===== Philosophy And Society II - 01 - On Time And Death =====

The birds are outside the window. Just in time for Alan Watts here on WFMU.
East Orange, WXHD, Mount Hope. Tonight, death.
And taking this until 7 o'clock with Joe Frank.
Alan Watts info, you can write to us here at WFMU P.O. Box 2011, Jersey City, New Jersey, 07303.
AlanWatts.com, that's A-L-A-N-W-T-T-S.com for more information on the late Mr. Watts.
And check out WFMU.org for our weekly schedule.
Right now, though, Alan Watts, death.
People have a tremendous investment in survival, in continuity, in going on and on through time.
The opposite has been true with at least three major religions of Asia.
The Hindu, the Buddhist, and the Jain.
Where they seem to be against continuity.
And design their disciplines to give deliverance from constant rebirth into the world of birth and death.
And we normally interpret that point of view as being a pessimistic attitude against life.
And sometimes it is indeed, in a way, against life.
One discovers, in India, in modern times, at any rate,
a puritanical attitude of asceticism, avoidance of pleasure, of sex, and all that,
in order to become spiritual.
But I think, to a large extent, the attitudes of modern Indians, who are ascetical in this way,
are very largely influenced by British education.
A very strange thing happened in India.
In the early 19th century,
there was a certain Lord Macaulay,
who wrote poetry that all Englishmen learn in school, called the Lays of Ancient Rome.
And he was a great classicist.
He was someone like Mortimer Adler,
who believed that all wisdom was contained in the great books of the West.
And he attempted to eradicate Hindu culture completely and replace it with British culture.
And he was pretty successful in many ways,
because a great Hindu statesman I used to know
told me that he had not discovered Hindu culture until he was 45 years old.
He was brought up like an Englishman
on Xenophon, Plato, Sophocles, Livy, Ovid, and Julius Caesar,
Shakespeare, etc., etc., all down the line.
And it was so funny, because he was much older than I,
but we all knew the same Latin jokes.
And he looked like an elephant.
At great big ears, he was a wonderful fellow.
So, India was Briticized to an extraordinary degree
and acquired certain Victorian attitudes,
which still exist among many of the Swamis who come to this country.
They're squeamish.
But the real meaning of this so-called escape
from the round of birth and death
is not actually an attitude against life.
Indeed, to the contrary.
It's an attitude of the fundamental and true acceptance of life.
Now, it seems gloomy and wretched
to point out that we're all going to die.
But I want you to notice
that the theme of the transience,
the impermanence of all forms,
is a theme
to which poets constantly resort.
One of the most popular poems in the world
is the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam.
And the whole theme of it is transience.
The earthly hope
men set their hearts upon
turns ashes
or it prospers.
And an arm like snow upon the desert's dusty face
lighting a little hour or two
is gone.
The great passage in Shakespeare
in The Tempest
Our revels now are ended
and these our actors, as I foretold you,
were all spirits
and are melted into air
into thin, thin air.
And like the baseless fabric of this vision
the cloud-capped towers
the gorgeous palaces
the solemn temples
the great globe itself
I, all which it inherit
shall dissolve
and like this insubstantial pageant faded
leave not a rat behind.
We are such stuff
as dreams are made of
and our little life
is rounded with a sleep.
Well said that, well
it isn't so bad.
So
but we resist this.
Unamuno said
the Spanish philosopher
the human beings
are the only creatures
who hoard their dead.
Why do we do this?
There's an undertaker's adverb
that was around some years ago
which shows
a middle-aged
but handsome lady
looking out of the window
on a rainy day.
And it says
what a comfort to know
that
you know
your husband
who's died
of ulcers
or something
is not corrupting
because he's been put
in a concrete vault
in a bronze casket
and skillfully embalmed
and there he will be
forever and ever
safe from the bugs.
This is terrible
because
I have a theory
that
dead people
should be used
as fertilizer.
that enormous fields
should be prepared
and they'd be put
about three feet
underground
until they rot
completely
and then
a certain period
has to wait
for maturing
and then we plant
all those fields
and we return
to the earth
that which we took
from it.
That would be
really civilized.
but instead
we try to make
a block
on the end.
You see
biology
is a mutual
eating society.
Everything
eats everything
and human beings
are trying
to opt out.
We refuse
to be eaten.
Of course
we've conquered
the tigers
and the various
predatory animals
that might eat us
except the little ones.
The little bacteria
they feast on us
and we say
no
we are the end.
Man is the head
of nature
and man
must not be eaten
but in so doing
we do not realize
how we deprive
ourselves
because
we are trying
to put a stop
to the chain
of life.
So then
we would say
however
that the Hindus
and Buddhists
are really trying
to put a stop
to the chain
of life
because they
want to opt
out altogether
but this is
a misinterpretation
of the profoundest
reaches
of their
discipline.
What the Hindus
and Buddhists
are seeking
deliverance from
is not life
but time
and time
is as I
have tried
to show you
an artificial
concept.
This gadget
that I wear
on my wrist
represents
each minute
by a hairline
and this hairline
is made to be
as thin
as possible
as is compatible
with visibility
because
therefore
it gives us
the notion
that this
moment
is
nowhere
and therefore
we get the feeling
from the watch
that time
flies
and we become
anxious.
So short
and so
the exclamation
of Faust
at the end
of Goethe's
drama
saying to the
moment
oh still delay
thou art so fair
the horror
of the approaching
end
so on in
Marlowe's
version of the
same drama
where he
sold his soul
to the devil
and it's
approaching
midnight
ah Faustus
he says
to himself
thou hast
but one
brief hour
to live
and then
the horrors
and he quotes
the latin
verse
oh
lente
curite
nocti
sequi
oh slowly
slowly
run ye
horses of
the night
back up
see
the person
facing death
as you get
older
as you face
death
you notice
that time
is going
faster
and faster
when you're
a child
time drags
and you just
can't wait
for it
to get
ahead
so that you
can be
an adult
because to be
a child
is to be
in a sort
of
to have
no civil
liberties
you can't
wait to
grow up
then
when you get
to be
50 60
and so on
it's going
faster
you just
can't keep
track of it
but it's
an illusion
there is
no time
and so
this is what
the Hindu
Buddhist
wisdom
is really
saying
is that
it is not
for the
abolition
of real
life
but of
abstract
life
of the
conceptualized
idea
of the
universe
which bugs
us all
that it's
a terrible
thing
that forms
all come
to an end
that they're
transient
and therefore
to protect
us
from this
reality
we construct
abstract
worlds
in which
our form
goes on
forever
but the
abstract
worlds
that we
construct
are all
terrible
like I
was showing
you
the Christian
idea of
heaven
was a
complete
bore
and the
Buddhists
and the
Hindus
know all
about
various
heavens
they have
at least
seven
of them
but they
regard them
as illusions
and they
regard the
very gods
and angels
as still
in the
state of
illusion
whereas a
Buddha
or in
the Hindu
terminology
Jivanmukta
someone who's
liberated
is in a
certain way
higher than
the gods
because
delivered from
the illusion
of the cycle
of time
so
notice
therefore
that almost
all religious
beliefs
are in fact
fantasies
to overcome
mortality
the slipping
away of
life
the dissolving
of ourselves
and therefore
they exhibit
fundamentally
anxiety
belief is
anxiety
the Anglo
Saxon word
underlying belief
is leaf
l-i-e-f
which means
to wish
so we say
wishful thinking
underlies
the various
beliefs
of all
what I would
call dogmatic
religions
because if you
go into it
the reason for
belief in God
as a
compassionate
father
the reason for
belief in
immortality
the reason for
belief in the
notion that
goodness will
triumph
and
it will all
come out
all right
in the
end
that is
what the
Buddhists call
Krishna
or clinging
it isn't
really an
attitude of
faith at
all
it's an
attitude of
frantic
clinging on
to what you
think you
are
and therefore
you might say
that the
highest religion
is the
religion of
non-religion
we could
call it
atheism
in the name
of God
it so
happens that
this is
within the
orthodox
christian
tradition
very few
people know
about it
but there
was a fellow
who lived in
the fifth
or sixth
centuries
who wrote
under the
name of
Dionysius
the early
upper guide
and he
was
translated
into latin
by John
Scotus
who was a
scholar at
the court
of
Charlemagne
he was
deeply
studied by
St.
Thomas
Aquinas
in fact
if the
writings of
the
area
upper guide
had been
lost
they could
probably
be
reconstructed
from
St.
Thomas's
quotations
but he
wrote a
book called
Theologia
Mystica
which is a
very strange
book
it's about
what he
calls
negative
theology
there are
two kinds
of theology
one is
called
the
phatic
part
comes
from
the
Greek
word
phimi
which is
to say
kata
means
according
to
apo
means
away
from
so when
you talk
about
God
apophatically
you're
talking
about
God
in
terms
of
things
which
God
might
be
said
to
resemble
you're
using
a
parabolic
analogic
metaphorical
language
God
the
father
therefore
does not
say that
God
is
literally
a
cosmic
male
parent
but
is
in
certain
respects
like
a
father
but
cataphatic
our
apophatic
language
tells
you
what
God
is
not
and
so
you
get
such
words
as
infinite
eternal
and so
on
illimitable
bodiless
and all
these are
negative
words
and so
Dionysius
explains
that the
highest
knowledge
of God
must be
by the
way of
negation
and he
likens it
to a
sculpture
a
sculptor
making
an image
but he
makes the
image by
taking
stone
away
and so
in the
same
way
one comes
to the
knowledge
of God
by going
beyond all
ideas of
God
and getting
rid of
them
this is
the same
exactly as
the doctrine
of the
Upanishads
where the
principle is
of Brahman
we must
say
neti
not this
idea
not that
idea
all
ideas
all
fixations
and
even
religious
methods
must
must be
surpassed
because
all
our
intellectual
concepts
of the
divine
all our
methods
to get
the
divine
are
in the
last resort
only ways
of avoiding
it
let go
there is
there is a
Tibetan
tanka
painting
I have
at home
of a
monstrous
being
called
yaman
thaka
yaman
thaka
has
eleven
heads
eighteen
arms
and eighteen
feet
and an
aureole of
fire
and in the
various
hands
of the
various arms
there are
bells
and daggers
and clubs
and thunderbolts
and all kinds
of objects
which this
being
manipulates
and the
being is
always shown
tilted
at an
angle
and dancing
like fury
upon the
bodies of
the gods
all the
gods
including
buddha
are being
trampled
underfoot
by yaman thaka
this is a
very strange
thing and
naturally the
christian
missionaries
who went
over there
said
well these
people are
obviously
devil
full
with
fangs
although
when you
see all
the other
heads
right at
the top
is the
head
of the
bodhisattva
of supreme
compassion
chenresi
in tibetan
or you
know as
kanon
in japanese
avalokiteshvara
the watchful
lord
who's an
androgyne
and always
comes on
in a
majorly
female
appearance
so
likewise
one of
the great
chinese
zen
masters
lin ji
or rin zai
as they
say in
japanese
had a
passage in
his
discourses
where he
says
oh you
followers of
the way
if you
meet buddha
kill the
buddha
if you
meet the
patriarch
kill the
patriarch
if you
meet
father or
mother
kill them
kill
everything
you
meet
stand
above
it
pass
on
and be
free
now this
sounds
terrible
it's as if
a minister
were to get
up in
church
and say
every time
you say
jesus
wash your
mouth up
and until
they do
that
christianity
will remain
pretty dead
it's
interesting
it's interesting
that the
buddha had
a disciple
by the
name of
ananda
who loved
the master
very much
and was
sort of his
very close
personal
friend
and he
was the
last of
all buddha's
disciples to
attain
enlightenment
he was too
attached to
buddha
so that
in a way
being
religious
gets in
the way
of religion
now does
that mean
on the
other
hand
see
here's a
puzzle about
krishnamoji
who explains
this very
carefully
but his
earnest
disciples
which he
doesn't admit
that he
has
can't read
anything
except mystery
stories
they try
he says
he never
reads a
religious
book
he never
reads the
bhagavad-gita
or the
lankavatara
sutra
or the
dao de jing
or the
bible
a friend of
mine was
sitting next
to him
on a
plane
and
was
fascinated
as to
what he
was
reading
and he
was
reading
a mystery
story
fine
there's
nothing
against
that
but if
you can
only read
mystery
stories
and if
you
can't
join in
any
religious
observance
you are
in some
way
curiously
limited
because
you have
made a
religion
of the
religion
of no
religion
ha
what a
trap
that is
so those
puritans
who broke
down the
idols of
the church
and
burned
like the
caliph who
burned up the
library of
Alexandria
because he
said either
it is the
koran or it
is not in the
koran and the
koran is the
only thing we
need so if
these books are
not the koran
burn them
in the same
way with
bible bangers
so they have
this iconoclastic
attitude
against all
the wonderful
colourful
exuberant
activities and
arts that have
flown from
the great
religions
I think that's
silly
to me it's a
hang up
to be against
religion
because to be
against it
is still not
to have
transcended
it
so
however
if we are
going to have
an attitude
which accepts
religion
but transcends
it
Bernard
Berencene
you know
made the
interesting
remark that
he regarded
himself as a
graduate of
the Roman
Catholic Church
in just the
same sense as
he was a
graduate of
Harvard
University
he was very
grateful to
the Catholic
Church but
he didn't
swallow it
anymore
he wasn't a
member of it
any longer
and I
take the
same attitude
to the
Anglican
Church
and for
that matter
to Buddhism
so
one
gets
therefore to
the point
where beliefs
are seen
to be
obstacles
belief in
survival
belief in
God
heaven
hell
all those
ideas
are dropped
because you
see
that really
they're your
own
projections
as also
is
the belief
in the
mechanical
universe
belief in
atheism
these are
equally
projections
some people
find the
idea that the
universe is
merely
mechanical
extremely
comforting
because thank
God there is
no God
watching us
judging us
ah that's a
relief
it's just
tick tock
stuff
you see
every way
every form
of belief
is really
an attempt
to cling
on
and
it is
precisely
that which
destroys
life
it is
time which
destroys
life
now we
have to
understand
that
carefully
there is a
difference
between time
and rhythm
the clock
goes
tick
so that
the human
mind
can't
stand it
and so we
project upon
the clock
tick
tock
tick
tock
tick
tock
tick
tock
and if you
listen to
a clock
with a loud
tick
you find
yourself
eventually
making it
play tunes
we'll be right
back
in just a moment
with part two
of tonight's
Alan Watts
lecture
death
here on
WFMU
taking us up
until 7 o'clock
and Joe Frank
at that time
this is WFMU
freeform
listener
sponsored radio
91.1 FM
90.1 FM
and on the
internet at
wfmu.org
why because
we're getting
nearer
to the
biological
rhythm
biological
rhythm
is real
rhythm
your heart
goes
everything
in biology
is that
that's rhythm
it isn't time
it's something
quite different
shortens the
moment to the
hairline
of the abstract
second
see
time
kills rhythm
and life
because of the
abstract notion
of the hairline
as the now
now
if we are to
measure now
must be made
to be
as
to seem
as short
as possible
and so
time
altogether
ignores the
fact that
now is
eternal
means
beyond time
it doesn't
mean everlasting
that's the
the nature
of hell
is everlasting
everlastingness
but the
nature of true
heaven
is eternity
which it is
beyond time
and therefore
beyond
transcending
the round
of
samsara
of birth
and death
now dear
people
I really
would love
it
if I could
in some way
convey to you
the experience
of eternity
I mean
here we
are
in this
room
and at
any rate
now
we don't
have anywhere
special to
go
I mean
you're a little
bit trapped
here as a
captive audience
because you
paid to get
in
and
you may as
well make
the best of
it
but we are
not at
this moment
we are not
really going
anywhere
see
actually this
assemblage
sitting around
here
is the
eternal
gathering
and as I
look at you
I see
an array
of gods
and goddesses
beautiful
wow
touched by
sunlight
we're here
this is it
is that
possible
to accept
that
to understand
this actual
situation
that we're
in
is the
point
of all
great
spiritual
quests
it's not
going to
be tomorrow
it's not
going to
be when
you've
had time
to do
something
you know
and progress
towards it
and practice
you have to
get it
now
now or
never
the
Easter
anthem
incidentally
one of
the old
archaic
ones
goes
this
is
the
day
which
the
Lord
hath
made
let
us
rejoice
and be
glad
in it
see
this is
the day
hekdias
it's called
in latin
this is
the day
the zen
buddhist
saying
every day
is a fine
day
lies this
you see
we don't
give a shit
anymore
about immortality
it just
simply
ceases to
matter
because
in the
full
experience
of the
eternal
now
we
watched
under
your
very
eyes
or
rather
to be
more exact
under
your
very
ears
you
heard
the
future
vanish
and you
heard
no
past
if
you
come to
your
senses
there
is
only
the
eternal
now
so
what
you can
get rid
of an
awful lot
of
encumbering
baggage
because
you see
when you
have
really
accepted
this
and
it's
easy to
do
by
accepting
mortality
i
mean
you're
sure
we're
all
going
to
die
sure
we're
all
falling
apart
but
once
that
has
become
obvious
you
find
mysteriously
that you
have an
immense
access
of new
energy
because
we are
constantly
wasting
energy
i mean
really
wearing
ourselves
out
trying to
hold
ourselves
together
and
to be
sure
that
we're
secure
and
that
everything's
going to
be
all
right
and
isn't
and
we
get
more
and
more
worried
and
so
on
and
so
on
whereas
if
we
just
left
that
alone
we'd
have
all
that
energy
available
for
other
things
and
we
would
blossom
like
great
saints
and
spiritual
people
who have
abandoned
the
world
they
don't
mean
what
of
the
world
and
they
float
around
in
japanese
one
calls
such
people
unsui
which
means
cloud
and
water
in
other
words
they
drift
like
clouds
and
flow
like
water
be
unsui
why not
what have
you got
to lose
only a
concept
of who
you
are
that's
all
and
that
concludes
tonight's
Alan Watts
lecture
death
here
on
WFMU


===== Philosophy And Society II - 02 - The Smell Of Burnt Almonds =====

Some time ago, I received a visit from a woman who, as a result of listening to these talks,
was wondering if I could help her to regain an experience which she had had while undergoing
a surgical operation, as is generally known.
Anesthetics sometimes induce peculiarly vivid and unusual states of consciousness, and every
now and then, a person under anaesthesia will undergo a specific and particular experience
which is of the utmost fascination.
It's the kind of experience which I suppose we would ordinarily call mystical or spiritual,
and which, while it lasts, carries the most powerful sensation of understanding with
complete clarity and certainty, what is the mystery and meaning of the world.
This occurs sufficiently often to have been made a subject of experimentation.
Perhaps you know the story of the investigator who took doses of anaesthetic for this purpose,
equipped himself with pencil and paper to record, at the moment of awakening, whatever revelation
might have been given to him.
Fortunately, the expected experience took place, and for a brief period the investigator had the
vivid conviction of complete comprehension of this universe, of life and death.
death, he regained waking consciousness, with the tail end of the sensation still upon him, grabbed
the pencil, and swiftly recorded the essential content of the experience just before it faded.
After several minutes, during which his mind returned to its normal state, he looked at what he had written,
and there, upon the paper, was the following immensely profound observation.
Everything in this universe is the smell of burnt almonds.
I suppose that all sensible and hard-headed people would agree that this is just the sort of inanity
to which all these mystical revelations ultimately boil down.
In the clear, cold light of rational consciousness, the seemingly inspired and utter convincing knowledge
of dreams, of drug delusions, and of mystical experiences comes down to just this sort of idiotic anticlimax.
Masked in the poetic or exotic obscurantism of such phrases as
all is Brahman, or the divine unity beneath the multiplicity of the world.
It may sound for a moment as if it meant something, but the essential nonsense of these feelings,
and the purely subjective character of the sense of insight which they involve,
at once becomes obvious when Brahman, or the divine unity,
is replaced by the smell of burnt almonds.
We might settle for this conclusion.
If some of us
had not had the same sensation,
not under drugs or hypnosis,
but when very wide awake,
and I, for one, will not quarrel
with the smell of burnt almonds as the key to the mystery.
I like it much better and feel it makes much more sense than Brahman or the divine unity.
For its very banality,
its very consequential silliness,
brings out the real significance of the experience in question.
For the importance
of the mystical revelation
does not lie in the precise nature of what
everything in this universe is.
It can be God, or Brahman, or burnt almonds, or applesauce, or anything you like.
Its importance lies rather
in the simple sensation of wholeness
in the part of the sentence which runs
everything in this universe is
no matter what.
For
the conviction
which has come to the experiencer
is that his habitual sensation
of isolation from his environment
from the rest of the world
is an illusion
and that as a corollary
his own
deeds and misdeeds
fortunes and misfortunes
are the same process
as the changing seasons
and the circling stars
and unreasonable
as it may seem
this gives him the sensation
that his whole life
past, present, and future
is somehow
perfectly natural
and in order
and that he himself
is not just
the mind
enclosed in the skull
but the total process
of the world
The significance of this experience
does not, I think
lie in any
consequences or conclusions
which might be drawn from it
It is not
an important experience
in the sense
that
it is useful for some other purpose
It is simply like
playing or listening to music
which is
obviously phony
in the very moment
that we do it
for some ulterior motive
such as
to appear cultured
or
to convey
an ideological message
Its significance
for human beings
is not like that
of say
the second law
of thermodynamics
but like that
of
the Mozart sonatas
or
the arabesques
on a Persian rug
The significance
of useful knowledge
like the second law
of thermodynamics
is precisely that
by applying it
human beings
may be enabled
to go on
experiencing
such things
as music
or love
or
mystical insight
But what could I say
to the woman
who
under anesthetic
had once
had this experience
and
wanted it again
more than anything else
in the world
Go and have another
operation
Get yourself
some ether
or
mescaline
or
lysergic acid
or
take up yoga
or get thee
to a nunnery
there are still
other
and much to
Pat
answers
to this question
as that
she is failing
to revive
the experience
by the very act
of seeking
for it
as well tell
a starving man
that his very hunger
is what prevents him
from finding food
for once
a person
has had
an experience
of this kind
he is gone
it's easier
to get rid
of an addiction
to heroin
or to choose
something more natural
to get rid of
the love
of the opposite sex
no I could better
say something
like this
the answer
is
in the very
experience
which you have
had
didn't you know
then
for certain
with utter
clarity
that your
whole life
past
present
and future
was somehow
as you yourself
put it
part and parcel
of that
universal
harmony
which the
Chinese call
the Tao
I
feel sometimes
that
phrases like
universal harmony
are so
hackneyed
so
almost slushy
and sentimental
that it's
terribly difficult
to begin
to find
the right word
for this kind
of thing
without sounding
like
Voltaire's
Mr. Pangloss
without
sort of
jumping on
this
best of all
possible worlds
business
because the
thing isn't
like that
at all
it's very
very much
stronger
than
the feeling
that this is
the best
of all
possible worlds
and the
curious thing
about it
it isn't
that it
glosses
over anything
but it
makes the
most awful
things
seem that
way too
without at the
same time
making them
cease to
seem terrible
it's very
peculiar
she had
seen then
for certain
at the time
of that
experience
seen with
total clarity
that her
whole past
present and
future life
was in some
way part
and parcel
of what we
are perforce
driven to
call the
universal
harmony
of the
Tao
but what
one doesn't
seem to
understand
then
is that
this still
remains true
of what
one is
today
you are in
the stream
when
seeking for
what you
have lost
and when
feeling
perfectly
ordinary
no less
than when
you were
in ecstasy
you're not
feeling the
experience
and you're
striving to
regain it
is as a
matter of
fact
the very
future
which you
saw to be
in such
perfect
accord with
the process
let me
remind you
of a
celebrated
tale that
was told
by Sri
Ramakrishna
the story
of one of
his disciples
who had
learned from
the master
that
all the
multiplicity
of this
world
is the
illusory
outward
form
of the
one
eternal
divine
Brahman
underlying
the entire
process
and having
sat and
listened to
this
exposition
the disciple
got up
and went
his way
and in
passing down
a rather
narrow street
he saw
an elephant
coming
towards
him
and
Mahut
riding
on top
of the
elephant
well
the Mahut
saw
the
disciple
wandering
down
the
centre
of
the
road
and
shouted
at
him
hey you
get out
of the
way
this
elephant
isn't
very
nice
but
the
disciple
thought
now
the
master
Ramakrishna
has told
me
realized
this
to
be
true
so
he
ignored
the
warning
of
the
Mahut
and
approached
the
elephant
and
the
elephant
swung
his
trunk
and
swatted
that
disciple
hard
and
threw
him
into
the
ditch
where
he
was
scratched
with
the
brambles
well
he
was
very
that
I
am
brahman
and
all
other
creatures
is
that
not
so
master
and
the
master
said
yes
it
is
so
well
he
said
I
was
walking
out
in
the
road
and
I
saw
this
elephant
coming
towards
me
and
it
didn't
seem
to
me
to
be
necessary
to
get
out
of
the
way
when
the
mahut
riding
the
elephant
warned
me
to
do
so
because
I
figured
that
I
was
brahman
and
the
elephant
was
brahman
and
I
could
come
to
no
harm
you
stupid
man
said
Sri
Ramakrishna
you
didn't
realize
that
the
voice
of
the
mahut
was
also
brahman
and
you
should
have
heeded
that
too
so
also
in
this
case
the
one
who
is
trying
to
regain
the
vision
is
are
actually
feeling
now
and
which
you
are
ignoring
because
of
your
eagerness
to
feel
some
other
way
that
is
the
voice
of
the
mahut
and
that
too
is
brahman
nine
times
out
of
ten
an
observation
of
this
kind
will
mean
nothing
and
will
fall
as
flat
as
being
told
that
everything
in
this
universe
is
the
smell
of
burnt
almonds
but
the
tenth
time
it
will
dawn
upon
you
as
a
statement
of
total
and
luminous
clarity
I
do
not
think
we
need
have
any
fear
that
this
tenth
time
will
never
come
for
in
other
circumstances
it
has
come
again
and
again
think
back
to
school
days
when
with
the
utmost
care
your
teacher
explained
over
and
over
the
mysteries
of
percentage
or
sentence
structure
or
daylight
saving
time
and
you
consistently
failed
to see
the point
and
then
suddenly
something
clicked
in your
mind
and
the
principle
became
clear
there
is
a
Chinese
poem
which
says
words
do
not
make
a
man
understand
it
takes
the
man
to
understand
the
words
now
today
we
are
living
in
an
age
which
is
quite
peculiar
because
in
the
world
of
science
there
are
no
longer
any
secrets
because
the
method
of
science
requires
that
all
scientists
be
in
communication
with
each
other
and
therefore
that
every
scientist
as soon
as he
has
discovered
something
or
got a
good
idea
he
rushes
into
print
and
it's
important
for
him
to
do
so
because
some
other
scientist
somewhere
else
in
the
world
might
be
thinking
about
something
on
the
same
lines
and
would
be
stimulated
in
his
work
by
this
man's
speculations
even
if
not
by
discoveries
and
so
the
whole
scientific
world
tries
to
remain
in
communication
and
for
this
reason
it
was
absolutely
impossible
to
keep
atomic
energy
a
secret
in
former
ages
that
might
have
been
managed
because
there
were
many
secrets
once
upon
a
time
and
people
were
not
admitted
to
these
secrets
unless
they
were
in
we
live
in
such
a
dangerous
age
because
all
the
secrets
are
out
in
the
open
and
anybody
can
run
amuck
with
them
and
that's
just
the
situation
we
have
to
face
and
that
is
just
the
situation
we
have
to
handle
it
is
too
late
to
stop
it
because
that
would
be
as
they
say
locking
the
vital
a
few
months
ago
said
there
are
two
major
forces
operating
in
the
world
today
for
good
or
for
evil
one
is
red
china
the
other
is
LSD
and
there
is
a
certain
reason
why
such
a
thing
as
a
certain
chemical
which
is
capable
of
opening
people's
minds
in a
certain
way
should
be
something
extremely
disturbing
because
this
particular
chemical
in
common
with
a
number
of
others
that
have
been
known
for
centuries
but
have
been
rather
played
cool
through
those
centuries
is
capable
of
doing
something
which
simply
cannot
be
tolerated
that
is
to
say
capable
of
letting
properly
prepared
individuals
or
sometimes
improperly
prepared
individuals
in
on
secret
which
is
very
closely
guarded
and
which
is
as
a
matter
of
fact
the
deepest
and
most
fundamental
of
all
our
social
taboos
I
have
just
finished
writing
a
book
which
I
have
had
with
a
sort
of
tongue
in
cheek
attitude
had
the
sex
is
not
really
a
serious
taboo
in
our
culture
if
you
are
initiating
a
young
person
into
life
and
you
realize
that
your
son
or
daughter
is
going
to
college
and
that
you
ought
therefore
to
have
a
think
deeply
what
is
fundamentally
taboo
in
this
culture
and
perhaps
in
other
cultures
as
well
what
would
what
information
in
other
words
would
really
let
the
cat
out
of
the
bag
and
give
away
the
persons
simply
not
make
well
there
is
one
and
that
is
if
anybody
claims
that
he
is
God
that
simply
isn't
done
certainly
not
in
our
culture
although
it's
very
frequent
in
India
but
in
our
culture
that
is
simply
not
allowed
because
we
most
of
us
from
a
Christian
background
and
if
not
that
from
a
Jewish
background
and
there's
a
great
given
common
because
both
Christians
and Jews
are
concerned
about
somebody
called
Jesus
Christ
both
Christians
and Jews
are
in
a
way
followers
of
Jesus
Christ
in
different
ways
he
is a
problem
to
both
because
he
was
the
man
who
came
out
and
discovered
he
was
God
and
that
simply
is
impermissible
the
Jews
perfectly
even
more
tactfully
than
the
Jews
by
putting
him
on
a
pedestal
and
saying
this
was
the
only
man
who
ever
was
God
and
nobody
else
was
really
so
before
and
certainly
nobody
can
be
so
afterwards
stop
right
there
put
him
on
the
altar
bow
down
to
him
worship
him
so
that
everything
he
had
to
say
will
be
null
and
void
and
it
worked
beautifully
but
you
see
the
trouble
about
deep
secrets
is
they
can't
be
repressed
indefinitely
now
here's
the
problem
you
see
that
there
are
certain
processes
some
of
which
are
what
you
might
call
spiritual
exercises
others
are
simply
chemicals
others
are
and
self
goes
with
other
and
as
this
becomes
clear
to
you
it's
rather
shaking
because
look
if
what
you
define
as
you
is
inseparable
from
everything
which
you
define
as
not
you
just
as
front
is
inseparable
from
back
then
you
realize
that
deep
down
between
self
and
other
there
is
some
sort
of
conspiracy
if
these
things
always
occur
in
combination
and
look
very
different
from
each
other
and
feel
quite
different
nevertheless
the
feeling
of
difference
between
them
allows
each
one
to
exist
and
so
underneath
the
opposition
or
the
polarity
between
self
and
other
or
between
any
other
pair
of
opposites
you
can
think
of
there
is
something
in
common
as
there
is
for
example
between
figure
and
background
you
can't
see
a
figure
without
a
background
you
can't
have
an
organism
without
an
environment
equally
you
can't
have
a
background
without
a
figure
or
an
environment
without
organisms
in it
or
without
things
in it
you
can't
have
space
which
is
unoccupied
by any
solid
you
cannot
have
solids
not
occupying
some
space
this
is
absolutely
elementary
and yet
we
don't
realize
it
because
for
example
the
average
person
thinks
that
space
is
nothing
it
is
just
a
sort
of
not
there
in which
there
are
things
and
we
are
slightly
afraid
that
not
there
ness
that
nothingness
that
darkness
that
the
negative
poles
of all
these
oppositions
will
win
that
they
will
eventually
swallow
up
every
kind
of
being
and
every
kind
of
there
ness
but
when
you
catch
on
to
the
game
you
realize
that
won't
happen
because
what
is
called
not
existing
is
quite
incapable
of
being
there
without
the
contrast
of
something
called
existing
it's
like
the
crest
and
the
trough
of
a
wave
you
can't
have
a
wave
that
is
all
trough
and
no
crest
just
as
you
can't
have
thing
has
never
been
manifested
in
the
physical
universe
they
go
together
and
that
is
the
secret
there
really
is
no
other
secret
than
that
but
it
is
thoroughly
repressed
and
therefore
we
are
all
educated
to
feel
that
we've
got
to
fight
for
the
white
because
the
black
might
win
we've
got
to
survive
you
must
survive
that's
the
great
thing
we're
all
working
rounding
it
out
day
after
day
anxiety
because
this
is
a
description
of
anxiety
is
the
fear
that
one
of
a
pair
of
opposites
might
cancel
the
other
forever
and
if
by
any
chance
by
any
means
you
find
out
that
is
not
so
you
have
game
the
game
called
white
must
win
because
you
know
that
neither
black
nor
white
are
going
to
win
because
they
belong
to
each
other
so
one
of
the
problems
of
the
various
chemicals
which
can
change
the
and
people
who
take
these
chemicals
and
see
through
the
human
game
cannot
be
trusted
they
may
decide
to be
good
sports
and
go
back
into
the
game
and
play
it
as
if
it
were
for
real
or
they
may
not
and
if
they
don't
what's
going
to
happen