I have recently found myself enjoying listening to Alan Watts talk. He has such a calm intonation, a cadence worthy of the universe itself, chaotic in its repetition. But such is my role.
For anyone who doesn’t know, Alan Watts was a somewhat famous philosopher in his time. Raised as a devout anglican, he is best known for spreading the teachings of Buddha using Western explanations, to put it as succinctly as I know how.
Today I heard some very powerful words from him that I wish to share:
“After all, if everyone got the joke at once then what would we do for an encore. So play on fellow actor. Dream on fellow dreamer. Seek on fellow seeker. And when you tire of the game, you can always come home, you never left. You are home. And the cosmic joke, it’s still funny the millionth time around.”
As he might say, you cannot give enlightenment to others because we’ve always had it; it’s games being played that trick us, that make us seek something we’ve always had. Therefore, I realize that the above quote may mean little to some; after all, that’s part of the joke.
I found that it profoundly resonated within me. My true self, the unknowable self, recognized a hidden wisdom in it, and I shall give it more thought in the hope that I’ll understand it better. It just might be the key to slipping a bit more of the curtain away, even if briefly. After all, the show must go on, and we all have roles to play in this grand cosmic joke. May we all laugh again one day when we remember who we’ve always been.
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