Alan Watts dis-cusses Whose is that kingdom paradigm we use in USA?

This is an Alan Watts long-ago talk, that was again heard- played on KPFK and located later in their Archives  

     [ located as played on “Friday”  12 AM [part A] on-air on March 23, 2018   

                     [it is marked #46 on Archives  ]--    

and this can be also heard by pressing "play" on URL below:

http://archive.kpfk.org/index.php 

NOTE:

THESE ARE TYPED NOTES TAKEN FROM LISTENING TO AVAILABLE LATER AUDIO FEEDS THAT ARE NOT INFRINGING ON ANY COPYRIGHTS OR OWNERSHIP CLAIMS BY ANYONE, AS WHAT IS HEARD "ON AIR" RADIO OR OTHER MEDIA CAN BE TYPED BY ANY INDIVIDUAL, AND THEN SHARED.

THESE NOTES DO NOT REPLACE OR MAKE ANY CLAIMS TO AUTHENTICITY, 

VALIDITY, DUPLICATIVITY, OR IMITATIONABILTY OF WHAT AUDIO TAPES ARE PLAYED ON PUBIC ACCESS RADIO WAVES, AND THEN RETRIEVED LATER FROM SAME SOURCE LATER.

THERE ARE NOT CLAIMS MADE HERE, NOR ANY ATTEMPTS TO TAKE, STEAL, COPY, HIDE, REVEAL, SHARE, OR DUPLICATE WHAT IS "OWNED" BY ANYONE ELSE WHO CLAIMS TO OWN VOICES HEARD ON RADIO.

changing format by typing most words are heard are being shared here for general education and enlightening minds, hearts, and what Alan Watts also said he wanted to be doing when he was alive, and SAID SO, directly. In 1970's.

                         [google images]

    +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

 

titled:   “Whose is the kingdom, power & glory ? “   part 1

 this seminar is  …. we used to do this in 1933 in groups, …nitty gritty to get down to roots of what has been called ‘metaphysics’ ….  has been considered highly intellectual, scholarly, in depts. of philosophy with lots of words…    philosophers are grateful to psychiatrists that point out unconscious predilections, tendencies that underlie philosophy ..book by John Wisdom [?]…writes about his toilet training, an idealist thought physical world is a mental phenomenon.

we also would like to pt out to psychologists that their ideas are unconscious philosophy, what they never examine that way… other than personal relationship that is extremely important.

this seminar is devoted to “what on earth is this all about ? 

the sensation of physical existence & being alive…what is it ?”

we come to this with all sorts of thoughts, traditions – religions, i e Christianity, and linguistic tradition, the types of language we inherited – Hebrew, Greek, Latin, Germanic languages, etc…are all related.. these languages FAE called standard-European- based on structures,

so god is a holy trinity = the son – the spirit – the noun, the verb,

the knower, the known, and the act of knowning – is the structure of LANGUAGES.   THIS influences our thinking profoundly but unconsciously.

what we think fundamentally about what we feel life is all about, the good life, has fantastic power over what happens in human relations.

do not underestimate intellectual dimensions of life. we cant get away from it. even un-scholarly person uses words and takes religions been handed down in bible that gives him fundamental orientation of what he is and where he is in system of galaxy.

so to explore phrase which Lords prayer is ended in churches

 ”for thine is power & glory forever and ever ,amen” 

we hear it again and again until it is meaningless…

to whom are we talking ?  

what are we talking about ?

what is a king ? why a king ? 

what presuppositions are involved that there should be a king…?

the kings are DOMINANT HUMAN BEINGS…who have authority – 

because they can persuade other people they have authority – 

they are so forceful that others go along …

we don’t know if they know the right way to go along but convince others to follow their way.

as often said, whole universe is like Rorschach blot – when used in psychology every individual has different response to it, but if they discuss what it is we would have confusion & many opinions but someone in group particularly articulate would say “this is the way” = the leader type – subjective opinion but he can persuade with muscles and other ways – that this is the way it IS.

so “law & Order” is same – to say it quickly sounds like properly mowed lawn.

that comes back to have to have fundamental consensus that this is how the Universe, all the stars, animals, people have to agree if they are people, animals, vegetables, big or little, ….

so the powerful lawgiver like Hamurabi, Moses, pharohses of Persia – they say “I am the lord and there is none other – I am the lord thy god and thy shall have no other “ – a threat implied.

powerful people of that kind arranged people, got people to serve them, perform their duties with ingenuity, how to behave, introduced armies , militaries, according to fighters, to clerks, bureaucrats, merchants & laborers – 4 fundamental tasks in agrarian societies.

  

                               
                                        [google images ]

so whole Hebrew Christian tradition carries AUTHORITY AS KINGLY – with the big boss, big daddy, paternal figure who is in charge & knows what to do and takes NO insubordination – have no other gods but ME !    

 so we find ourselves in conflict now – kings are now on the wane. As Brit monarchy and Japan’s are last monarchies .

we have a republican form of govt, like USA, or strong arm dictators who don’t claim to be kings but act like them , oligarchy of people who are groups of gangsters in power …the govt is always the most successful group of gangster but when in power for a long time people accept them as virtuous “law & Order’ ones, but only after a long, long time. as in USA.

so come to later acquire certain respectability – so revolution against them as treason & sedition tho they also started with same treason & sedition from Brits – who claimed their Divine Authority – as Brit queen still claims that authority.

                                 [google images] 

god is on top, then his son was Jesus.C. then archbishop was his descendant – then the monarch was beneath the arch bishop – the king out front is the fall guy but the spiritual power was in religious top guy – to know their place, and knew they were RIGHT ! that was secret of Brit empire…

to be aggressively non-aggressive…to be so secure in their rightness that they could tolerate some freedom of speech, some freedom of religion tho much fighting until Queen Victoria had religious squabbling…

but KNEW they were RIGHT so could create that empire.

they conferred benefits of that benefit.

the big boss god was intimately connected to daily life when Watts was a child – so had feeling of security in that authority – the kingdom.  

In US we may know where we are, what is authority w/o a king  - creates confusion when lots of citizens think universe was evolved from monarchy = king-god…

so how can we say republic is best form of govt ? underlies today conflict between new and older boys & girls…. as many are still dependent on their parents.    

when have too many young people, society gets rid of them –send them off to war, or call them subversive & send to concentration camps and starve them to death – old technique….

authority of father and all his children that refuse the father’s way of life …. he imposes punishment to question, or oppose his authority.

there is a basic problem about the ORDER OF THE WORLD – that is mythologized = monarchy vs republic, kingdom or people’s voting choices ….in religious terms this is same as ethical religions and mystical religions,

ethical religions – in Judaic Hebrew traditions  - Christianity, Islam, Judaism is OBEDIENCE TO COMMANDMENTS   vs. mystical religions – Buddhism tho they have precepts/ vows taken by an individually taken …under their own authority, vs. obeying others' authority.

                                    

the object in oriental so-called religions is 'your experience in this life' what it is the energy of universe, to KNOW IT, not simply to 'believe it'.

but In the Hebraic tradition, the ethical monarchism you are put in world by god to be tested…like Abraham was tested to sacrifice his own son – against the law – but he was ready to do it and almost did it so proved he OBEYED perfectly so allowed to …. stop.

tho it is irrational, the ‘god has set it up to test our faith’ – you must go along but do not question or disagree ! as in tree of knowledge or will die- an invitation to Adam to taste the fruit and die ! you must obey…

and if you do, you will have endless pleasure … in the next life, after you are dead, not now, not here.   obey now and play later… 

that has been a moving force in western world – is responsible for western world being aggressive in politics & technology.

Obedience to commandments – ethical religions conceives universe as something made – a technological universe – a project to do- be a good soldier – onward Christian soldiers ! 

vs. oriental [Asian, as we call it now] – instead of crucified Christ who suffered, there is Buddha – the man who was admired, followed, who said – stop your mind from wiggling all over the place, know where you are and what it is …here … 

so tendency [not always] in orient to be still, not worrying so much about progress or technology gains …there is some more sense that ethics are relative and what you believe is not so important but what is important is what you Experience.

the imagination – the Arabian nights, Kama Sutra, great Chinese Japanese novels –  -- we know they will come to no good – they are identified with being sexual or the sensual worlds…will be a mess like India is – vs. getting to paradise when you’re dead as westerners will….

                                        
                                                  [google images ]

India is full of poverty and fascinating people, amazing music,  profound religious devotions, but slums of Calcutta & India…compared to technological scrubbed clean Americans ! compare ! 

but at end of the line, we invented nuclear energy to make more of mess than any other’s slums.   that is our contribution compared to the slums elsewhere.

it is pointless to get into an argument, fight about the 2 forms of cultural & biological development- authority must be imposed from above, who is king, who will tell you what to do,

vs. opposite says : there is no authority except yourself, because you are the universe – as every Hindu & Buddhist will say ultimate guru is inside you, outer is only reflections of that inside...what you project on someone else ..

how do you know he knows except because YOU KNOW!

till you get to liberation, Muksha , supreme consciousness, the ultimate experience that in some curious ways YOU are the center of the while thing that is going on – as said Anal Hat – I am He. 

as Sufis' say – the king would not tolerate that ! insubordination  is subversiveness. not allowed.

Buddhism is a subversive force, as in Japan too, not the emperor is the reincarnation of god but you all are…. the mystic is always called heretic, most condemned, not all tho… 

Hindus call the Baktu – the devotional level like Theresa of the Cross, but some unorthodox uttered the unutterable blasphemy that JC said “the father and I are 1” “I am the resurrection of the light. those who have seen me have seen the father”

the Jews got rid of him for saying that ! while xians who liked this man’s radiance couldn’t let go of him so they locked it up in JC ONLY – only 1 – uniquely ever was there a man who was god. 

that again stopped the experience of many knowing they are god.  while the experience – like falling in love, listening to music, other spiritual, inner life experiences are knowing being god.

it is a dangerous thing to think  - now as in the 17^th century – when whole movement now [in 70’s ?] when mysticism is being explored again, is a serious threat to civilization and suppressed, even we claim to be free loving republicans. it is a THREAT to the Kingdom. 

And we still believe in the kingdom, even while saying we believe in democracy.   

some who say they don’t believe in kingdom but then think they “ought to” – and are more virulent than those who believe in kingdom of god, they are unsure so more emphatic to suppress those who doubt, because they feel guilt for Not Believing in kingdom !

i.e. in mental hospital, the insane, are heretics, having a strange state of consciousness or weird experiences – to be committed is to claim your experiences with any religions, especially with oriental ones, then you must be a nut ! as in saying “you are god !”  

 

as long as you think that and stay that way you can stay in institution/hospital forever – get a lobotomy- anything because that thinking is not allowed !     

then we can feel sorry for them, pity them, but know they are wrong ! and dangerous.  

the alternative to order and kingdom ?  like the roulette wheel of the ballot box, where govt of the people by the people, fools by fools …. isn’t there some other middle way ?  kingdom all is imposed from Above.   

                                    
                                            [google images]

 some sculptors ask the stone what it wants to become, they let the image emerge and help the stone to be that image…not beat the rock into submission, as humans must do to all around them.

like plants, we can watch stems come out from center and sub stems come out of them, and so on…and [fractal like formations of plants growing ] you realize there is no Center, forming like a crystal that forms in solution forms in all directions at once, like photo in it’s chemicals it all comes out at once, form itself into shapes and hues…  that order is the Vegetative World forming.

                              
                                    [generous google images] 

the idea that plants of the earth are rebelling –while we assume plants/vegetables are “not intelligent” when they are ! we are completely dependent on vegetables, plants. 

So they can change our view of who and what they are…they can become extremely poisonous – like insects can become – they interact plants & insects collaborate to continue on …the Organic Order.

Can see this in plants best – that grows OUT From WITHIN vs. from outside in. 

[end of talk as heard- there may be more. Maybe available to purchase media on AlanWatts.org or elsewhere. ]

                            [google images]