Alan Watts - How To Live Your Truth

Alan Watts ► so we must regard these things as there
is strictly instrumental they do not do
for you anything which you yourself in
way don't do it but they're all it is
Maithili the temptation to feel that
salvation lies in the bottle salvation
lies in the pill and if we only could
take this thing we should somehow be
transported and that this is not the
place is proof by the increasing number
of people who have taken what alcohol
Street acid under the worst sort of
circumstances not knowing what it's even
made out got the dosages and having no
regards of the conditions in which it is
taken and I've had the so-called famous
fair trips of course and I must
underline effect don't use it as it you
don't know what it is
cost if you're willing to play Russian
roulette and you're willing to take all
sorts of Gamble's I suppose it too
frequently
but it really isn't very sensible you
can take risks which are not on the open
flow we do know what to do on the other
hand when we consider from the social
point of view what we're going to do
about this it isn't simply that there is
logic acid or unsought running around on
the streets in the black market and
mescaline psilocybin planet or
tryptamine did also of course our old
friend marijuana which shown here
there's no particular question about
whether it's bad marijuana this is what
the vegetable
and what should be public policy without
these things I feel very strongly that
in a country where we value freedom we
must not attempt to legislate morality
especially morality that is simply the
concern of the individual towards
himself in other words going back to
even the basic religious ideas about
moral behavior it's fundamental to go to
Jewish and Christian thinking that an
action is not significantly moral if
it's done under compulsion in other
words if you stay faithful to your wife
merely because you are afraid of the
consequences of adultery you are not a
truly faithful husband if you give arms
to the poor merely in order to get
yourself a place in heaven or you know
on the roster of donors to the synagogue
you are not truly charitable so it is of
the essence of moral behavior according
to Jewish and 15 theology that is
developed so that any moral behavior
which is enforced is not moral behavior
as a result of enforcement and the only
reason for enforcing an immoral behavior
is that immoral behavior may in certain
circumstances cause grave inconvenience
to others as murdering people as robbing
them as muddling them on the streets
that we are able to breed ought to be
prevented by the police
but when it comes to whether you will
Ganga weather will have irregular sexual
games whether you will change your state
of consciousness by alcohol by tobacco
by sleeping pills by aspirin by caffeine
by lysergic acid you have a certain
responsibility to judge for yourself
because if you are deprived of that
responsibility of what other
responsibilities might to also be
deprived for your own good
what you leave or to read the works of
Karl Marx mr. Rockley didn't think so
and yet how would you know what do you
to do about a communist enemy if you
didn't understand the philosophy of Mars
how do you know how to deal with China
unless you've read everything written by
mouths are done you've got to understand
your enemy if enemy must be so
responsibility implies a certain leading
to take risks and to make adventures
it's very dangerous
it could have been said to go up in the
air and a machine the Wright brothers
took a great risk why if they had
crashed what would have happened to
their wives and children would they have
been a pair of mistake therefore the
Wright brothers should not have been
allowed to fly the airplane so in the
same way you mark your man and your
wives and children no longer have your
support if you took certain adventures
in consciousness it's the same problem
so does the state have the right to tell
you that there are certain risks you
Martin take if the state does assume
that responsibility
it can't be hot that the state
also saying at the same time that we
must not make experiments which could
possibly result in great benefits to
mankind we don't know whether they were
lovin this or not the knowledge about
this whole thing is not as yet certain
but we at least have the right to make
the attempt but I suggest that we don't
make that attempt in absolutely
undisciplined and uncontrolled
situations but the opposition to the use
of these chemicals by politicians who
are simply collecting votes and arousing
all the little old ladies clarified by
sensational stories in the press that's
all that is but the fact remains the
hard core of effect is that if we are
going to take dangerous adventures with
this time it should be done absolutely
out of the open with the assistance of
the best scientific and psychological
and we live religious wisdom that is
available if we send people out into
space than our astronauts we have the
whole scientific Faculty of the country
behind them likewise if we're going to
send people into inner states instead of
being something that is danceable
Subrosa in a paranoid guilty atmosphere
it should be something in which we
openly cooperate with the feeling are we
are holding your hand and we're with you
all the way but it isn't being done like
that and we are going through the same
problem that we have been going through
in this country for years and you may be
as I am very anxious that there be law
and order in this country that they
respect for our policemen but respect
for our policemen in this country ceased
when prohibition came to effect because
the officers of the law were asked to
enforce things that the citizen recently
we're not going to observe they became
hypocrite therefore armed creatures and
all teaching creates hypocrisy maybe put
buns into the hands of clergy we we've
got real trouble at one fell swoop we
could restore the sketch to the police
in this country by taking all matters of
private models out of their hands
question leading no answer who would
volunteer to serve on a bail squad what
kind of personality who would volunteer
to peek through holes into men's toilets
to see what they're doing
what kind of cosmology
you know a lot of things we can't retain
the whole police we can't recruit a new
police force with college education and
anything you might demand it just can't
be done it's not practical
there isn't enough budget is it that
really matter but they do that what
isn't but like one simple slope of the
pen if we remove the drug questions the
sex questions the gambling questions and
all those sort of things out of police
control and regard incentives public
health problems respect to the police
would go up like that and we need it
regard because you can't be
schizophrenic about the law enforcement
officers and save it in it's your
responsibility to control us in ways
that we don't want to be controlled
they don't know what to do now what are
their confuse some are there I thought I
can't raise it this is going to get
behind these people and hope so one is
basically one people have become
interested in these so-called
drivers because young people it's not
that they're just out the chicks it's so
easy to dismiss the adventures of the
yarn by saying they're out the kicks
they're just goofing off car if young
people have learned the kind of people
are irresponsible and they're just
goofing off a nap but it's why why why

Alan Watts - How To Live Your Truth

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