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‘The decisive question for man is: Is he related to something infinite or not? That is the telling question of his life. Only if we know that the thing which truly matters is the infinite can we avoid fixing our interest upon futilities, and upon all kinds of goals which are not of real importance. Thus we demand that the world grant us recognition for qualities which we regard as personal possessions: our talent or our beauty. The more a man lays stress on false possessions, and the less sensitivity he has for what is essential, the less satisfying is his life. He feels limited because he has limited aims, and the result is envy and jealousy. If we understand and feel that here in this life we already have a link with the infinite, desires and attitudes change. In the final analysis, we count for something only because of the essential we embody, and if we do not embody that, life is wasted.
In our relationships to other men, too, the crucial question is whether an element of boundlessness is expressed in the relationship. The feeling for the infinite, however, can be attained only if we are bounded to the utmost. The greatest limitation for man is the "self"; it is manifested in the experience: “I am only that!” Only consciousness of our narrow confinement in the self forms the link to the limitlessness of the unconscious. In such awareness we experience ourselves concurrently as limited and eternal, as both the one and the other. In knowing ourselves to be unique in our personal combination – that is, ultimately limited – we possess also the capacity for becoming conscious of the infinite. But only then!’
Life is a game that our true Self is playing. Accept the rules and don’t hold on to your pieces too tightly, for everything goes back in the box at the end when we return to our source and reunite with the game maker.
Alan Watts wore many masks: radio host, professor, psychotherapist, Buddhist and Christian. He seemed always to play and prance through the world, diving headlong into each new role. And yet his work sought to transcend every stage of his evolving identity, illustrating his message that beyond these different façades resides a higher Self that orchestrates the whole show. This Self dons every mask, crafts every set and plays every part – all in a joyful, cosmic game of ‘make believe.’
Watts’ controversial theories and writings were highly influential and helped interpret Eastern ideas within a Western context. In doing so, they helped shepherd the new wave of spirituality that arose in the 1960s. In addition to leaving behind hundreds of hours of audio recordings, he penned over twenty-five books, including his seminal and much-read treatise, The Book: On the Taboo Against Knowing Who You Are.
If a cat passes by the window, you might first see its face, then its torso, then its tail. Each is perceived separately in distinct moments, yet all three relate to one being. In the same way, the grid that time and perception place over reality suggests that existence comprises many separate parts. Watts argues that this is an illusion and that existence is One.
In more practical terms, we may think we are self-sufficient individuals, yet we require others to farm, mine, weave, build and govern – all to maintain the world that supports us. Even our languages and ideas depend upon a community that preserves and teaches them to each new generation. Yet, the illusion of independence is thrust upon us early in our development as we are taught to gradually detach from our parents and forge our own identity. According to Watts, this individual self is a façade. The very term ‘person’ comes from the Latin persona, deriving from the masks actors wore in ancient Greek and Roman drama.
Our true Self is One, eternal and bound up with everything else. The human individual is just a mask that this higher Self dons. Divine play is the meaning of life; the higher the stakes, the better the game. This is why the Self has chosen to go through the trauma of wars and other horrors as well as beautiful sunsets and joyous occasions. While this seems cruel, the Self is only choosing to put itself through these game scenarios; no one else is forced to participate because no one else is actually ‘real.’ Since only the Self exists, it only has someone else to play with if it forgets who it is. In effect, it camouflages itself from itself to participate with separate entities in a cosmic game. You are this Self.
While nothing is truly separate, there remain crucial distinctions. Just as you cannot have the mountain without the valley, just as the rising crest of a wave results from the sunken trough, the forces of evil always generate a counter-response from the good and vice versa. These interconnected dualities include love and hate, light and shadow or conscious and subconscious. Reality is One, but only in the sense that a coin has two sides. The goal is not for one side to defeat the other, but for both to eternally play out their opposing roles. ‘The two forces or tendencies are mutually interdependent, and the game is a working game just so long as the angel is winning, but does not win, and the devil is losing, but is never lost.’
Watts was one of the foremost interpreters of Eastern thought in the West, and his works remain essential reading for those interested in these ideas or in probing their deeper Self. However, he cautions his readers that using the information he has relayed to bring about one’s own ‘personal enlightenment’ risks succumbing to the very dualities they seek to overcome. You should not meditate to liberate the ego but do so for the sheer enjoyment of meditation: ‘If you go to concerts to "get culture" or to improve your mind, you will sit there as deaf as a doorpost.’ Watts encourages us to use his methods and words not as a means but as an end. Everything in the universe, including our intermediary states, failures, distractions and rabbit trails is ultimately bound up in the divine.
