Medieval society in the West, comparable to Hindu society, allowed people to check out
 of the game. It revered and encouraged hermits, monks, nuns, of various types of discipline.
 There's this difference, you see, for the West and India. You couldn't join the Brahmana
 caste, the priest caste, from some other caste. But in the European caste system, by becoming
 a priest or a cleric of any kind, you see, a cleric means simply a literate person, you
 could familiarize with any other caste once you're in that one. And so it was a wonderful
 way of rising in society. You could, from being a serf, go to being a priest, to being
 an archbishop, and consort with the nobility. It was the only way open to cross castes,
 you see. And because they were the literate people, it was through literacy and through
 universities founded by clerics that our caste system began to break. And we got the idea
 of choosing your own vocation and not simply following what your parents did.
 Now I want to make an observation here about checking out of the game. This is not encouraged
 in contemporary society. Because the Catholic Church and the, say, the Episcopalian Church,
 are very powerful minorities, they can still support monasteries and even hermits. But
 you can't be one on your own without great difficulty. Firstly, because you're a poor
 consumer. See, around here, we have a number of hermits. There's a guy out there building
 that boat, and he's essentially a non-joiner, a poor consumer. And the community, they live
 a lot along here. And they're mostly, they're not working class people. They are people
 who dropped out of college because they saw it was stupid. And they're that sort of people.
 We would call them, perhaps, beatniks. But you see, the city doesn't like it because
 they aren't owning the right sort of cars, and therefore the local car salesman isn't
 doing business through them. They don't have lawns, and so nobody can sell them lawnmowers.
 They hardly use dishwashers, appliances of that kind. They don't need them. And also
 they wear blue jeans and things like that, and so the local dress shops feel a bit put
 out having these people around. And they live very simply. Well, you mustn't do that. You've
 got to live in a complicated way. You've got to have the kind of car, you know, that identifies
 you as a person of substance and status and all that. So there's a great problem here
 in our society. Now why is there this problem? There's always a very inconsiderable minority
 of these non-joiners, or people who check out of the game. But you will find that insecure
 societies are the most intolerant of those who are non-joiners. They are so unsure of
 the validity of their game rules that they say, "Everyone must play." Now that's a double
 bind. You can't say to a person, "You must play," because what you're saying is, "You
 are required to do something which will be acceptable only if you do it voluntarily."
 You see? So everyone must play is the rule in the United States, and it's the rule in
 almost all Republican governments. I mean Republican in the sense of Democratic. Because
 they're very uneasy. Because everybody's responsible. You mean you may try not to be and avoid it
 and say, "Oh, let the senators take care of it," or the president. But theoretically, everyone's
 responsible. Now that's terrifying. See, it's all right when you know what's right. There
 is an aristocracy, there is the clergy, and they know what should be done, and they're
 used to ruling, you see. But now it's in your hands. You say, "Well, what are we going to
 do?" Well, I think this way, and you think that way, and he thinks the other way. And
 so we're all unsettled. And therefore, we become more and more conformist. Individualism,
 rugged individualism, always leads to conformism, because people get scared. And so they herd
 together and compounded with industrial society, mass production, etc. They all wear the same
 clothes, and they're sensible clothes that don't show the dirt too much. And we get duller
 and drabber, with the exception of the Californian Revolution.
 So the reason for this is, in a way, that democracy as we have tried it started out
 on the wrong foot. You see, in the scriptures, the Christian scriptures, it says, "Everybody
 is equal in the sight of God." Now that's a mystical utterance. That means that from
 the standpoint of God, all people are divine and are playing their true function. And that
 is something that is true on a certain plane of consciousness. But come down a step and
 try to apply the mystical insight in the practical affairs of everyday life, and what do you
 get? You get a parody of mysticism. You get the idea, not that everybody is equal in the
 sight of God, but that all people are equally inferior. And that's why all bureaucracies
 are rude, why the police are rude, and why you are made to wait in lines and are obstreperous
 income tax individuals and all that sort of person. Because everybody's a crook. Everybody's
 equally inferior. See, that becomes the parody of democracy. And that kind of society, watch
 out for it. It turns in a quick click into fascism because of its terror of the outsider.
 Now a free and easy society loves outsiders. In fact, it's a little bad for the outsider's
 integrity because he becomes a holy man, see? And people make salams and give him food and
 all that. They really take care of the outsider because they know that man is doing for us
 what we haven't got the guts to do. That outsider who lives up there in the mountain is at the
 highest peak of human evolution. His consciousness is one with the divine. And great, just there
 is someone like that around. It makes you feel a little better. He is realized. He knows
 what it's all about. And so we need a number of those people. Even though they don't join
 our game, they tell us, you see, what you're doing is only a game. It's okay, I'm not going
 to condemn you, but it is only a game. And we up on that mountaintop are watching you.
 We love you. We have compassion for you. But excuse, please, we aren't going to join. So
 that gives the community great strength because it tells the government in no uncertain terms
 that there's something more than government. That's why wise kings kept not only priests
 but caught fools. The caught fool is much more effective than the priest to remind the
 king that after all he's human. And you know how in Richard II, where the fool is called
 the antic, the king says, "Within the hollow crown that rounds the mortal temples of a
 king keeps death his watch." And there the antic sits, scoffing at his state and grinning
 at his pomp, allowing him a little time to monarchize, be feared, and kill with looks.
 And then at last comes death, and with a pin, bores through his castle wall, and farewell
 king. See, always this reminder of the priest or of the antic to the royalty, to the government.
 You are going to die. You are mortal. Don't give yourself airs and graces as if you were
 a god as king. You are only a representative of God. And there is a force, there are domains
 way, way beyond yours and way, way higher. But it's very difficult for a republican government
 to realize that, because it's insecure. And therefore, in our present world, you cannot
 abandon nationality without the greatest difficulty. People who try to abandon nationality get
 constantly deported from one place to another. You must belong to this thing. As Thoreau
 put it, "However far into the forests you may go, men will pursue you and compel you
 to belong to their desperate company of oddfellows."
 This concludes Session 10 of Out of Your Mind, essential listening from the Alan Watts Audio
 Archives. Our program continues with Session 11.
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