Up@dawn 2.0

Monday, August 5, 2019

Alan Watts: The Book on the Taboo against Knowing Who You Are





I recommend listening to chill(step) music to get in the mood because the philosophy of Alan Watts requires that you relax (and wakeup). Spotify Playlist

“Philosophy is man’s expression of curiosity about everything and his attempt to make sense of the world primarily through his intellect.” Alan Watts

Alan Watts
Alan Watts (1915- 1975) was a British educator of the Eastern religions and philosophy, like Zen Buddhism and Taoism. He truly tried to educate with a “modern and Western-style”. In his book, The Book on the Taboo against Knowing Who You Are, Watts answers the (taboo) question, “Who am I?”. Watts answers big questions simply. You might even think he isn’t taking the big questions seriously, as if he is playing a game. However, Alan has a deep understanding of the Western and Eastern views of who we think we are...
“The meaning of life is just to be alive. It is so plain and so obvious and so simple. And yet, everybody rushes around in a great panic as if it were necessary to achieve something beyond themselves.” – Alan Watts

So what is so taboo about knowing who you are?

Now, Watts is talking about the “deep” you, not labels. Not your gender, race, or hobbies. But, who are you in your “soul” - the "deep down real you"? Many Western (Abrahamic) religions tell us what we are and where we are going. We are souls in bodies made by God. We will go to heaven to be with God. But Watts argues that religion is an “exhausted mine” that “doesn’t seem to fit in with the universe as we know it”. The Bible, for example, is a ridged old textbook that no longer works in the world of audiobooks, videos, and ebooks.
However, people fear that without religion there is no purpose in life, no reason for anything, and death is feared as the end. Without religion, we are just sacks of meat wandering around the earth, interacting, eating, and reproducing. Religion can keep us in "check". But, it limits our understanding of who we are, according to Watts.


Watts has a solution but first, we must understand that “We are suffering from a hallucination( or illusion, or dream).
(Things are getting CRAZY! Well, science agrees. Our brain is HALLUCINATING!)

THIS IS WHY KNOWING WHO YOU ARE IS SO TABOO! WE ARE strongly enforced by our hallucination, the illusion, and will never know the answer to who we are -even if it was in front of us.

So here is Watt’s answer to who you are, “YOU ARE IT!” 

By IT he means everything, the earth, other people, the universe, GOD. There is NO division between you and other humans. There is a NO division between you and “GOD”. No division between you and the universe. You are having a dream in the world you created. You are having many dreams as there are people.
YOU ARE 'GOD'.


And living in Southern USA, just saying “I AM GOD” seems TABOO.


Speech extract from "Does it do you, or do you do it" by Alan Watts:
"You are something the whole universe is doing in the same way that a wave is something that the ocean is doing. The real you is not a puppet which life[God] pushes around; the real, deep down you is the whole universe. So when you die, you're not going to have to put up with everlasting non-existence, because that is not an experience..."
Here, Alan Watts is referencing Vedanta (Sanskrit: वेदान्त) or non-dualism.   
In the Abrahamic religions (Western religions), there a God that lives separately from the world, and I am separate from you and everything in the world. Each human is a special individual. We are all separate (and have separate identities). This is dualism. This is very Western thinking.
Non-duality is the belief that we are all one (this is not limited to humans, but it is ALL – IT, everything, everywhere, the universe).  Vedanta is one of the philosophies of Hinduism.  It goes beyond the belief to be kind to your neighbor. YOU are YOUR NEIGHBOR. All is one.


(or You are God experiencing the world -you are the world.)
In The Book on the Taboo against Knowing Who You Are this is only the first chapter!

Speech extract from "Out of your mind" by Alan Watts:


Wait! Why don't I know that I am 'God'? Wouldn't I know if I was hallucinating or dreaming?  Alan Watts explains in the rest of the book how this hallucination keeps a hold on us.


First, We need to understand opposites. There is no such thing as 'opposite'. You have to have one to have the other. Opposites are connected, working together. Thus, opposites are like the end of a pole. Life cannot exist without death. When light shines, dark shadows follow.
Therefore, we fight death. We think that life is 'good' and death is opposite. The opposite of good is bad. We are often at war with death while we should be living.

Next, it is important to understand that we have a very limited point of view. We do not fully understand how small things from around the world affect us. Also, we are limited by our language. For example, we use the word God to describe an "ultimate being". God is referred to as a 'human'. We use the pronoun, 'he' to describe a male and a 'God'. (Is God a male? Is he limited to this function? Or is our language limiting God?) Our language cannot even describe IT! And, we struggle to even explain the world around us. Alan Watts helps by explaining God, the universe, or IT as a Mobius strip.  A Mobius strip has "no outside, no inside". It is non-dualistic...
"Of course, you must remember that God isn't shaped like a person. People have skins and there is always something outside our skins. If there weren't, we wouldn't know the difference between what is inside and outside our bodies. But God has no skin and no shape because there isn't any outside to him...The inside and the outside of God are the same." - Alan Watts, The Book on the Taboo against Knowing Who You Are


Finally, we have been taught that there is an outside and inside (God/ Universe/ IT has no inside). We believe that there is an outside of us (our body) made of things living separately*. We forget that outside and inside are opposites, which are connected. Just like our body has parts that work together, so the world is functioning. Take out the stomach and the body will fail, take away the blood, foot, eyes... It is fictional to think that all the things outside of you are just things, others, stuff, with separate lives. EVERYTHING and NOTHING (humans, animals, earth, space) are connected. We are all ONE! 

*Watts gives almost a warning about humans conquering nature. It is a battle, like death, that cannot be won, and nature should not be feared.


In short, YOU ARE IT. We are in this game of life together and the universe is not a hostile place. We are all one hallucinating multiple points of views.
I hope if you have never heard of Alan Watts or know little about him, that you understand the basics of his philosophy. If you need a better explanation click on my many links above (or below) and look at my video playlist. Alan Watts is a wonderful speaker. He has simple but deep answers to the world. I am limited by language to explain everything fully, but Alan does a better job.


Namaste or I bow to God (Īśvara) in you,
Sydney Ray



RESOURCES: 
Interested in reading the book yourself? The Book on the Taboo against Knowing Who You Are by Alan Watts is FREE ONLINE! 
Reading NOT your style: FREE AUDIOBOOK ON YOUTUBE!
Reading and Audiobooks NOT your style: here is my playlist on Alan Watts (that includes these videos, audiobooks, and MORE! It includes my the research beyond the book in video form, not just Alan Watts speeches.)

Quiz Questions:
1. Explain dualism and non-dualism.
2. Alan Watts's answer to "who are you?": You are ___!
3. What are we suffering from?
4. Opposites are ______.
5. How have we limited God?


Discussion Questions:
1. Can the hate of the world be solved with the view of non-dualism or Vedanta?
2. Do you share some of Watts' views? some, all, or none?
3. Why do you think some Western people are drawn to Eastern beliefs (\during the 1960s, 1970s, and even now!)?
4. Has language ever failed you? Has a word in another language ever felt more complete in expression? (for me it is art)
5. How would you explain 'God' FULLY? Can you? Is it impossible with words?




3 comments:

  1. DQ 1. You'd think so... but then I recall Schopenhauer, who said he agreed with the Vedanta view of universal human unity - and then he pushed the neighbor-lady down the staircase for disturbing his solitude. "Views" alone don't change attitudes and behaviors.

    2. I agree with him in broadest outline, we each ARE the universe in its particularity with respect to ourselves. He sometimes makes that sound more mystical than I find necessary. Carl Sagan said much the same thing, much less cryptically.

    4. Another point of fundamental agreement: language is incapable of expressing everything important. So to that literal extent, I guess I share some of his mysticism. On the other hand, I think it's crucial that we continue trying to express our difficult thoughts and feelings verbally. That's where great writing, poetry, and the lucid forms of human connection come from.

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    Replies
    1. 1- I agree! Action is more powerful then a belief!
      2 - I like the mystical stuff, but I love Sagan's point of view too. I like to think that the 'universe' made me, and when a die, I will be recycled into the universe. Still, death is a difficult one for me to fully understand.

      4- I think art helps with when language by itself isn't working (visual, music, poems, even fiction novels). Words have never been easy for me. I just remember being so frustrated in school (Lipscomb) when we described 'God' as a man (yes, in Bible class God was in the image of a MAN). I went home saying (to my mom), "They believe God has a penis!" I think language wanted to limit God more as I grew up. Nah, God, the universe is so much more then I can even grasp. I know but a sliver.

      Good replies!

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    2. That notion of God in man's image just seems so over-the-top chauvinistic, and the picture of God as an uber-male is, as you imply, laughable. I have a good friend who teaches at Lipscomb, I do hope he gives that view, in his classes, the subversive ridicule it so richly deserves! (And I hope the Lipscomb administration isn't paying attention!!)

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