Jan Cox Talk 2892 - Notes by Cfish

Jan Cox Talk 2892 - Sept 18, 2002 - 41min
Copyright Jan Cox, Jan’s Legacy 2017
Notes by Cfish April 2017

Suggested Title: Absolutely Clueless - River of Thought
or “ Brain Waves and Me “

Begin:  Probably one of the greatest insults among sophisticated folks is to be labeled “absolutely clueless.” But if you were absolutely clueless you would not be asleep.

Being asleep and distracted you think you have some clues.  No you don’t. I understand that you think you do.

The things I mention to you folks are things I find useful. The terms ‘awakening’ and ‘enlightenment’ are terms that are not so cut and dried. In the beginning it gives you the feeling that there is something to study. Labeling yourself as someone seeking to awaken, to work on yourself, etc. is the only place to start and I don’t see any way to bypass that.

05:00  But I discovered if you believe you are studying your “sleeping self”, your dumb self, this belief has a built in limitation: you will never have the Realization. 

Don’t get me wrong, “What works for you, works for you.”  and if you hear anything here that verbally seems to contradict with what works for you, then go with yours.

You folks know how obscure and rare all this is. But its not about being awake or enlightened. There is no “you or me” that is “awake or asleep.”  That is the limitation , at the heart, of the terms awake and asleep. 

The term “realization” cuts out the “you or me” that may have flashes of states that appear to be a proper state, of being awake (ex. no bad thoughts, empty headed) but again, I don’t see any other way to start.

10:00  Religions and myths use the term “fallen from grace” when one is not in the proper state. The ordinary self assumes it is two different people. (ex. bad thoughts v. good thoughts)

Recognizing the distracted, sleeping, ordinary state and saying “i recognized it and it shook me more awake again”, is thinking ‘I’ am getting somewhere. It is an illusion, but a “necessary illusion.”
The Realization blows the “necessary illusion” apart. Today’s description:  All you have going on in the brain are simply two different states “brain waves” and the “me” created when you are not simply flowing with the brain waves.

15:00  Let’s say everyone’s brain waves are slightly different, (it doesn’t matter) but when you are in the brain waves and there is no you, assuming that your aim is to awaken, that is what folks like us call being asleep.

There is in a sense “no me” in any of us. There is no me until I think about it and interfere with the waves going on. Surely you folks know what I am talking about. It does not matter what you think about, but do it willfully, to interfere. It’s not allegory. The rest of the time, what I call thinking, is not thinking, it’s just automatic brain waves. 

Brain waves are like a river in which we all live - or a river that lives in all of us. A collective river, maybe with our own individual tributaries. It’s a “river of thought” that you have absolutely nothing to do with it.

Thoughts just flow thru everyone’s brain. And in that state there is “no me.” No one notices it, and it does no harm. It is only when the brainwaves are in the past do you label it the “sleeping state.”

20:00  When folks like us become aware of the brain waves replaying something worrisome, and we say “stop it” (even the ordinary person can do that) and if we continue with “I was just asleep, I got to stop it” that little comment just puts you back in the flow of the brain waves. You cease to exist.  You don’t know it because you are not there. Like Batman and Bruce Wayne, not only are they never there together, Batman never turns around and says,” Where’s Bruce ?”

The brain waves are not a bad me, or a sleeping me. There is no me. The only time there is a “me” is when I know there’s a “me.” It is as though the “me” is amidst the brain waves and its is up to you to extract it. That was my beginning view of it.

The operational truth, when there is a “me” (awareness of the brainwaves) the bullshit stops. As soon as you catch yourself asleep, you are no longer asleep. But it has taken decades to realize you are back asleep before you know it. There is no way TO know it - because when you are Batman, you don’t know you are Batman.

25:00  It requires effort for there to be a “me.” Brain waves are not a curse, but the natural state. And to not be in that state was unnatural. I could see reasons that life would not want us aware of the brain waves. (ex. no culture, civilization)

When people reminisce or complain, they know there is a me, but it is actually just the moment of switching from brain waves to me they enjoy. I see the “me’ as a distinct function of the brain that life produces throughout the day, but it cannot sustain itself.

30:00  The “me” amidst the brain waves is not arranged to sustain itself. It is a rogue operation of the brain, compared to what is necessary in keeping civilization and culture stable. 

It is only this “me” that has the potential to awaken.  The brain suppresses it. If I could stop an ordinary person, stop reality, allegorically, when he switched from “brain waves to me” I could point out things about life, that I point out to you folks, that ordinary people never see.

37:00  Brain waves always return to brain waves. Brain waves go on day and night, and it is the only place there is a “me”. 

There are only two states, “brain waves and me.” Forget that one is right and one is wrong, or one is asleep and one is awake. That allows you to see the possibility of “me.” Ordinary people would rather talk about “me.”

The ordinary brain is not trying to understand itself. A man may say his greatest joy is playing chess. But ask him how he got started playing chess and he (the “I”, the “me”) will tell you the story of his life.

40:00  The brain wants to talk about “me.” Why? Because at that moment, the brain goes from “brain waves to me,” for a split second. It is still enjoyable to realize that in my head, with no terms about being awake, asleep, or understanding anything. 

That is it.  Just realizing that, on my own, was so beneficial I can’t even tell you.