WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:04.880 author, philosopher, and self-proclaimed spiritual entertainer 00:00:05.000 --> 00:00:07.997 Alan Watts 00:00:17.892 --> 00:00:20.071 In the West, 00:00:20.191 --> 00:00:22.881 we inherit the idea of law 00:00:23.001 --> 00:00:26.654 from those ancient conceptions of God 00:00:26.774 --> 00:00:29.241 and it is even passed down into science! 00:00:29.361 --> 00:00:32.872 Where we discuss Laws of Nature 00:00:33.634 --> 00:00:35.883 but one recognizes more and more in the sciences 00:00:36.003 --> 00:00:38.881 that what we call Laws of Nature 00:00:39.001 --> 00:00:43.089 are simply observed regularities in the way things behave 00:00:44.000 --> 00:00:46.882 And you, in order to observe regularities 00:00:47.002 --> 00:00:50.542 you must look at things through something regular 00:00:51.233 --> 00:00:54.410 that is to say you must lay a ruler alongside them 00:00:54.530 --> 00:00:58.597 or compare their behavior with the regular behavior of a clock 00:00:58.717 --> 00:01:02.684 But clocks and rulers are human inventions! 00:01:02.804 --> 00:01:05.724 They are regular measures 00:01:05.844 --> 00:01:09.240 which we use for comparing 00:01:09.360 --> 00:01:11.003 the rates of change, 00:01:11.123 --> 00:01:14.299 say a clock is a measure of a rate of change 00:01:14.419 --> 00:01:17.482 It's quite arbitrary! 00:01:17.602 --> 00:01:21.968 But we very easily compare our 00:01:22.088 --> 00:01:25.754 regulation measuring devices 00:01:25.874 --> 00:01:27.881 with what makes things happen. 00:01:28.001 --> 00:01:32.527 As if the sun rises because it's 6 in the morning! 00:01:32.647 --> 00:01:36.521 And that's being completely backwards in one's thinking 00:01:36.641 --> 00:01:38.485 And we get into the same confusion 00:01:38.605 --> 00:01:42.087 when we imagine for example that money is wealth! 00:01:42.917 --> 00:01:45.582 Here we have fantastic wealth 00:01:45.702 --> 00:01:49.258 and we have the technological possibility 00:01:49.378 --> 00:01:52.117 of making everybody on Earth 00:01:52.448 --> 00:01:55.394 the enjoyer of an independent income. 00:01:56.190 --> 00:01:57.575 We can't do it 00:01:57.695 --> 00:02:00.087 because people say where is the money gonna come from? 00:02:01.001 --> 00:02:02.704 Because they think money makes prosperity 00:02:02.824 --> 00:02:04.087 it's the other way around! 00:02:04.207 --> 00:02:07.004 It's physical prosperity 00:02:08.001 --> 00:02:10.725 which has money as a way of measuring it 00:02:10.845 --> 00:02:12.822 But people think money has to come from somewhere 00:02:12.942 --> 00:02:16.361 like hydroelectric power or lumber or iron 00:02:16.481 --> 00:02:18.648 and it doesn't! Money is something we invent! 00:02:18.768 --> 00:02:20.585 Like inches 00:02:20.705 --> 00:02:23.087 So you remember The Great Depression? 00:02:24.001 --> 00:02:27.028 When there was a slump 00:02:27.804 --> 00:02:29.795 and what did we have a slump of? 00:02:29.915 --> 00:02:31.201 Money 00:02:31.321 --> 00:02:33.313 There was no less wealth, no less energy 00:02:33.433 --> 00:02:35.176 no less raw materials than there were before 00:02:35.296 --> 00:02:37.792 but it's like you came to work on building a house one day, 00:02:37.912 --> 00:02:40.444 and they said "Sorry! You can't build this house today," 00:02:40.564 --> 00:02:42.087 "no inches." 00:02:43.143 --> 00:02:45.549 What you mean "no inches"? 00:02:45.669 --> 00:02:48.381 "Ah just inches! We don't mean... We got inches of lumber, yes" 00:02:48.501 --> 00:02:51.588 "we got inches of metal, we even got tape measures!" 00:02:51.708 --> 00:02:54.340 "But there is a slump in inches!" 00:02:54.460 --> 00:02:56.587 And people are that crazy! 00:02:56.707 --> 00:02:58.404 They can have a depression 00:02:58.524 --> 00:03:00.434 because they have no inches to go around 00:03:00.554 --> 00:03:02.598 or no dollars 00:03:02.718 --> 00:03:04.857 It's all a load of nonsense 00:03:04.977 --> 00:03:07.261 But you see, because we got thinking backwards 00:03:07.381 --> 00:03:11.408 And making the metaphysical tail wag the dog 00:03:11.528 --> 00:03:14.122 making the law rule things 00:03:14.242 --> 00:03:19.224 where it doesn't, it's merely a way of measuring what happens 00:03:19.344 --> 00:03:21.308 And so, you see, when you get into Buddhistic thought 00:03:21.428 --> 00:03:24.003 you don't get that confusion.