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author, philosopher, and self-proclaimed spiritual entertainer

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Alan Watts

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In the West,

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we inherit the idea of law

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from those ancient conceptions of God

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and it is even passed down into science!

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Where we discuss Laws of Nature

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but one recognizes more and more in the sciences

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that what we call Laws of Nature

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are simply observed regularities
in the way things behave

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And you,
in order to observe regularities

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you must look at things
through something regular

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that is to say
you must lay a ruler alongside them

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or compare their behavior with the regular behavior of a clock

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But clocks and rulers
are human inventions!

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They are regular measures

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which we use for comparing

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the rates of change,

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say a clock
is a measure of a rate of change

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It's quite arbitrary!

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But we very easily compare our

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regulation measuring devices

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with what makes things happen.

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As if the sun rises
because it's 6 in the morning!

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And that's being
completely backwards in one's thinking

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And we get into the same confusion

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when we imagine for example
that money is wealth!

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Here we have fantastic wealth

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and we have the technological possibility

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of making everybody on Earth

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the enjoyer of an independent income.

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We can't do it

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because people say where is the money gonna come from?

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Because they think money makes prosperity

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it's the other way around!

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It's physical prosperity

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which has money
as a way of measuring it

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But people think
money has to come from somewhere

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like hydroelectric power
or lumber or iron

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and it doesn't!
Money is something we invent!

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Like inches

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So you remember
The Great Depression?

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When there was a slump

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and what did we have a slump of?

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Money

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There was no less wealth,
no less energy

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no less raw materials
than there were before

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but it's like you came to
work on building a house one day,

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and they said "Sorry!
You can't build this house today,"

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"no inches."

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What you mean "no inches"?

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"Ah just inches! We don't mean... We got inches of lumber, yes"

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"we got inches of metal,
we even got tape measures!"

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"But there is a slump in inches!"

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And people are that crazy!

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They can have a depression

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because they have no inches to go around

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or no dollars

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It's all a load of nonsense

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But you see,
because we got thinking backwards

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And making the
metaphysical tail wag the dog

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making the law rule things

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where it doesn't, it's merely a way of measuring what happens

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And so, you see,
when you get into Buddhistic thought

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you don't get that confusion.