Examples

James Joyce was one of the more notable rejecters of Catholicism. Right after he died a priest tried to persuade his widow to have a religious burial. Said Nora, "I couldn't do that to him." The relevance of this anecdote in the context of comment on the uncommentariable work of Jan Cox is that you can see how important his position on Catholicism was to James Joyce. Which points up the reality that so-called opposites are just one whole. This example, that of an atheist was actually one example Jan Cox used to illustrate the point that to reject something is to accept that very thing. Could one be a real atheist one would be quite calm about the church and not even think about the church at all. To oppose something is to give that which you oppose, vitality. This applies also within.

Hearing Jan

What will never be captured in words now, is the experience of listening to Jan Cox talk. I at least cannot begin to explain, among other things, the way he could say two different things, literally at the same time in a public (well at least the group) setting. Not two contradictory things, but two separate intellectual points.

He could also direct his comments in this group setting to one person, or --- sometimes he could give the impression he was talking directly to you, while HE was on stage and sharing his speech to a group of people.

And then there was his speech to individuals which was based on his knowledge of that person, his knowing exactly what at a certain moment had the best chance of helping that person look in a certain direction. In a sense this description applies to all his talks to a group of people he allowed to stay based on their purpose and potential. These were the people he did not kick out, deliberately scare away, or gently discourage. (This last I to myself called the velvet boot.) This speech to individuals, though, may be information that was not really relevant to others. A street level example of this last, is his telling me that I should take my car to the dealer to get it fixed. This advice was based on his knowledge of me, and was not at all transferable to others in general.

But more typically his speech to individuals was not about such mundane matters, but focused the same knowledge of the person he was speaking with a regard for their potential at that moment. Speech received in this mode could be something the individual remembered well, though it may actually be only relevant to that individual, at least only relevant to that individual regarding the surrounding details of what he said. Thus he might frame a point to someone who was given to hero worship differently than he would speak to someone who grasped that a certain respect was appropriate when relating to a real teacher, rather than the "horizontal guru" to use an exact quote from Jan Cox.

Such talents that a real man could possess are one way myths about psychic powers begin. I use the word myths to stress that when a man has a certain base of knowing, then the usual descriptions just do not apply. There was nothing psychic per se about some of his talents, it was just that most men do not think themselves, really think, at all, and so were impressed by what was really a minor aspect of the talent of a man who knew the source of his knowledge, and remembered it.

Poorly Packed Pickups Pinned Up Again

Picking poorly packed pickups back up- --because this is a graphic glimpse of a reality which is hard to point at. I mean the lurching quality of progress, any kind of progress, the half falling, stumbling, of Life itself. Look at the load on the truck bed, trussed haphazardly, piled peculiarly,and if you following the same pickup I am, as you study the load , you feel a little nervous. You do not want to meet a ladder unexpectedly. This picture, the poorly packed pickup, though is a reality at the axel of things. In the words of Jan Cox--there is a core of confusion to everything. And it could be that this reality ripples though everything. Certainly there is no reason to be surprised at spotted, jagged margins. The surprise would be a rhythmic, regular progress, because that would mean you certainly were not paying attention at the moment you so categorized it. Let me point out, as he did occasionally, we are not pointing to the regularity of physical functioning itself, like breathing, which should not be messed with.