The Dream Of Life - Alan Watts

[00:11.83] If you awaken from this illusion,

[00:16.39] And you understand that black implies white, self implies other,

[00:25.53] Life implies death, or shall I say death implies life,

[00:35.46] You can feel yourself.

[00:38.95] Not as a stranger in the world.

[00:41.82] Not as something here on probation.

[00:44.88] Not as something that has arrived here by fluke.

[00:49.89] But you can begin to feel your own existence as absolutely fundamental.

[00:58.35] I'm not trying to sell you on this idea

[01:01.03] In the sense of converting you to it

[01:02.75] I want you to play with it.

[01:04.67] I want you to think of its possibilities,

[01:06.36] I'm not trying to prove it.

[01:08.28] I'm just putting it forward as a possibility of life to think about.

[01:13.50] So then, let's suppose that you were able

[01:17.06] Every night to dream any dream you wanted to dream.

[01:21.93] And that you could, for example, have the power

[01:25.45] Within one night to dream 75 years of time.

[01:30.35] Or any length of time you wanted to have.

[01:34.48] And you would, naturally as you began on this adventure of dreams,

[01:38.39] You would fulfill all your wishes.

[01:42.77] You would have every kind of pleasure you could conceive.

[01:48.90] And after several nights of 75 years of total pleasure each

[01:53.96] You would say "well, that was pretty great."

[01:56.42] But now let's have a surprise.

[02:00.73] Let's have a dream which isn't under control.

[02:04.98] Where something is going to happen to me that I don't know when it's going to be.

[02:11.36] And you would dig that and come out of that and say "wow that was a close shave, wasn't it?"

[02:18.19] Then you would get more and more adventurous

[02:21.48] And you would make further and further out gambles as to what you would dream.

[02:25.52] And finally you would dream where you are now.

[02:32.08] You would dream the dream of living the life that you are actually living today.

[02:36.94] That would be within the infinite multiplicity of choices you would have.

[02:42.63] Of playing that you weren't God.

[02:47.19] Because the whole nature of the godhead according to this idea is that he is not.

[02:54.36] So in this idea then, everybody is fundamentally the ultimate reality.

[03:01.98] Not God in a politically kingly sense.

[03:05.69] But God in the sense of being the self, the deep down basic whatever there is.

[03:11.92] And you're all that, only you're pretending you're not.