As one of the best Values KPFK has put on over many years is
Alan Watts talks, that describe not only many and varied so-called Eastern
religions translated for the Western mind.
As when Alan began these lectures
and workshops in 1950-60-70’s, only the more dogmatic academics could
read and understand what was going on in minds outside of their own cultures.
And representatives of Asian religions, who came with their own strict teachings, with limited English abilities and then taught as they had been taught elsewhere, that was mostly not a good-fit to Americans. The ones who wanted to learn but not be strictly disciplined in other-ways, nor devote their lives to another religion or viewpoint.
Roy Tuckman has continually replayed many audiotapes in connection
with Alan Watts’sons - who retained the rights when he died in 1973.
And the KPFK
audiences listened late-night, 1x/week, midnight mostly for years, because this was an unsual and free
EDUCATION and contained new Revelations – not of bibles or books, but of UNDERSTANDINGS and
other-ways-to-think-and-comprehend =
"what is this life and world doing anyhow ?"
"How does this work or where are we going ?"
“What is this all about?"
"How come it happens
this way and not that ?
"Why are the majority called Christians in USA
determined to only give just their view and demand all others just agree & join ?"
How to understand from other people & their different ways ? – the many & various huge, old societies - to Also learn how they Think
and Wonder and Explain -- all this...
Instead of just being stuck in the usual linear, wealth-seeking,
obedience-demanding societies we live within the Western
worlds ?"
Why is this same confusion encouraged and provoked by the 1-only
Christian version of what This World we all Live In Together ? Or also why the 3 Abrahamic religions insist that Only They KNOW and no one dare disagree nor diverge from their
sacred books.
So Alan Watts was a studied and well-spoken teacher - to many
who sudden realized they could better comprehend and cooperate with This World
As This Is - when other versions of “how” it all comes and becomes emerged.
He was funny and laughed at his own jokes, he
was verbose and droned on tangents at times, but returned to the “point” he was
exposing and revealing. And many who did not get immediately -bored by his
talking style listened. Again and More.
Because the stories and metaphors made sense and hit ‘home’
in minds and spiritual souls.
Because he spoke of expanding versions of How It All IS and with fun & varied stories told over
centuries by different cultures/ religions in world-wide-locations - those that differed but
revealed more than what each had in it’s own limited version.
Not that all Eastern-Asiatic philosophies are better
or superior at all, no, but they offer wider, fuller, different explanations of
how to Live well, in harmonies, and without the Western anxieties provoked by these limited religions -
who all wanted control, obedience and no questions to their dogmas. Maybe other religions also require obedience and no diversions but Americans could learn the basics and not join-in to even their fortified structures.
So sometimes when listening to KPFK radio, we chose to do more:
we typed quickly
trying to catch as many words and thoughts from Alan Watts' lectures, replayed by Roy
for our comprehension and education.
Here is one and more will be posted.
Yes, they may be copied, as when rebroadcast on the radio, those
lectures could have been audio-taped or recorded, or even from the
then-archived replay available.
The work of typing and copying is a gift here
for any reader. That is a work done for SHARING WHAT WE FIND VALUABLE, not
because it was Watts, but because as a ‘teacher’ and ‘entertainer’
he shared what he learned, as does Roy
on his program, and as we do in different format here too:
(c) mj for above portion only
A world we all want to wonder and understand. This one.
note: that all emphasis are added here as heard or assumed by his inflections or the typist's chosing.
As heard from talk : ‘Tribute to C.J. Jung”
part of Art Of
Psychonanalysis 1-2-3:
Watts said:
"I read commentary of Chinese Taoist text re golden flower by
Jung – to remind myself that I could not escape from my own western cultural
conditioning – a prison that become likes one’s limbs and brain that could be
used but are limited in scope. So I have been a comparative philosopher rather
than going overboard for exotic impulses. "
"....Call attn to 1 fundamental principle
to his work exemplified in Jung: his recognition
of the polarity of life. His resistance to the absurd hypothesis that there is
a absolute CONFLICT BETWEEN GOOD AND EVIL in life.
"That conflict came up with ….that justified the German
concentration camps… that Jung too would not subscribe to the Absolute state of
war between Good and Evil… obviously, in certain kinds of thinking, where Right
or Wrong only is allowed,…. were I in such a situation, where I might have to chose
with …
"I would oppose those sorts of doings with all the ways
one is trapped into those [frame-words]…and recognize THE relativity of all notions, like spider and fly
fight each other but as a human being I could not see any of my ancestors as
being unreasonably evil…. the degree to which you condemn and find evil in
others, so you find that evil in yourself…
"There are people who are Unconscious of their own Dark Side
and PROJECT THEIR OWN DARKNESS on to others, in denial of it in themselves….
and do great harm.
"As with use of atom bomb threats. The most criminal acts of
violence are done this way. Jung saw this. That in order to ADMIT and ACCEPT
the evil in oneself, one has to do w/o being confused that one is unredeemable…
[Watts] ...had a talk with Jung in 1958 and enormously impressed
with him – as ‘great man’ by his wisdom and sanctity, so when someone came into
his presence did not feel judged but enhanced and invited to share in the
conversation he had a twinkle in his
eyes that gave me the impression that he [had a thought of Vendanta in the back
of his mind ] that he knew and recognized their rascality In himself and knew
it so strongly, clearly and lovingly that he would not condemn the same in
others….
"but those who do acts of violence and project the devil in themselves
on to OTHERS outside themselves ..he could feel anxious under praise w/o being
ashamed of feeling that way..
"he understood that he could not eliminate guilt
feelings but accepted them, he could feel all w/o recriminations against
himself or those feelings.
"....humor at
oneself is highest way of communication – vs,
malice at one self…the social ROLE one assumes, as a great scholar,
scientist, leader, beautiful lady ..behind that façade there are certain
elements not to be condemned nor wailed over but to ACCEPT one of greatest things Jung
wrote to group of clergy:
“ even doctors have moral scruples… some things even doctors
cannot swallow….no one can bring things about with mere words… if doctor wants
to …….???... must never pass judgment….
"...take the opposite position but not condemnation…. to not
confuse this with intellectual abstract point of mind but rather a deep RESPECT
for any other view or person….
to see the unseen presence of the divine will, the doctor
should not be repelled by sickness and know WE CANNOT CHANGE ANYTHING UNLESS WE
FIRST ACCEPT IT…
"it doesn’t mean we don’t pass judgment, but to help another
human, can only do it from knowing and understanding ‘the other’… simple but
most difficult
requires art of ....[?]
"acceptance of oneself first, to have the outlook that I ‘love’ my enemy,
accept the beggar, and that what I do [as to Christ] I do forgive, accept and if I myself am the enemy to be ‘loved’? what then ?
- - - -- - -
In another talk called :
“hidden belief systems” recorded 3 mo before Watts' death: = he answered audience Questions:
"...all species have other species that keep them down, or are
eaten as prey, that is the Ying and Yang of it.
"when you really get into the NOW, you find that you stop
judging ..stop evaluating…start noticing what IS present …. listening
to all sounds happening tho
there is some embarrassment about anyone coughing or scratching and anger
arises but that too is all part of the Present and Sounds present.
"we can listen to all sounds without judging
and can also observe human behaviors w/o judging…if birds chatter outside, we
say ”oh it is just birds” so same we can say “oh, those are just people being
people”…
"learn to listen to any and all
sounds w/o judgments …as just ‘a thing going on’ ..you cannot meditate properly unless you can in a broiler
factory and busy city traffic and then just ‘dig’ those sounds too…
"the idea of having a WILL is phony !!! that willing is saying I am something
different and separate from universe…as if I could switch from being this to
that state.. you cannot switch
"cosmic consciousnes is discovering what you are and
Will are the same… the state of consciousness is not a separate state....
"we divide up universe with separate grid over your
experiences, like on a graph, map, longitude and latitude on maps.. how do
we get rid of the grid ? simply by
understanding that this IS WHAT WE ARE DOING, recognize what is
happening…when you realize earth is a globe not a plate you remember that and
feel the depth in a 2-D pix that has perspective drawn in it…it is not
3-diminsional but how ‘we see it’.
" in Hindu cosmology, where time is discussed, there are 4
Yugas in ea time cycle, if you add up the yrs in which good prevails from
those where evil prevails, good is 2/3 of time and evil is 1/3 of time…
"there
must be some evil to give spice to the good but there must be an overage of
good for the game to be played at all, but it is not ½ and ½ because that does not
work, would be static. Universe has
flip-flop-ability, it has a certain imbalance, so earth does not revolve w/o
sun but is elliptical and not circular…."
