Notes on Jan Cox Talk 3190 by Cfish
/Jan Cox Talk 3190 - 23 August 2004
Copyright Jan Cox, Jan’s Legacy 2018
Notes by Cfish April 2018
Suggested Title: One kingdom, Two Princes, Continued
Begin: I thought of another way of putting, what I was talking about last time. It’s an allegory about a kingdom ruled by two princes who were born at the same time. One of the princes seems older and makes almost all the decisions. The second prince seems younger and doesn’t seem to do much.
The seemingly younger prince criticizes the seemingly older prince, who for the most part ignores the criticism. That is what I spent most of last Friday night’s talk trying to describe. This allegory, this shorter version, seems more substantial than the attempt at a straight and longer version.
For one reason, in the allegory, it is easier to highlight the juxtaposition of the two consciousnesses. Passing Interest: In one decent dictionary I have there is no plural for consciousness. And maybe that is all you need to know, “that man’s consciousness never allowed it to say consciousness in the plural.”
05:00 We have a kingdom with two princes (two consciousnesses) and although they were born at the same time, one seems older (the conventional/automatic consciousness) and seems to be the stage for ninety eight percent of your thoughts. It’s the first consciousness you remember.
And then you have the second prince/consciousness (though it clearly serves a crucial purpose) that seems younger, weaker, and shows up rarely. The first remembrance of the second prince/consciousness maybe when you hit your baby sister and felt bad/guilty. It’s not the “bad boy” comment by parents.
10:00 Though the allegory may not seem scientific (two princes born at the exact same time) if you can get a feel for the allegory it’s a good description. Maybe the second prince hid in a corner for the first year or two and never said a word. But in a year or two after the first prince can speak in coherent sentences, the second prince consciousness shows up at the throne and makes a comment.
You can observe it in children. The first couple of years the older/conventional prince/consciousness has free rein. I’m not sure I can remember the first year of consciousness but I can feel what it is. Maybe a giggle, maybe life as one big adventure, stumbling, knocking stuff over, breaking stuff.
And parents say “no, bad boy, bad girl.” But a human child with two princes/consciousnesses, but only one of them speaking in his brain, then no amount of outside hectoring (ex. bad boy) has any effect for that year or so. Some parents worry if the child is ok. (ex. he keeps knocking stuff over)
15:00 Then one day the kid reaches for some food and stops and thats the day the child experiences what the parents call consciousness. It’s vague but I bring it up because that is the day the second prince/consciousness criticized the one normally in charge. (ex. first prince/consciousness)
It is not the end of the giggling, great adventure but it made the older/conventional/normally in charge consciousness/first prince stop for a moment. It’s never discussed. And even those who heard it and understood it, it is hard to hold. The second prince/consciousness does little more than criticize the first prince.
By the way you do not have three consciousnesses and you don’t have one consciousness. You have two. The first one is the constant talking, daydreaming, one hears in their head. It hears itself. From the ordinary view the first prince/consciousness replays scenes from the past, things that don’t ever matter.
20:00 And the first one takes up all the room available, almost all of the time. And it tries to take up all the room available in folks like us. Under ordinary conditions, the second prince/consciousness, when it briefly takes over, it is infrequent, unless it’s frequently showing up to apologize for defending yourself for something you said.
The point being a man in apology mode is being as sincere as a man can be. In the country music sense a man in apology mode is pleading for his life. But it’s just for split seconds and then it is back to the conventional consciousness.
25:00 Having two consciousnesses is at the heart of people like us wanting to Awaken. And it is at the heart of ordinary people wanting to improve themselves. But under ordinary conditions, ordinary people don’t mind all that much if they succeed or not. Folks trying to Awaken take it seriously.
Every time you remember your aim (ex. one brain here and there are two of us) that is the second prince, the second consciousness talking and seeing the aim. First consciousness, the first prince, does not care if there are two consciousnesses and why should it? It literally runs roughshod over the second prince/consciousness.
30:00 There are exceptions to everything in life. (ex. insanity, phobias) First consciousness/first prince is absolute. The second consciousness/prince is real and has different views. And it shows up for only moments and says its piece. But first consciousness/prince does not even bother to refute it.
That is what is known as power. Despots don’t argue. It is striking once you see and think about it this way. The second consciousness/prince almost does nothing - but offer criticism of first consciousness/first prince. And the first prince does not even respond.
35:00 That is the way consciousness operates. Maybe you are overweight and second consciousness comments when reaching for an eclair “what about your diet?” but first consciousness does not respond. It may hesitate, like a child getting ready to stick his hand in the mashed potatoes, but it will still eat the eclair.
A better example concerns alcohol. Maybe a doctor saying you need to cut down on the drinking. The second consciousness hears it and agrees with it. But one of the reasons people drink is it will silence the voice of the second prince.
40:00 In people like us, it’s clear. Second prince/consciousness appears every time you think “I’m trying to wake up” etc. That is a distinct other consciousness. When I realized that, it meant more to me in a practical sense, up to that point, well, it is still a benchmark, that took decades, and it was useful.
If you can see the story of the two princes as being useful to you, and see that the story is about two distinct consciousnesses, and that anything to do with wanting to awaken - well that is the second prince/second consciousness. The first consciousness, the conventional consciousness, has no interest in awakening.
I looked for another word to describe the first consciousness, other than power. But I think you will know what I mean. There are two consciousnesses. Not three, not one. One consciousness wants to awaken and the other one has almost all the authority and runs everyone’s ordinary life.
45:00 Ordinary people can’t put up with people talking about consciousness. In folks like us second consciousness is not so easily pushed around. But what if trying to “wake up” is just second consciousness’s excuse for something to do? (ex. the second prince saying, “listen, don’t just push me out of the way, I got something important to say.”)
I planned to never say that out loud. But I have almost said it a dozen times. But second consciousness decided in private that I wouldn’t do it. Tonight I either changed my mind or I misspoke. Right? To be continued.
End 49:39
