Jan Cox

[sharon]

jancox.com/

[sharon]

jandailynews.baoquang.com/

[sharon]

I've always liked this side of 12 o' clock
The other side of it looks a bit strange and disconnected to me
Almost like it has something to prove to itself
.0.

[smokey]

Jan Cox, the Spiritual Smart Aleck

Stumbling upon one of Jan Cox's arcane books, at a bookstore in Berkeley, California in the 1980's, I found a "with it" current teacher of spiritual ideas. Later, Mizz Smokey and I attended a few video presentations at a small group meeting in Santa Monica.

Cox's talks were witty and funny yet cut through the BS programmed into us by the culture, including those who were supposedly spiritual.

The most important concept I took home from Jan was the idea of "E Force."

Cox proposed there were two essential forces in binary thinking. The first force is the "Creative Force (C)," and the second force is the "Destructive Force (D)." These two forces take part in all ordinary thinking. All mental conclusions have an opposite that would challenge our presumptions if we did not either push it away, or substantiate our choice with supporting explanations.

The third, or "E" force is that which we would never consider while in the grips of the first two forces. The third force is the irrelevant.

For example; if two people are arguing about say, creation vs. evolution, E Force would be a third person walking up and suggesting how important it is to remember that Mickey Mouse only has three fingers and a thumb.

"Excuse me? What does Mickey Mouse have to do with creation and evolution?"

Verbally, E Force is irrelevant. However, if one could assign equal importance to this irrelevance; energy-wasting, time-wasting inner and outer arguments would also become irrelevant. The bonus is that life becomes much funnier than it did before.

It is like performing quantum Tao gymnastics and Zen pirouettes while pushing a 40-ton Freightliner big rig full of paper rolls down the superslab at 80+ mph dodging four-wheelers and Kojaks-with-Kodaks. I know. I did it.

Great fun.

Jan Cox had a unique approach toward reshuffling thought. He and I had quite a few email exchanges from '03-'05. I played E Force for him since he was surrounded by so many yes men and yes women. Our last exchange shortly before he croaked was very timely. I will post it here if anyone is interested.

Many of Jan's talks are available on youtube and his website is still being maintained by one of his "lieutenants."

________

edit - delete extra "a"

[Deleted]

"I will post it here if anyone is interested."

I'm interested!

"It is like a performing quantum Tao gymnastics and Zen pirouettes while pushing a 40-ton Freightliner big rig full of paper rolls down the superslab at 80+ mph dodging four-wheelers and Kojaks-with-Kodaks. I know. I did it."

sounds fun! and a little dangerous.

[runstill]

yes smokey I am also interested please do take the time to post.

[smokey]

Maxdprophet & Runstill,

Since we never communicated anything personal, I did not know Jan was suffering from terminal cancer when I wrote this mail. It was one of those serendipitous occurrences.


The thinking one employs to defeat old, corroded ordinary thinking does enjoy its Day-in-the-Sun; dancing and frolicking in the waves.

However, when all that is left is the "dancing and frolicking," the new thinking begins to sink into the sands of redundancy.

How long?...

How long before one of these smart asses walking along the shore of Mind, points and laughs at my new thinking, just like I once did?

How long?..

Aha!

Wait a minute.

What if I can return to that place of newness once again; that place where I could actually stand back and look at my own Thinking.

Might I not see its new shortcomings?

That's it, I got to dig myself out of this stinking sand and head up to the mountains where I can get a good look at my new (now old) thinking.

*****

Sooner or later, one is quite content to remain up in those cold, quiet, dark mountains and simply look into the abyss of what once was "my thinking."


No flaws, no applause, no was...
Just eternal Pause.
____________________

Jan's reply:




Interestingly, that was the last mail I sent him. A couple years later I found out he had died two months after our exchange.

.

[runstill]

Thank you smokey that was very moving on many different levels.
Spent a couple hours on Jan's web site today many pearls of wisdom
in his writings.

[sharon]

jandailynews.blogspot.co.uk/2012/03/thousand-walls-plus-or-minus.html

[Deleted]

jancoxcom.blog/the-talks/