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the cat is out of the bag we are living 00:00:00
the cat is out of the bag we are living in the scientific world where secrets 00:00:04
cannot be kept and anyone any time can 00:00:11
pick up something which will 00:00:14
short-circuit all the ancient religious 00:00:17
techniques yoga practice meditation etc 00:00:21
service is all very embarrassing but it 00:00:23
will happen not for everybody but for a 00:00:26
lot of people and they will see what all 00:00:29
those sages and boodles and Yogi's and 00:00:33
the prophets saw in ancient times and it 00:00:38
will be very clear 00:00:38
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the mystical experience is nothing other than becoming aware of your true 00:01:44
physical relationship to the universe 00:01:52
and you're amazed thunderstruck by the 00:01:59
feeling that underneath everything that 00:02:03
goes on in this world the fundamental 00:02:05
thing is a state of unbelievable bliss 00:02:05
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I'm referring to a kind of experience the kind of shall we say state of 00:02:42
consciousness which seems to be as 00:02:48
prevalent among human beings as measles 00:02:55
it's something that simply happens and 00:02:59
we don't know why it happens and 00:03:02
although there are all sorts of 00:03:04
techniques which claim to be able to 00:03:07
promote it and which are more or less 00:03:09
successful in doing so and sometimes 00:03:11
rather less than more nevertheless there 00:03:15
is this peculiar thing that happens to 00:03:18
people and it's been recorded as far 00:03:23
back in time as we have any recording at 00:03:25
all and that is coming over people the 00:03:33
peculiarly convincing sensation that 00:03:40
they are ordinary sense of individuality 00:03:44
personal identity is transcendent 00:03:50
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and the individual suddenly feels an experience that actually it could be 00:04:45
described from a number of quite 00:04:49
different points of view but we could 00:04:52
add up these dominant characteristics 00:04:57
that instead of the ordinary feeling 00:05:00
that I as an individual confront a world 00:05:04
that is foreign to me that is not me in 00:05:08
this kind of experience I find myself to 00:05:12
be of one and the same nature or 00:05:17
identity as the world outside 00:05:21
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in other words I suddenly feel no longer a stranger in the world but as if the 00:06:18
external world were my own body the next 00:06:31
aspect of the feeling 00:06:34
is even more difficult to assimilate to 00:06:38
our ordinary practical intelligence but 00:06:42
a very overwhelming feeling that 00:06:44
everything that happens everything I 00:06:47
have ever done everything anybody else 00:06:49
has ever done was part of our harmonious 00:06:53
design that there is no error at all 00:06:54
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[Music] now you see I'm not talking about a 00:07:27
philosophy I'm not talking about a 00:07:32
rationalization some sort of theory that 00:07:36
somebody cooked up in order to explain 00:07:38
the world I'm talking about a rather 00:07:42
whimsical unpredictable experience that 00:07:45
suddenly hits people and it includes 00:07:49
this element of feeling the total 00:07:53
harmonious mess of everything 00:07:56
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so this thing that the sensation of a kind of universal harmony cannot come to 00:09:27
us when it is sought when we look for it 00:09:37
as something to be an escape from the 00:09:40
way we actually feel or to compensate 00:09:42
for the way we actually feel it's a 00:09:44
thing that comes out of the blue and 00:09:46
when it comes out of the blue just like 00:09:48
hiccups come out of the blue something 00:09:50
like that it's overwhelming the 00:09:52
convincing 00:09:54
and it stands as actually the foundation 00:09:59
for most of mankind's profound 00:10:05
philosophical mystical metaphysical and 00:10:09
religious ideas someone in other words 00:10:11
to whom this sort of thing has happened 00:10:15
can't restrain himself when it has 00:10:17
happened and he has to get up and tell 00:10:19
everybody about it and alas he becomes 00:10:23
the founder of a religion-- because 00:10:26
people say look at that ban how happy he 00:10:30
is 00:10:30
what conviction he has he has no doubts 00:10:33
he seems to be sure in everything he 00:10:36
does 00:10:37
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and so in the same way when somebody has an experience of this kind he just has 00:11:58
to tell everybody about it because you 00:12:07
see he sees everybody around him looking 00:12:12
dreadfully serious looking as if they 00:12:16
had a problem 00:12:17
looking as if the the our act of living 00:12:20
were extremely difficult but from his 00:12:24
standpoint the person who had this 00:12:25
experience he feels that they look funny 00:12:28
that they don't understand that there 00:12:32
isn't any problem at all that he has 00:12:36
seen from where he stands you see that 00:12:41
the meaning of being alive is just being 00:12:45
alive that is to say 00:12:45
I look at the color of your hair in the shape of your eyebrow and I understand 00:12:53
that that is the point that's what we're 00:13:02
all here for 00:13:02
and it's so played it's so ugly 00:13:05
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[Music] and yet here is everybody rushing around 00:14:27
in a great panic as if it were necessary 00:14:37
for them to achieve something beyond all 00:14:40
that and the funny thing is they're not 00:14:44
quite sure what it is but they are 00:14:48
devilishly intent upon it after that 00:14:51
thing and so to the person in the state 00:14:56
of consciousness which I call mystical 00:14:57
that all seems very weird very absurd 00:14:57
but it's not something that you criticize in an unkindly way you don't 00:15:07
say those damned fools 00:15:13
those idiots you say it's such a pity 00:15:17
that they don't see it because although 00:15:23
they are going around in this wildly 00:15:26
ignorant pursuit one of the funny things 00:15:29
about it is that they don't realize that 00:15:31
there is a dimension a sense in which 00:15:34
their pursuit is magnificent 00:15:34
in other words the intensely serious preoccupations and anxieties of mankind 00:15:44
appear from the standpoint not to be 00:15:52
foolishness but to be a kind of marvel 00:15:52
in the same way perhaps as you could say that the protective coloring of a 00:16:01
butterfly who is somehow contrived to 00:16:06
make its wings look like enormous eyes 00:16:09
so that when a bird who is about to 00:16:12
devour this beast is confronted by these 00:16:14
staring eyes the bird is a little 00:16:16
hesitating as when you stare at somebody 00:16:18
they always taken a little bit of back 00:16:20
so the butterfly appears to staring and 00:16:26
perhaps you see this phenomenon of the 00:16:30
Marvel of staring wings of the butterfly 00:16:32
is in some way a result of exile the 00:16:35
anxiety to survive of all the problems 00:16:37
and struggles of that Pennsylvania 00:16:40
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nevertheless in 00:16:47
this 00:16:47
intense struggle we are unknowing poets 00:16:52
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you see 00:18:33
one of the greatest ideas in the world 00:18:37
that has ever been reduced is for my thinking the Hindu idea that the world 00:18:47
is a drama in which the central and 00:19:06
supreme self behind all existence gets 00:19:12
lost and involved and pretends plays 00:19:22
that he or it or he she or whatever you 00:19:26
want to call it is all the creatures 00:19:30
that there are and gets totally involved 00:19:35
and thus you see the more involved the 00:19:42
more anxious the more finite the more 00:19:49
limited the infinite manages to feel 00:19:53
itself to be the greater the artistry 00:20:01
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the greater the depth of the illusion which is created for you see all art is 00:21:04
in a way illusion the art of the 00:21:11
magician is the art of illusion the art 00:21:14
of misdirecting attention so that a 00:21:16
magic seems to appear and so in this way 00:21:21
the more there is anxiety the more there 00:21:28
is uncertainty to that degree the play 00:21:34
has succeeded in the same way as when 00:21:37
you are watching an actual play or 00:21:40
reading a novel or a movie the more the 00:21:45
author or the actors manage to grip you 00:21:49
and to persuade you just for a moment 00:21:52
that you are actually involved in 00:21:54
reality the more they have succeeded as 00:21:58
artists you may have a faint recognition 00:22:02
in the back of your mind that this is 00:22:04
after all only a play when you sit on 00:22:06
the edge of your seat and you're 00:22:07
sweating in your hands cuts the arms of 00:22:10
the chair the scene so grips you that is 00:22:15
magnificent acting and so the Hindus 00:22:17
feel that the whole arrangement of the 00:22:19
cosmos is something exactly like that 00:22:23
that when in the reality of actual life 00:22:27
you are sweating it out and you are 00:22:30
wondering whether this surgeon has got 00:22:32
to operate on you in a matter of life 00:22:34
and death is a competent man or a 00:22:36
charlatan or whether the investment that 00:22:41
you made is a good thing or whether it's 00:22:43
going to make you lose 00:22:45
see all those matters of terrific prices 00:22:50
are exactly the same as when you're 00:22:52
sitting in the theater sweating it out 00:22:54
there but now a far more convincing 00:22:56
theater has been arranged 00:22:58
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[Music] because as the Hindus would say that in 00:23:59
you which is it the basis of you the 00:24:08
thing that is real in you and that 00:24:10
connects you under the surface with 00:24:12
every other being that is alive this is 00:24:15
the player of the parts this is the 00:24:18
maker of the illusion this the player of 00:24:21
the game which has got you involved in 00:24:23
this mess and is living it up in the 00:24:26
same way as those actors on the stage 00:24:27
are living it up to convince you that 00:24:30
this is a real situation and this is 00:24:36
very understandable because basically 00:24:38
everybody loves to play this game 00:24:44
the game of hide-and-seek the game of 00:24:48
scaring oneself 00:24:51
running up behind yourself in the dark 00:24:53
and say boom all children like to do 00:24:59
this 00:24:59
and this is the most human thing that's why we go to the play to the movie why 00:25:05
we read No 00:25:12
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and our so-called real life is from the position of the mystic an extension of 00:25:52
the same thing because you see he is the 00:25:58
person who suddenly has realized the 00:26:01
game okay 00:26:02
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see if the game is hide-and-seek or if the game is lost and found everything to 00:27:06
do with the hide side or the lost side 00:27:15
is connected with where we as 00:27:19
individuals feel lonely 00:27:23
impotent put down so all the the 00:27:29
negative side of existence 00:27:32
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I have tried to show you at various times that there's really one simple 00:27:38
principle that underlies everything and 00:27:43
it's so simple it's funny the principle 00:27:46
is all insides have outsides because you 00:27:52
see you don't know that the inside is 00:27:54
inside unless there's an outside you 00:27:56
don't know that the outside is outside 00:27:58
and this is an inside ok then you as you 00:28:02
ordinarily feel yourself are the inside 00:28:05
you are the animate sensitive being 00:28:08
inside the skin that the inside of the 00:28:12
skin goes with the outside of the skin 00:28:14
if there weren't the outside of the skin 00:28:16
there wouldn't be no inside and the 00:28:18
outside of the skin is the whole darn 00:28:21
cosmos galaxies beyond galaxies and 00:28:25
everything that goes with the outside in 00:28:29
the same way that front goes with back 00:28:31
so that if you wake up and understand 00:28:33
that you find that the two are one and 00:28:37
the same identity one in the same self 00:28:37
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if we go back you see to the experience that I described as mystical we see that 00:29:56
it is the vision 00:30:05
I tried to put it fumbling ly in the 00:30:08
sense of the rightness the harmonious of 00:30:12
everything that you are from one moment 00:30:15
to another that in other words human 00:30:22
behavior its ups and it's downs he is no 00:30:28
different in principle from the behavior 00:30:33
of the clouds or of the wind or of 00:30:40
dancing flames in the fireplace as you 00:30:45
watch the pattern of the dancing flames 00:30:48
they never do anything vulgar their 00:30:54
artistry is always perfect ultimately it 00:30:58
is the same with human beings we are 00:31:00
just as much a part of the natural order 00:31:03
as flames in the fire or stars in the 00:31:06
sky 00:31:07
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[Music] but this is only apparent to the person 00:32:24
who is honest in the sense in which I 00:32:32
have spoken in other words the person 00:32:35
who is tied up with trying to pretend 00:32:39
that his feelings are other than what 00:32:41
they actually are he can never see this 00:32:44
and he's always a troublemaker 00:32:48
he is the original hypocrite the person 00:32:53
who is unbelievably destructive is the 00:32:55
person who pretends that he is a model 00:33:00
of love and rectitude and justice and in 00:33:03
fact isn't 00:33:04
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[Music] because you see the moment you subscribe 00:34:23
to the idea that your inner feeling 00:34:31
should be commanded you let yourself in 00:34:36
completely for hypocrisy if you see you 00:34:47
tell another person that you love them 00:34:47
because you know you're supposed to them and in fact in your heart you don't love 00:34:55
your alive 00:35:00
and therefore the more you insist on that lie the more you feel it's your 00:35:11
duty to make your feelings over and to 00:35:17
love that other person the more you get 00:35:20
yourself deeper and deeper and deeper 00:35:22
into trouble 00:35:22
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because here if anywhere the truth will out you will not be able to sustain the 00:36:23
pretense you will not have sufficient 00:36:29
energy to go on pretending and making a 00:36:32
kind of mock of the feeling of love and 00:36:36
you have at last then if you're honest 00:36:41
to say I don't it doesn't matter whether 00:36:45
this is to some other human being or 00:36:47
whether in a religious situation you 00:36:49
have to sit back and look at the Lord 00:36:51
and say Lord I don't know I think you're 00:36:55
a long you're demanding you're 00:36:59
authoritarian you're domineering and 00:37:02
probably I ought to love you but I'm 00:37:04
sorry I don't 00:37:04
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now we think you see that an honest expression of our feelings would be 00:38:04
disruptive of law and order it wouldn't 00:38:11
not in the least 00:38:13
actually it would be contributed to it 00:38:16
because if I say to somebody look I'm 00:38:21
not doing this for you because I love 00:38:24
you or because I like you 00:38:25
I'm doing it for you because the book 00:38:27
says I must now that puts it up to the 00:38:31
other person who has to look within 00:38:34
himself and say honestly ought I to 00:38:37
accept this favor for this person or 00:38:44
ought I to go about seeing how I could 00:38:47
provide myself with these conveniences 00:38:47
he may say I understand you don't like doing this but excuse me I'm in a 00:38:58
terrible Jam and I will be most beholden 00:39:06
to you if for a little while yet you 00:39:09
will go against your feelings and help 00:39:11
me out see that's a nice way of doing 00:39:16
things 00:39:16
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real honesty is a genuine basis of morals real honesty is always not 00:40:36
pretending that your feelings are other 00:40:45
than they are we know as we deal with 00:40:50
situations practically that we may have 00:40:52
to do things that go against our 00:40:55
feelings and it's the same with helping 00:40:57
people when you have new you don't want 00:40:59
to help but on the whole it's rather 00:41:01
necessary to do so but don't ever be 00:41:05
dishonest in playing that your feelings 00:41:08
are not what they are 00:41:11
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[Music] incidentally may I be so bold as to 00:42:27
recommend a book memories dreams and 00:42:34
reflections by CG yoke Jung's 00:42:37
autobiography the life story of a man 00:42:42
who in my opinion was a superb human 00:42:46
being in this particular sense of 00:42:51
[Applause] 00:42:54
thoroughly knowing his own limitations 00:42:57
and of having a certain humor about him 00:43:01
a man who understood how to integrate 00:43:09
into his whole being the devil in 00:43:11
himself and the monkey in himself 00:43:13
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so then in the metaphysical sphere the mystic is the one who feels that 00:43:59
everything that happens is in some way 00:44:07
harmonious is in some way right is in 00:44:10
some way an integral part 00:44:16
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of the universe 00:44:20
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now when we transplant or translate that into the moral sphere the sphere of 00:46:04
human comment the equivalent is this 00:46:11
there are no wrong feelings there may be 00:46:19
wrong actions in the sense of actions 00:46:25
contrary to the rules of human 00:46:28
communication but the way you feel 00:46:33
towards other people loving hating etc 00:46:38
etc there aren't any wrong feelings and 00:46:42
so to try and force one's feelings to be 00:46:46
other than what they are is absurd and 00:46:49
furthermore dishonest but you see the 00:46:56
the idea that there are no wrong 00:46:58
feelings is an immensely threatening 00:47:00
idea to people who are afraid to feel in 00:47:05
any case 00:47:05
and this is one of the peculiar problems of our culture that we are terrified of 00:47:12
our feelings because they they take off 00:47:23
on their own and we think that if we 00:47:28
give them any scope and if we don't 00:47:32
immediately beat them down they will 00:47:34
lead us into all kinds of chaotic and 00:47:38
destructive action it's so funny that we 00:47:43
in our Western culture today say that 00:47:45
kind of thing 00:47:46
we who do more chaotic and reckless kind 00:47:49
of action than anybody ever did but if 00:47:55
for a change 00:47:57
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we would allow our feelings and look 00:48:02
upon their comings and goings as 00:48:04
something as beautiful and as natural 00:48:07
and necessary as changes in the weather 00:48:10
the going of night and day and of the 00:48:14
four seasons we would be at peace with 00:48:16
ourselves because what is problematic 00:48:20
for Western man he is not so much his 00:48:24
struggles with other people and their 00:48:29
needs and their problems as he struggled 00:48:31
with his own feelings what he will allow 00:48:35
himself to feel and what he won't allow 00:48:37
himself to feel he's ashamed to feel 00:48:45
really profoundly sad so much so that he 00:48:50
could cry it is not manly to cry he is 00:48:56
ashamed to loathe somebody because you 00:48:59
are not supposed to hate people 00:48:59
he's ashamed to be so overcome with the beauty of something whether it be a 00:49:08
natural landscape or a member of the 00:49:12
opposite sex that he goes out of his 00:49:16
mind with this beautiful because all 00:49:20
that kind of thing is not being in 00:49:22
control old boys not kind of having your 00:49:24
hand on a wheel 00:49:26
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but it is because you see we don't go with that that we are not in control 00:49:36
that we try to pretend that our inner life is different so I think this is the 00:49:47
most releasing thing that anybody can 00:49:58
possibly understand 00:49:58
that your inner feeling is never wrong 00:50:06
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that's to say 00:52:29
what you feel 00:52:32
it's never wrong that you feel that way it may not be a right guide to what you 00:52:38
should do in other words if you feel 00:52:47
that you hate someone intensely it isn't 00:52:51
necessarily the right way of dealing 00:52:52
with that feeling to go out and cut his 00:52:54
throat but it is right that you should 00:52:59
have the feeling of hating or are being 00:53:04
sad or of or frightened terrified 00:53:07
whatever it is 00:53:07
for you see when a person comes to himself he comes to be one with his own 00:53:14
feeling and that is the only way of 00:53:21
being in a position to control it it is 00:53:27
in exactly this way that the Sailor 00:53:27
always keeps the wind in his sails whether he wants to sail with the wind 00:53:35
or whether he wants to sail against the 00:53:40
wind he always uses the wind he never 00:53:43
denies the wind well in its exactly that 00:53:46
same sense that a person has to keep 00:53:49
going with his own feeling whether he 00:53:53
wants to act as the feeling 00:53:54
obviously suggests or act in a different 00:53:57
way he has to keep the feeling with him 00:54:00
because that's his own essential self 00:54:00
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[Music] so to sum up what the mystic primarily 00:57:19
feels is the divinity the glory of 00:57:30
whatever is and when we apply that to 00:57:37
the moral sphere what is is what one 00:57:43
feels genuinely 00:57:43
and this must always be admitted always allowed it doesn't mean to say let me 00:57:51
emphasize this it doesn't mean that we 00:58:00
always are therefore compelled to act 00:58:02
upon the basis of what we feel that is 00:58:06
to say that you kill the person we hate 00:58:09
hatred does not necessarily lead to 00:58:12
violence 00:58:14
it is unacknowledged hatred that leads 00:58:16
to violence honest hatred can be 00:58:23
expressed in much simpler ways but the 00:58:29
expression the recognition the 00:58:32
acceptance of what is honestly felt is 00:58:37
the moral equivalent of the vision that 00:58:41
whatever exists is a manifestation of 00:58:44
the divine 00:58:45
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[Laughter] 00:59:52
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[Laughter] 01:00:00
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