Greetings
This comes from Alan Watts's Houseboat Meetings, with Gary Snyder, Alan
Ginsberg, and Timothy Leary.
Interesting in reference to the Sufism not mentioned by mentioned of Idries
Shah at the time. If one revisits the work of Shah and Alan Watts, their are
parallels -- both are opening a discussion about the decay of Tradition and the
lost access of the esoteric . . . and in many ways, from a sociological view .
. . are addressing a first things first, a familiarization of the individual
with the real education of being and doing.
I think both of them would agree that there is nothing wrong with going on and
on and on about God, a sort of Lord Lord Lord thing, as if something off in the
future was going to take place, when in essence there is nothing else than the
here and now, but often deluged by past recriminations and learned behavior and
incessant worry about the future . . .
Watts and Snyder appear to me to be addressing the essential human element we
all share, and in my humble opinion Sufism and various Esoteric strains seek to
address . . . unification of mind, body and spirit instead of learning by rote.
In short we need to learn to perhaps grown something, I think Rumi and Saadi
would agree?
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CEREBRAL "FREAK OUTS"
Snyder: No, they can't do what they've done through history. What is very
important here is, besides taking acid, is that people learn the techniques
which have been forgotten. That they learn new structures, and new techniques.
Like, you just can't go out and grow vegetables, man. You've got to learn HOW
to do it. Like we've gotta learn to do a lot of things we've forgotten to do.
Leary: I agree.
Watts: That is very true, Gary. Our educational system, in its entirety, does
nothing to give us any kind of material competence. In other words, we don't
learn how to cook, how to make clothes, how to build houses, how to make love,
or to do any of the absolutely fundamental things of life. The whole education
that we get for our children in school is entirely in terms of abstractions. It
trains you to be an insurance salesman or a bureaucrat, or some kind of
cerebral character.
Leary: Yes...it's exactly there that, I think, a clear-cut statement is needed.
The American educational system is a narcotic, addictive process...
_________________________________
Best wishes
Kirk
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