Stop Trying to Get It And You'll Have It - Alan Watts On Chasing Pleasure

we come to the great question where is there you're going to get there where is it what do you want where are you going very few people know some people have a precise I would say disciplined clear sense of what they want and they get it and then they stop as GK chesteron once wittily said progress is looking for a place to stop they're very few people like that most people you see when they think of pleasure don't have any very definite idea or else they have a definite idea which isn't really what they wanted when they get it they don't like it so the saying be careful of what you desire you may get it fundamentally then the question arises where is there where's your Rush where are you going to what are you progressing stop look and listen because you may be there already only that you don't notice [Music] it do you know what the Gate of Heaven is here about the Pearly Gates people think it's Gates decorated with pearls it isn't the Gate of Heaven it says in the Book of Revelation is one Pearl course it's got a hole through for the string you got to get through there and you can't get through if you got a lot of baggage so you got to leave your past behind to get through now what happens to you when you get rid of your past forget it all forget who you are the future of course is the past reflected in your rear Vision mirror we like people driving looking their rear Vision mirror so you got to let go all that past in order to get in through the ply gate now what is what is left of you when you let go your past what remains no you can't bring out your education can't bring out your ancestry can't bring out your distinguished accomplishments things you've done because they say well you've done all that but let's let's see what you can do now huh where are you who are you when you have the Past after all there isn't any past where is it twist your common sense around and see that you're not being shoved by the past you're just leaving it behind like tracks it's not pushing you unless you insist on it when always pass the buck everybody does that they say oh it's my I'm an neurotic mess because my mother was a neurotic mess I never had a fair chance in life somebody says to your mother well you shouldn't have brought up a child like that well she says it's too bad I know but I couldn't help it I was a neurotic mess and my father was just appalling and my mother was Dreadful and they look back over their should said well it was our parents everybody passes the buck to the past it gets back to Adam and Eve and you know what happened there they passed the buck too to the serpent when God looked at the serpent he didn't ask hast thou eaten the fruit of the tree whereof I told thee thou just not e he just looked at the serpent the serpent didn't say anything so the serpent the wiggle it really doesn't have a past because it wiggles from its head backwards to the tail and it's always the head where it starts so are you a head or are you just a tail do you move backwards or forwards which where you going see if you're leaving your past behind you it doesn't drive you it Wells up out of a mysterious present ever new this moment is the creation of the universe it's starting now [Music] if you look back and back and wonder whether there was a big bang a long time ago all you'll see is Vanishing traces the Big Bang is happening now this is when the world begins you're doing it only you're are not doing it by straining a youu deeper than the straining you is doing all this the same you that is growing your hair and coloring your eyes and uh making your thumb prints you don't think about it you don't strain muscles to do it but that is what is creating the world here it comes now so instead of thinking that the past is the reality which explains everything that happens now let's look at now and see it happening where does it happen from that's a question asked only by people who think that the past causes the present they always want to know where it comes from who started it what makes it happen supposing nothing makes it happen supposing it happens well what is it that [Music] happens again we get to this basic question what is it that you want where is it what you looking for it's the same question as what is reality what is now what is life you won't get at it by analysis of all sorts of things into their components you won't get it by labeling it in various ways and calling it names you can only find out what it is by looking at by feeling it directly and all kinds of classification where we say well it's animal vegetable mineral it's this that and the other and is putting it in boxes and tidying it up it's how you tidy up you put everything away in a box and then you have boxes inside boxes and all that sort of thing that's tied it up but when it's all put away in boxes you can't see it instead of putting everything in boxes let's just look at it the way it comes [Music]

Channel: T&H - Inspiration & Motivation

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Id: FtrK8DA9p80

Length: 8min 8sec (488 seconds)

Published: Tue Apr 09 2024