Alan Watts - Don't Think

what seems to me to be lacking in our Western religious observances is some sort of social ritual which gives an opportunity for spiritual experience that is to say for a transformation of the individual consciousness so that in one way or another the individual is able to realize his Oneness with the Eternal energy behind this universe which some people call God and others prefer not to name or to conceive so what I'm proposing instead of the ordinary kind of religious service is as I said a contemplative ritual the idea is not to have everybody shaken up and whooping around but to bring about a state of profound peace so therefore I should say something in a preliminary way about meditation or contemplation as I prefer to call it meditation is the act of allowing one's thoughts to cease is stopping the agitation of thinking thinking is talking to yourself now if I talk all the time I don't hear what anyone else has to say consequently if I talk to myself all the time I don't have anything to think about except thoughts there is no interval between thoughts during which I can come into touch with reality that is to say the world which thoughts represent as words represent events or as money represents wealth and so if I'm never silent in my head I'm living in a world of total abstraction divorced from reality altogether reality itself is neither mental nor spiritual nor any concept that we can have of it reality is simply now therefore to meditate you might think that we attempt to suppress thought we do not do that because you cannot meditate let me put that in a more emphatic way you cannot meditate you your ego image can only chatter because when it stops it isn't there when you are not thinking you have no ego because your ego is a concept the thinker but behind the thoughts the feeler behind the feelings and The Thinker behind the thoughts is only a thought an idea of some reference point to which all our experiences happen and that of course Cuts us off from what we experience it makes a great Gap or Gulf between the knower and the known and that creates the spirit of alienation to the world from which we suffer conflict hate domineering Spirit arise from that basic division so when you come to an end of thought and you don't know how to meditate you don't know what to do with your mind nobody can tell you then thinking comes to an end naturally you can begin meditation or meditation happens and that is happening is the watching simply of what is of all the information to you conveyed by your exterior and interior senses and of the thoughts that keep chattering on about it all you don't try to stop those thoughts you just let them run as if they were Birds twittering outside and they will eventually get tired of themselves and stop but don't worry about whether they do or don't just simply watch whatever it is that you are feeling thinking experiencing and that's it watch it and don't go out of your way to put any names on it that's really what meditation is and you see you're not expecting any result you are in meditation in an eternal present you're not doing it to improve yourself you found you can't do that your ego can't possibly improve you because it's what's in need of improvement your ego can't let go of itself because it is a complex called clinging to oneself that's what it is by definition so it's just something that evaporates when it is understood that it is unable to achieve a transformation of Consciousness mystical experience the Vivid sense of Union of individual and Cosmos so one of the easiest ways to enter into the state of meditation is therefore listening to what is using the sense of sound when you listen to sound you listen to it just the random sounds you know that are going on in the room in the street as if you were listening to music without trying to identify its source name it or put any label on it at all just enjoy whatever sound may be going on just listen now we can go on from that listening to making sound ourselves and also listening to it and instead of making sound we learn The Knack of letting it happen through us so then we get to what is in India called the use of Mantra words sounds chanted not for their meaning but for their sound and thus everything that will occur in the following celebration will not be in the English language it is not intended to be understood in a discursive and intellectual sense you are asked only to dig the sound and I use the word dig advisedly because it means something a little more than appreciate it means enter into penetrate get right to the bottom of because when you are listen listening to sound and when you're letting sound hum through you this is one of the most obvious manifestations of the energy of the universe and I suggest that churches get rid of their pews where everybody is herded in like cattle to look at the backs of each other's necks and that they spread their floor with rugs and cushions and that they have something in which people can approach a an ineffable that means beyond words words spiritual experience and not be told and forced into a particular pattern of thinking of mentation so you see for that reason I have only given the slightest suggestion of how one uses these Mantra or the silence for meditation you all have your own way of doing things like that do it your own way all this is is a vehicle a support for contemplation listen close your eyes and go entirely into a world of sound if I should say anything to you during this silence just listen to the sound of my voice and don't worry about the meaning of the words your brain will take care of that by itself the air which is playing with your ears is also playing with your [Music] lungs if you let your lungs breathe as they wish [Music] to without helping them watch what they [Music] do when they feel like breathing out let it go out but don't assist when it feels like coming in let it come in but don't pull are you breathing or is it breathing you remember there is no special State you are supposed to be in simply let yourself be aware of whatever state you are in don't name it just feel now only is important [Music] now would you gently allow a sound to arise in your imagination in the ear of the Mind a sound that is pleasing to you and which you would feel natural humming and let letting your breath sort of fall out easily and naturally hum the sound out loud

Channel: True Meaning

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Id: g3drttr6Qzg

Length: 10min 55sec (655 seconds)

Published: Thu May 30 2024