Abstraction Or Reality

But first, we take you to the Esalen Institute, where a non-professional recorder was there and recorded Alan Watts.

Not well, but good enough for the night people.

USA 2000, abstraction or reality from 1968.

And it puts a microphone in their face.

There are so many friends from so many different portals.

When you consider just adding up nuclear warfare, biological warfare, overpopulation, bad conservation, racial strife, civil war.

Take your choice.

Either one or any mixture of them.

And we shan't be here.

That is to say, we shan't be here in the sense of a terror, a biological world.

It exists in some abstract sense.

Like, see, I was right after all.

Better dead than red.

Now, here exactly lies the problem of the future.

When I make prophecies from a purely realistic and hard-boiled point of view,

I tend towards the extremely gloomy side of things.

I have never yet voted in an election where the candidate of my choice won the election.

I tend to feel that practical politics is a matter of assessing.

That human beings are so stupid that they will always do what they can do.

What can be done, must be done.

And that we will go, like the galleries, wind down the hill.

And if I were betting on it, and I had somewhere to place my bet, I went that way.

But I don't have any point of view where I'm not just an objective bystander looking at this situation

as something which I'm just going to predict about.

I'm involved in it.

And as I'm involved in it, I'm damned if I'm going to let it happen that way.

There is then the other alternative.

That if the United States of America ceases to exist in our minds and in our hearts

as an abstract political nation and we focus our attention instead upon the physical people

and upon the physical environment and the love of them,

then we have some chance of creating by the year 2000 a most extraordinary state of affairs.

But it is based upon the realization of that distinction

between the territory, the people, and all the biological life that goes with that situation.

On the one hand, and on the other, the United States as a nation with pride and honor.

You know, quite recently the Congress passed an act against burning the flag.

All sorts of patriotic speeches.

And those state congressmen are responsible directly for burning that for which the flag stands.

The confusion of civilization.

And if we don't find some way of overcoming it,

I'm afraid 2000 AD will see us as non-geographical.

The point then is that civilized man has developed the incredible technique of symbolization.

Of words, which represent things of events.

Of numbers, which represent patterns and arrangements of physical nature.

Of social institutions, laws, states, and so on.

And in these terms he represents the physical world

in the same way that the menu represents the dinner.

He has been so fascinated by the power of this symbolic way of looking at things

that he very easily confuses it with what it represents

and so has a tendency to eat the menu instead of the dinner.

And this is precisely the disease from which those congressmen

who are raking about burning the flag are suffering from.

Now this disease assumes much more serious forms.

Our first as the major obstacle to the survival of the territory United States

in the year 2000

may be symbolized by the confusion of money with wealth.

You remember, don't you, the Great Depression

when suddenly the whole country is in a state of poverty

for the reason that there was what they call a financial collapse.

There was no diminution of our natural resources

there was no diminution of our physical strength

of our intelligence

but suddenly almost overnight

we had an economic depression

incredible poverty and suffering

because of a financial slumber.

As if you came to work one day

and they said to you

you were going to build a house

and they said, sorry baby

but can't build a house today

we haven't got any inches

we haven't got any inches of lumber

we've got tape measures

ah, tape measures, just inches

there's just no more inches to go around

that's exactly what happened

based on the fallacy

that money is wealth

it is in a sense a reality

but a reality of exactly the same order

inches

or lines of longitude

it is a measurement of wealth

but it is confused with wealth

and this is the main thing

which has blocked

the proper expansion

of our technological genius

at this time

there is no question

that within a relatively short time

we have the technical capacity

to wipe poverty off the face of the earth

it isn't a question

of the old socialist programs

of robbing the rich paid for

it is entirely obsolete

it is a question of realizing

that we are now in 1968

long, long beyond the age of scarcity

in which we cannot provide

necessities and luxuries

for every human being on this planet

it is technically possible

the amount we have spent

upon warfare

collectively

since 1914

could have given

every human being on earth

and the amount we are spending

today

on the war in Diego

could abolish

the problems

of almost all

underdeveloped nations

in the world

the confusion is

this suggests the very idea

people feel deeply insecure

and if we should go further than that

and suggest

such outrageous ideas

as that

in the year 2000 AD

there will no longer be taxation

that all utilities

will be free

and that every citizen

instead of having to pay

his taxes

will receive

from the government

a guaranteed basic income

people say

where's the money

going to come from

as if money

was something that came

from somewhere

in the same way as

iron

or hydroelectric power

or lumber

or just plain energy

money doesn't come

from anywhere

and never do

money is an invention

in the same way

that inches

and hours

and trots

and rulers

are inventions

that is

money is a measure

of wealth

now if we define wealth

as consisting of

a sum of three things

wealth

is firstly energy

secondly

technical intelligence

and thirdly

raw materials

those three things

when for example

people think that gold

is wealth

and use gold

for money

gold being used

for money

becomes immediately

useless for anything else

it is locked up

in just plain ingots

doing nothing

in banks

and fortresses

and is of no

material value

whatsoever

but the trouble is

that we who pride ourselves

on being

immaterialistically

minded people

and are sometimes

even ashamed of ourselves

for being that

are not materialistic

in any sense

whatsoever

we are high

abstractionists

are concerned

with money

with status

with

what we are called

what people say

about us

with this whole

mess of verbiage

and are very badly

related indeed

to any kind

of physical

natural reality

therefore

we have simply

to get over

you see

I am a philosopher

I am not a

very highly

informed

fact man

about matters

economic and political

but I go down

to basic principles

therefore

come with a certain

naivete

and innocence

like the child

who knows

in Hans Anderson's

tale

of the emperor's

new clothes

that the emperor

was naked

and I see

astonishment

in this kind

of childish way

that people

really think

that money

is necessary

that they don't

understand

the following

simple principles

if you create

a technology

the purpose

of that technology

is to

increase our

supply

of goods

and services

and to make

it unnecessary

for anybody

to perform

gradually

then of course

you are getting

rid of work

so we have

the amazing

idiocy

to penalize

getting rid

of work

as something

called

unemployment

to be on

the lower

social stages

in which you

crawl into a

labor office

and regretfully

receive a dollar

because you see

if money

was a convenience

to get rid

of butter

so that you

wouldn't have

to go down

to the market

with a basket

of eggs

in order to

exchange it

for vegetables

and leave

but if you

have nothing

to barter with

because the

machines are

doing it

instead of

then the

people obviously

have to

credit themselves

for the work

done on their

behalf

by the

machines

if they

do not

do so

the manufacturer

will not

be able

to sell

his product

then what

must he

do

he invents

instead

wars

and all sorts

of disturbances

so that

the people

will be

persuaded

and the

government

will be

dissuaded

to overextend

the national

debt

which is

merely a

method

of issuing

credit

in order

that the

thing

may go on

it is not

necessary

to invent

wars

it is only

necessary

to invent

money

but the

difficulty

is

with our

present

psychology

of money

is that

the moment

there would

be a

guaranteed

national

income

and everybody

would be

given

ten thousand

dollars a year

as a mere

stock

whatever else

they might

want to

acquire

by various

enterprises

prices

would go

sky high

the so-called

catch the

new money

in circulation

and the

result of

that would

be

that you

would be a

pauper on

ten thousand

a year

because people

do not

realize that

when you

put up

prices in

order to

catch an

extra flow

of money

that the

money you

are getting

by this

method

is increasingly

less valuable

and therefore

you are doing

nothing at all

you are simply

going round

in a vicious

circle

so we have

the situation

that when

profits go up

the unions

say more

wages

please

ok more

wages

then what

happens

the prices

go up

and then

the manufacturer

thinks he's

gaining something

he isn't

gaining anything

at all

because it

costs him

more for

everything

he has

so you

see the

obsession

of making

money

is the

thing from

which we

will

if we are

going to

survive

at all

is the

thing from

which we

must be

delivered

if you

substitute

for the

idea of

money

the

sensuous

experience

of real

material

wealth

you will

very quickly

realize

that you

cannot

drive

three cars

at once

nor live

in six

houses

at once

nor eat

five

breakfasts

simultaneously

that there

is simply

a physical

limit

to your

consumption

of the

most

luxurious

wealth

imaginable

but the

point is

that everybody

is going

to have

this

without

limit

because it

that it

has become

an entire

reversal

of the

protestant

ethic

which was

of course

that

human

energies

cannot be

trusted

unless most

of them

are absorbed

in

hard work

bringing out

products

if

we are

dead tired

when we

get home

from doing

that

then the

devil

finds

work

for

idle

and

there

will

be

pleasure

seeking

all the

perversialists

that

flow

there

from

until

finally

we

become

weak

sickling

afraid

to

our

enemies

and

fall

apart

there is a

certain truth

in that

we are going

to find

that

in this year

it is not

very far

off

our sacred

and solid

duty

to learn

how to

enjoy

total

luxury

very serious

because

as I pointed

out right

at the

beginning

talking about

utopia

today

is no longer

a sort of

wishful fantasy

it's a grim

necessity

there is no

alternative

except

utopia

to the direction

which we are

present

taking

the direction

of destruction

we've got to

have the nerve

to stand up

and say

yes

we are going

to enjoy

ourselves

as much

as possible

now

let me point

out

that that

is a

high

if any of you

want to

feel

a little

get

masochistic

many people

do

because

they don't

feel

that they

have contributed

to society

unless they

have suffered

during the

day

and I want

to propose

an entirely

new and

adventurous

form of

suffering

which is

the art

of enjoying

yourself

as much

as possible

and accepting

full heartedly

the real

physical

possibility

of immense

prosperity

now that

the problem

of this

is

what we

call

fatigue

in

study

of

medicine

that

consciousness

is a peculiar

neurological

phenomenon

which gets

bored

rather easily

so that

when a certain

stimulus

is given

to consciousness

for a period

of time

it ceases

to notice it

and then

for lack

of anything

to do

it ceases

out another

one

and therefore

for people

who are

permanently

comfortable

they cease

to notice

that they're

comfortable

very well

when you

were worried

financially

and

were constantly

preoccupied

that you

didn't have

enough

money

and then

suddenly

you've

got

enough

money

and you

were very

happy

for a few

days

and you

started

worrying

about

yourself

now nature

and the

force

of action

so therefore

my pleasure

must go

hand in hand

with a certain

degree of

sense

so very

skillful

cooks

from gourmands

the french

distinction

between gourmet

and gourmand

is extremely

important

a gourmand

is a person

who just

shoves it

down

a trencher

a gourmet

takes it

subtle

he doesn't

ever

over drink

he doesn't

ever

overeat

he's

fussy

particularly

and

disciplined

because he

attends to the

art of cooking

as a very

rare business

so that he

mustn't ever

fatigue himself

with it

and that's

one of the

major tasks

in front of

this

and that goes

hand in hand

with the other

thing that

must occur

as a way of

as a form

of change

of spirit

in technology

if we

are to

bring about

this kind

of prosperity

hitherto

the spirit

motivating

technology

has been

unfriendly

to the

physical

environment

we

have spoken

of the

technological

enterprise

as man's

conquest of

nature

as if man

were an

alien to

the universe

was something

that came

into this

world

from outside

that is to

say from

the abstract

world

and landed

in the concrete

world

incarnate

in a human

body

and therefore

as an abstract

spirit

at odds

with this

physical prison

it was his

duty on this

earth

to

order by

violence

his physical

prison

and make it

submit to

his will

and as a

result of

that

we have

a type

of technology

which

with few

exceptions

is purely

exploitable

and destructive

it's symbol

to chiefly

being the

bulldozer

that

great

metal

bar

which will

shut down

mountains

in a ghastly

fulfillment

of the

prophecy

in the bible

that every

valley

should be

exalted

and mountains

stay low

across

places

made flames

the

progressive

los angelization

of the world

is going

ahead

if it is

going to happen

at all

and could

indeed

happen

is a change

in

the individual

human beings

consciousness

of his own

existence

vis-à-vis

face to face

with nature

we have

been brought

up

to

experience

ourselves

as separate

souls

or egos

confronted

with the

world

of nature

that since

the

disappearance

of god

at the end

of the

19th century

is a profoundly

stupid

environment

consisting of

animals who

are not very

brighter

rocks that

are quite

clearly stupid

and other

electronic forces

which have

only rationality

in so far as

our physicists

can impose it

upon them

and therefore

we feel

quite alienated

from the

outside world

and we feel

that we are

mere occurrences

we arrive

in this world

for a short

time and then

disappear forever

so make the

best of it

while you can

we have

absolutely

no idea

experiencing

our relationship

to the physical

universe

as both

ecologists

and physicists

know it

to be

the ecologist

knows

that a human

being or any

other organism

is not something

that comes into

this world

from somewhere

else

but is an

expression of it

grows out of

that fruit

from the trees

and it's

absolutely

imperative

that we

realize this

because only

on the basis

of that new

kind of

conception of

the human

being

or feeling

of human

existence

can we

have the

motivation

for developing

a technology

which will

cooperate with

the environment

instead of

merely

destroying it

if you are

a great

wine river

and you

love to

drink

you must

realize that

with that

goes love

of grapes

you can't

just tear

grapes off

the hill

and mulch

them into

wine

you've got

to love

them in

such a way

that those

grapes will

be happy

to return

to your

hills

year after

year

that's

real

technology

no matter

what

instruments

no matter

what

chemicals

you use

you must

love the

grapes

brute

fruit

facts

and

hard

realities

instead

of

abstractions

but if

we don't

nuclear

energy

in the

enemy

turns this

planet

into a

star

that may

be the

way

all

other

stuff

the

important

thing

to realize

you see

if this

goes on

and on

and that's

the process

insects

mammals

fish

people

wherever

they come

to be

each

one

of them

is

I

feels

it's

I

just

as you

do now

you don't

remember

having

existed

before

neither

will

you

then

but it

will

always

be

I

always

going

on

so

sure

I

will

then

you

will

be

less

likely

you