who join a new political party, or even a stamp collectors club, they are people putting themselves under additional restrictions.

10:00  They are restricting themselves to second reality conditions.  And almost anything in second reality puts you under further restriction.  It is all over the world.  People may be complaining about the government and too many rules.

But what do they do?  They join a club with more rules.  The rules could be minor like attendance or dues but they are further restrictions. Something is driving people to  do all this and it is not just pack behavior. It is man’s hormones driving his neurons.

15:00  From my view there is only one benefit to religion.  When you die you will still be alive.  You pretend to believe what the the church believes so you can join the church.  But its circuitous.  It is wanting more rules. Plenty of people will take a rule from anyone.  Its pack behavior.

But getting back to neurons.   Think about six billion people, some of them ranting about government restrictions, all making efforts, (spending money and time) to put themselves under just as many restrictions as they were ranting about with the government.

20:00  It goes on constantly.  Its not just joining clubs.  Relationships and friendships put you under further restrictions.  Everyone believes they are being held back.  Folks like us say we are asleep.  But that is just saying we are being held captive.

You can blame the government, your parents, or guilt about sex, but you do not know why you believe you are being held back. After saying all that, people still leave the house to join a club with further restrictions. What is life, through man, up to?      

I can put it crudely.  People want to be told what to do.  Hormonally, it makes sense.  Social animals (elephants, pack animals, etc.) can be trained but it is nearly impossible to train solitary creatures. (ex. snakes) Solitary creatures do not make good pets.

25:00  The Army, career criminals, the priesthood, though all may argue the point, are examples of folks who want to be told what to do.  If the criminals were professional, they would not continue to get caught, and return to prison.

Leaving the physical, regimented life for a moment, consider the mentally regimented life.  It is a hundred percent stronger mentally.  It is captivity telling you what to think.  Its not subtle if you look.  It is tricky. Consider a liberal and a conservative.

What they are saying does not matter. They are discussing non tangible beliefs.  Like saying “we should all be catholics and your mind says “no we should not.”  Once you see what’s going on its all irrelevant.  They are looking to get their juices flowing.

30:00  Anytime you pick up the phone, turn on the TV, etc. you are asking somebody “tell me what to think.” Until you catch on, you may say I will just lay in bed and listen to me, thinking the whole time “that thing” in my head is “me” thinking.

And all it is is “shadow boxing.”  Of course, that is your last fight.  (the last contender)  When you no longer have any interest in anything, anybody, in the world, has to say. (not in a hostile way - but I don’t blame you if you are hostile)   

No interest and no pro and con.  Because you know what is going on.  The last contender is you.  And when you run through all the contender welter weights, and middle weights, (ex. TV, movies etc.) remember this:

When you are down to the shadow boxing “The man who will teach himself has a fool for a student.”  (An old proverb I just made up.)  Politics and Religion mean nothing.  You are still being told what to do mentally. And it has nothing to do with you.  Its the nature of man.

The neurons are still the children of hormones.  The mind is the step child of the body. And the body wants to be told what to do.  The body wants rules (exceptions being eating and fucking) and the mind wants rules and no one notices it.

Saying that is not true to anything non physical (Muslim, Jewish beliefs etc.). Saying that you have a preference for anything non tangible - well - “you are asking to be told what to think."  “Your mind” is always going on but if you see whats going on, you ignore “your mind.”

Your mind’s ramblings on non tangibles do not mean anything.   Its the noise of passing cars, backfiring. 

36:26

Notes on Jan Cox Talk # 2686 by CFish

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2686_052101
Audio of Jan Cox 21 May 2001
Copyright Jan Cox.  Jan’s Legacy 2014
Notes by Cfish August 2014

Suggested Title:   "When, concerning his internal life, a man says: 
”I feel imprisoned,”    
the thing calling itself “I” in the statement --   is the prison: 
the one and only, 
and the only one from which a man can walk away.”  Jan’s Daily News 18 May 2001

Begin:  Something continually interesting, entertaining, and useful to ask yourself (The thing in your head) is “What the hell do you want?”  You may have pictures or verbal descriptions of what you want. (ex. relief from what annoys you, being awake, enlightenment, etc.)  

Everyone from the President of the United States to an ordinary person just trying to make his rent payment feel they are being held back.  People may have a captive feeling of being on a treadmill.  Even the ‘Attila the Huns’ live among the collective and no one lives among the collective on the basis of "one man rule. “

05:00  Religious people who believe in good and evil may have the feeling they are being held back by their physical passions.  (ex. sloth, sex, adultery, etc.)  So people of all types believe they are being held back. The reasons can be the mundane (paying rent), religious (good and evil simplifies the reason), and folks like us who want to “wake up."

10:00  Some mystical schools have a metaphysical story such as Plato’s “shadows on the wall.”  The shadows on the wall represent a shadow life (asleep) and to live a valid life (being awake-having understanding) we need to find the fire that produces the shadows.

So what is holding us back.  No one really asks.  But its not evil forces.  When you ask “that thing” “what do you want?”  "What can I do to make  (That thing-the running commentary) happy?”  “That thing" will hardly answer the questions.

And there is a reason for it.  Because it turns the question into a question.  “That thing” in us that does the running commentary (should of beens, what might have beens) - try and catch “that thing” (running commentary) and ask “What do you want?" 

And of course it will tell you.  On the individual level it may say it wants to wake up.  Stop all this useless noise.  So then it asks “What is stopping you?”  And its then, if you keeping looking around, you understand you do not have the least idea.

15:00  If you discount pretending it is laziness or some other variation, it is simple. Whatever thoughts you have, about the reasons (stupidity, laziness) you have, that are holding you back, its just a variation of my original question “What do ‘you’ ( useless noise ) want?” 

Do you realize that “ordinary mind and thought” is the only form of captivity - wherein the only way the captivity stays alive is due to the continual and generous contributions of the captors. (And captivity would like to thank you.)

When “the mind” is continually asked “what do you want?” and “whats holding you back?”  and the only answers it may have are variations of it being stupid or lazy it ceases to argue the point.  And when the mind will not argue a point - there is nothing more extraordinary than that.

20:00  The obvious physical exceptions (wanting to fly by flapping your arms, etc.) apply of course.  But if the desire is non-physical (awakening, enlightenment, etc.) and you are being held back then the only thing holding you back is “I'm asleep, I want to wake up, I am a prisoner.”

What is holding you back is the kind and generous support of the prisoner.  Captivity is held in place by thoughts of being held back.  No prisoner - no prison metaphorically speaking.   How can anything hold you back in such a place?

Sometimes when trying to describe to you guys and everyone is serious, I act serious to keep from laughing.  I understand the "serious" and if I was in the audience and I did not understand it I would be crawling through glass to listen to me talk.

If I put myself back a few years it would be serious but I am saying there is nothing serious.  The only thing holding you back is “that thing” that wants to be free.  “That thing” that says “I could do better but there are things holding me back.  

"That thing” that said its being held back is “that thing” holding you back.  Metaphorically the prison exists only because the prisoners identify themselves as prisoners.  I am not saying you are asleep and I am not saying I am asleep.

What I am saying is do this to yourself.  Laying in bed tonight or in the morning ask yourself “what is holding me back?”  Here I am and I will be getting up soon, I will be frustrated, not being awake, and not being satisfied.  So “what is holding me back?”

25:00  What is it specifically keeping me from my goal?  It is in me.  Its not in my boss and not in my mother.  Its just me laying in bed asking “what is holding me back?”  You cannot come up with an answer for that and not be awake.  Its not possible.

You will not come up with an answer for that and say “OK, what is next?”  

25:59