7cdYtksw

1
200:01
3in order to get the principle of a
400:03
5network across I have to convey to you
600:07
7an idea which is extremely simple but
800:11
9which is difficult to grasp only because
1000:14
11we're not used to it we are used to
1200:19
13thinking as Westerners as having a
1400:25
15certain kind of language and therefore a
1600:28
17certain kind of logic that goes with it
1800:31
19we're used to thinking of the world in
2000:35
21terms of the game of billions in other
2200:42
23words we are still thinking about our
2400:46
25psychology our bodies and their
2600:52
27relationship to the outside world in
2800:55
29terms of what would scientifically be
3000:58
31called Newtonian mechanics and Newtonian
3201:07
33mechanics has a very long history
3401:08
35because it goes back to some of the
3601:12
37atomic theories of people like
3801:13
39Democritus who were the among the great
4001:19
41pre-socratic philosophers of ancient
4201:21
43Greece and so we may as well begin with
4401:27
45the a little bit about the history of
4601:29
47the idea of an atom because this is
4801:32
49always fascinated people what is the
5001:36
51world fundamentally what is all this but
5201:41
53one way of finding out is to take a
5401:43
55knife and chop something in two so you
5601:46
57could see what's inside it what is an
5801:49
59apple inside what is a seed inside what
6001:53
61is a human body inside and then you find
6201:57
63that when you chop a thing in two you've
6402:00
65got two pieces but the cutting reveals
6602:04
67that that has a structure inside and the
6802:07
69structure is composed of what we call
7002:09
71organs or parts
7202:12
73and then in turn in order to inquire
7402:14
75into them we take them and we chop them
7602:16
77apart and in our curiosity to find out
7802:21
79how it's made in just the same way that
8002:23
81a child will take a toy to pieces we
8202:28
83chop and chop and chop until we've got
8402:32
85bits so small that they are the same
8602:34
87width as the edge of the knife and they
8802:38
89can't be cut any more unless we can find
9002:40
91a finer knife and so when we get down to
9202:44
93that bit beyond which there is no bitter
9402:47
95that is to say it can't be chopped any
9602:49
97further it is called in Greek atomos
9802:51
99which means the the first letter R means
10002:56
101none thomas cuttable and so the word
10203:03
103adam means that smallest particle of the
10403:08
105world which can't be cut into any
10603:10
107smaller particle that's the original
10803:12
109idea of atomism so then the the went
11003:18
111further than that to the notion that the
11203:21
113world was built of atoms in the same
11403:23
115sort of way that a house could be built
11603:25
117of bricks or stones the world is seen
11803:29
119therefore as a composite of fundamental
12003:34
121particles then what remained to be
12203:37
123discovered was the laws governing the
12403:40
125relationship between these particles and
12603:42
127so naturally one thought of them as
12803:45
129little balls why balls because balls are
13003:50
131hard to cut if you take a ball bearing
13203:54
133and hit at it with a sword it's
13403:56
135allowable to jump right off to one side
13603:58
137a cube will submit to being cut but a
13804:01
139ball is very difficult to get at a very
14004:04
141strong form of nature so people have
14204:07
143always tended to consider atoms as balls
14404:09
145especially atoms of liquid there was a
14604:14
147notion you see that the atoms of the
14804:16
149element of Earth for cubes because cubes
15004:20
151all sit together rather firmly liquid
15204:23
153which when you put up good blue
15404:25
155that was balls fire was made of them if
15604:31
157I remember right little pyramids yeah I
15804:35
159can't remember what air was made of and
16004:39
161what their atoms were shaped like maybe
16204:42
163sausages or something like that
16404:44
165cuz the air is pretty difficult to get
16604:47
167out to but they had some ideas but
16804:50
169fundamentally what has influenced what
17004:52
171Western thought and still influences
17204:54
173Western thought is the idea of an atom
17404:56
175of some sort of fundamental little
17604:58
177planetary system and so these things
17805:02
179come into relationship with each other
18005:04
181and they bang each other around as in
18205:07
183the game of billiards and so if we are
18405:10
185to understand the world profoundly we
18605:13
187have to find out what are the laws
18805:17
189governing the relationship of the atoms
19005:21
191now you must understand first of all a
19205:26
193principle about what are called laws of
19405:28
195nature we inherit the idea of laws of
19605:35
197nature from our theology and our
19805:40
199theology that we've grown up with is in
20005:43
201certain ways peculiarly different from
20205:46
203the theologies of oriental peoples
20405:50
205Jewish theology and Christian theology
20605:53
207which have entered very profoundly into
20805:56
209the common sense of the average person
21006:00
211have an image of the world which is
21206:03
213quite basically political and will go
21406:07
215further than that and say it's monarchic
21606:09
217or based on the idea that the world is a
21806:14
219construct evoked out of nothingness by
22006:23
221the commandment of a celestial king now
22206:28
223there may be Jews in this room who are
22406:30
225practising and devout Jews and there may
22606:32
227be Christians in this room who are
22806:34
229practicing and devout Christians and I
23006:36
231don't want to offend you by any image
23206:38
233that I choose or remarks that I may make
23406:41
235about this imagery because I don't
23606:44
237suppose that anybody has come to this
23806:46
239Roman to this particular place who is
24006:48
241either a practicing or Christian Jew who
24206:51
243has what I would call a naive idea of
24406:56
245God but the funny thing is about our
24607:03
247ideas of God is that our symbols the
24807:07
249images the mythological forms which we
25007:11
251use to describe God have an extremely
25207:14
253powerful influence on our feelings and
25407:17
255on the way we behave after all I was a
25607:24
257member of the Church of England when I
25807:26
259was a small boy and that had a very
26007:29
261powerful effect on me and in the Church
26207:34
263of England it's quite obvious from an
26407:37
265emotional point of view as distinct from
26607:39
267the very intellectual point of view that
26807:41
269God stands behind the King of England
27007:45
271and the King of England and the
27207:48
273Archbishop of Canterbury and the whole
27407:51
275hierarchy of lords and ladies and
27607:54
277noblemen and officials who descend from
27807:56
279this point are somehow involved at any
28007:59
281rate this is perfectly clear to a small
28208:01
283boy are somehow involved with the
28408:03
285hierarchy of heaven because that morning
28608:07
287prayer to which we went every Sunday the
28808:10
289minister would pray a prayer which began
29008:13
291our almighty and for all Almighty father
29208:17
293high and mighty King of Kings Lord of
29408:21
295lords the only ruler of princes who dust
29608:23
297from thy throne they hold all the
29808:25
299dwellers upon earth most heartily we
30008:28
301beseech thee with thy favour to behold
30208:30
303our most gracious sovereign Lord King
30408:33
305George etc and so this was a very
30608:38
307courtly procedure at which the clergyman
30808:41
309dressed in his proper robes proceeded to
31008:44
311the altar which is a kind of earthly
31208:46
313symbol of the throne of heaven made new
31408:48
315obeisance and present in this potato
31608:51
317with all proper humility now these are
31808:57
319things that were that if you're brought
32008:59
321up in that environment you take for
32209:01
323granted that seems to be the natural
32409:04
325attitude to God but imagine someone
32609:07
327coming in from a culture where God is
32809:09
329not conceived in the image of kingship
33009:11
331how strange he would find this behavior
33209:15
333there's almost bowing and scraping
33409:17
335because you know very well that places
33609:20
337where they bow and scrape and weather
33809:22
339are Thrones our places of terror because
34009:27
341anybody who rules by force his son must
34209:32
343be basically terrified that's why he has
34409:35
345to have all these protections why he has
34609:38
347to be addressed in the right form of
34809:39
349language so you go into a course today
35009:42
351an ordinary US law court there is a very
35209:48
353strict etiquette and if you start
35409:51
355laughing the judge will bang the gavel
35609:53
357and threaten contempt of court of all
35809:55
359sorts of dire punishments because here
36009:58
361everybody has to be serious it's like on
36210:00
363the parade ground all those Marines
36410:03
365lined up know and they salute the flag
36610:06
367and I have to have a very grim
36810:09
369expression on serious and so in the
37010:17
371courts of Kings they have to be serious
37210:19
373because Kings are afraid of laughter
37410:24
375they're also afraid of being attacked
37610:26
377suddenly so everybody has to kneel down
37810:30
379because if you kneel down or prostrate
38010:32
381yourself you're at a disadvantage
38210:36
383and the King stands or sits at his
38410:38
385throne with his bodyguards ranged on
38610:40
387either side see like that we've already
38810:43
389got the form of a church the bishop at
39010:46
391his throne his attendant canons and
39210:48
393clergy flanking him on either side and
39410:51
395so certain great Catholic cathedrals are
39610:54
397called
39810:55
399the with you that they've described the
40010:57
401word Basilica and Basilica from the
40211:00
403Greek basileus or basileus is the king
40411:04
405so the Basilica is the court of the king
40611:08
407very titles of God in the Bible king of
40811:13
409kings and Lord of lords are of course
41011:15
411borrowed from the Persian emperors the
41211:20
413Cyrus and to the Greek word kurios
41411:24
415meaning Lord so the mass begins with the
41611:29
417invocation QA Eleison lord have mercy
41811:33
419upon us the titles are borrowed from the
42011:37
421persian emperor and so the rights that
42211:40
423have become associated with christian
42411:42
425religion and to some extent the Jewish
42611:44
427religion are reflections of those great
42811:49
429autocratic monarchs of the ancient Near
43011:51
431East
43211:52
433thus irises of Persia the Pharaohs of
43411:54
435Egypt and people like Hammurabi who were
43611:58
437the great rowdy and monarchs the
43812:02
439universe was conceived then as being
44012:04
441ruled on a political pattern like that
44212:09
443so that the Hammurabi in particular and
44412:12
445Moses after him were great law givers
44612:16
447they were the Wise Ones who laid down
44812:19
449the rules they were the patriarchs who
45012:21
451said now this is the way everybody's got
45212:24
453to behave somebody's got to tell what
45412:26
455the rules are and since you can't all
45612:27
457agree among yourselves as to what the
45812:29
459rules going to be I'm going to tell you
46012:30
461what to do and since I'm the toughest
46212:33
463guy around here and I got these brothers
46412:35
465of mine who are pretty tough too we're
46612:37
467gonna say this is the law see and you
46812:39
469got obey so this is how we have got
47012:45
471historically the idea of there being a
47212:47
473law of nature
47412:49
475that somebody told nature what to do
47612:53
477somebody told for example a wonderful
47812:57
479poem by father Feeny about bees God to
48013:04
481some sticky stuff not yet alive in a
48213:06
483hive said come hum he might be in buzzes
48413:10
485I did and sure enough it was and it did
48613:14
487see and at the beginning let there be
48813:17
489light a commandment
49013:21
491so commandment is the fundamental idea
49213:23
493so the quest of the law of nature is the
49413:27
495quest for the true understanding of the
49613:30
497word of God for by the word of the Lord
49813:33
499where the heavens made and all the hosts
50013:35
501of them by the breath of his mouth in
50213:38
503the beginning was the word and the Word
50413:40
505was with God and the Word was God
50613:42
507what is that word if we could find out
50813:46
509the Word of God here is the idea we
51013:49
511could perform incredible magic that's
51213:54
513why for example the name of God in the
51413:57
515Bible is not to be uttered except once
51614:00
517by the high priest in the holy of holies
51814:03
519once a year otherwise that name yad hey
52014:07
521VAR a in hebrew we don't really know how
52214:09
523it was pronounced and jehovah mixes up
52414:12
525those consonants with the vowels of
52614:14
527Adonai and then it's all mixed up in
52814:22
529translation but anyway that if Jehovah
53014:25
531is a polite way of saying what can't be
53214:27
533said because if you know the word you
53414:32
535know the name of God you have power you
53614:37
537have the power of God and so all ancient
53814:41
539ideas of magic were based on knowing the
54014:45
541names of God it is said that there are
54214:47
543100 names of God and 99 are revealed to
54414:51
545us and the camel knows the hundreds name
54614:53
547which is why he looks so snooty
54814:56
549[Laughter]
55015:02
551but so also a person in what we now call
55215:07
553primitive orders of society are loath to
55415:10
555reveal their names because if I know
55615:13
557your true name I can utter it and have
55815:17
559power and power over you now you say
56015:21
561well that seems a very naive idea but it
56215:24
563is exactly through the knowledge of
56415:27
565names that we have Western science and
56615:31
567it that is magic that is through trying
56815:36
569to understand the laws of nature so that
57015:40
571if you could understand the word
57215:42
573underneath all the phenomena you could
57415:44
575change the phenomena and then create
57615:47
577magic only this that many scientists
57815:52
579have got rather sophisticated and have
58015:55
581realized that the word comes later than
58215:58
583the event that in the beginning wasn't
58416:03
585the word of course if you want to make
58616:09
587new sense out of the phrase in the
58816:11
589beginning was the word you have to go to
59016:12
591Hinduism where they have the idea that
59216:18
593vaak VA see in Sanskrit or speech is the
59416:25
595basis of creation but by this they
59616:28
597fundamentally mean vibration as sound
59816:38
599[Music]
60016:44
601they say that is you see if you listen
60216:47
603to sound and go right down into it
60416:49
605fundamentally get what sound is all
60616:52
607about you understand the whole mystery
60816:53
609of things because the whole mystery of
61016:56
611things is vibrating energy on earth
61216:59
613simple as that life and death life is on
61417:02
615that is off after after long have to
61617:05
617have on a bath
61817:08
619it's quite a relief but they have they
62017:13
621say that's the beginning now but they
62217:15
623also say in another sense on another
62417:19
625level that the roots of Sanskrit say the
62617:24
627the root form say the word Buddha comes
62817:29
629from the root form but which means to
63017:32
631know or to be awake bhava which means
63217:37
633becoming comes from the root booth which
63417:41
635means to grow so on Kurama doing comes
63617:47
637from the root to tree to act so they say
63817:53
639though that the roots of Sanskrit are
64017:55
641not simply the roots of a language
64217:57
643they're the roots of life because in
64418:01
645another sense all together you see you
64618:05
647create the world by the word
64818:13
649and this is something that we're not
65018:15
651very conscious of it's the way you think
65218:21
653that determines your basic reactions to
65418:25
655what happens in the words of Shakespeare
65618:28
657there is nothing either good or ill but
65818:31
659thinking makes it so
66018:33
661thinking is talking to yourself inside
66218:35
663your head and we through this build up
66418:42
665all sorts of weird notions we say for
66618:46
667example well one day you'll have to die
66818:52
669have to what's in them what's what's the
67018:57
671cell what's the emotional content of
67218:58
673saying you'll have to die it means it's
67419:02
675going to be something imposed upon you
67619:04
677against your will so it's put in this
67819:07
679passive mode have to you'll be compelled
68019:11
681to die but I can't be compelled to die
68219:14
683unless I'm fighting it if I supposing I
68419:20
685want to die closing I commit suicide or
68619:25
687supposing we look at it all in another
68819:27
689way and say when I get a disease and die
69019:30
691as a result of it getting a disease is
69219:32
693something I do just as much as walk
69419:35
695taking a walk only we've got our
69619:39
697thoughts arranged so that we say you
69819:41
699ought not to get a disease even if it's
70019:44
701just plain old age somehow you ought not
70219:47
703to do that you ought to go on and
70419:50
705therefore you you can't say when death
70619:55
707comes about where to put it in the words
70819:59
709of Robert de Stevens and I laid me down
71020:01
711with a will because we've got this
71220:05
713hang-up about life being divided into
71420:07
715two parts things that we do on the one
71620:11
717hand and things that happen to us on the
71820:13
719other and Buddhists say what happens to
72020:19
721you is your karma
72220:23
723and people don't readily understand that
72420:26
725they think my Karma uh I have something
72620:29
727awful happened to me because of
72820:30
729something bad I did in my last life and
73020:34
731therefore I've got bad karma karma
73220:40
733simply means you're doing your action so
73420:44
735that when something that happens to me
73620:46
737is called my Karma it means that it's
73820:50
739your own doing and if you recognize that
74020:55
741it's your own doing it's never bad karma
74220:58
743it's only bad karma if you refuse to
74421:01
745admit that it's your own doing and
74621:03
747merely blame someone or something else
74821:05
749that it's something that happened to you
75021:08
751now I've digressed a little because what
75221:11
753I was getting at was the meaning of a
75421:13
755law of nature
75621:20
757laws of nature were taken over the idea
75821:27
759of the law of nature was taken over by
76021:30
761Western science from this ancient
76221:34
763magical notion of the Word of God the
76421:39
765commandment of God at being the
76621:41
767foundation for everything that happens
76821:43
769in the world but now it today in western
77021:48
771twentieth century science there is a
77221:51
773entirely new idea of the law of nature
77421:56
775the laws of nature are not things that
77621:59
777exist in any real sense which phenomena
77822:03
779like the motion of stars or the behavior
78022:07
781of animals and rocks they're not
78222:10
783phenomena which these things obey the
78422:16
785universe is doing its stuff but because
78622:22
787we have a certain kind of structure and
78822:29
789brain we want to make sense of it and
79022:35
791therefore we find various ways of
79222:39
793understanding the world by the principle
79422:46
795of regularity and what's that let's take
79622:51
797a clock a clock ticks regularly but the
79822:58
799world does not tick regularly in
80023:02
801conveniently enough the Sun does not go
80223:05
803does not have the earth go round it in a
80423:09
805neat 360 days this is always irritated
80623:14
807calendar makers how to make a rational
80823:17
809calendar there is no solution because
81023:21
811the rotations of the earth upon its own
81223:25
813axis do not neatly synchronize with its
81423:27
815rotation around the Sun there's always
81623:30
817something a little odd about it so what
81823:34
819we do is
82023:34
821we've superimposed over this rather odd
82223:38
823elliptical path the ideal figure of a
82423:41
825circle with its 360 degrees now that is
82623:47
827also like putting a ruler along a piece
82823:50
829of wood and saying this piece of wood
83023:53
831can be cut to twelve inches now there
83223:59
833are no inches in the wood inches are a
83424:02
835method a technique that human beings
83624:05
837have invented for measuring things and
83824:09
839so we can cut out of a piece of cloth or
84024:14
841a clunk of a tree so many feet well
84224:21
843originally it's simply comparing the
84424:24
845trunk with us by putting our feet over
84624:27
847it one after another saying it's so many
84824:29
849feet long or so many spans when you
85024:32
851stretch out the hand there's the
85224:33
853fundamental idea of measurement and the
85424:35
855inches of course one joined not choke on
85624:39
857it and so the this comparison of man's
85824:48
859body and its regular shape you see ten
86024:52
861fingers on either side 10 I mean you
86224:55
863know five fingers on either side makes
86424:56
865ten five toes on the other side makes
86624:58
867ten and so by stretching ourselves out
86825:03
869as it were against nature we measured it
87025:07
871and the idea of this of measurement is
87225:12
873the same idea as the idea of the law of
87425:14
875nature the law of nature is exactly the
87625:19
877same kind of thing as a ruler or a
87825:23
879hammer or a saw it is a way of thinking
88025:29
881which enables us to control our
88225:32
883environment by observing regularities
88425:40
885and then by making a calculus which is a
88625:44
887process really of betting
88825:47
889will it be regular next time and the
89025:52
891odds are that it may be if it's done it
89225:55
893once this way it's likely to do it again
89425:57
895that way so in this way you predict
89626:01
897eclipses of the Sun you predict the
89826:03
899phases of the Moon you measured them you
90026:06
901counted how it went how often it did it
90226:08
903like this often they did it like that
90426:10
905and you say well it keeps on doing it
90626:12
907and you think well this is fascinating
90826:16
909it seems to obey me because now I can
91026:19
911tell you any time it's going to come up
91226:21
913and if the other people around haven't
91426:24
915figured it out they think I'm magic
91626:26
917because I'm going to say to them the
91826:28
919moon is going to change if such and such
92026:30
921a time so many days from now it's gonna
92226:32
923have a different shape they say my god
92426:34
925he was right and they think I'm making
92626:38
927it happen because I can do that and so I
92826:44
929get a rather privileged position because
93026:48
931I could predict but that's the basic
93226:50
933idea of the law of nature the law of
93426:53
935nature is a human Network like the lines
93627:05
937of celestial latitude and longitude they
93827:07
939don't exist in the heavens but we
94027:10
941project them on the sky in order to
94227:12
943measure the positions of the stars
94427:16
945because the stars are scattered in a
94627:19
947very confusing way and just try and
94827:23
949remember that mess and figure it out
95027:26
951though the clever ones you see just sit
95227:28
953look at it through a network a spherical
95427:31
955Network then you can number all the
95627:36
957squares in the spherical Network the
95827:38
959core in accordance with the principles
96027:40
961of the circle the 360 degrees you've
96227:43
963thrown the network on the sky it isn't
96427:46
965really there see then to help you a
96627:49
967little further pick out some of the big
96827:54
969stars and see if they make a shape you
97027:57
971know this is like a doing a Rorschach
97227:58
973test
97427:59
975did you see oh look there's one over
97628:01
977there that looks like a Dipper or some
97828:04
979people call it a plough and this one
98028:08
981there that looks like a cross there's
98228:10
983one there that by some extreme Wang Ling
98428:13
985can be made to look like a virgin and
98628:17
987all these lines that join the
98828:19
989constellations together are our ways of
99028:23
991projecting a pattern upon this great and
99228:27
993glorious confusion so that we can
99428:30
995remember it and chart it but obviously
99628:34
997you can very well see that if you looked
99828:36
999at the same pattern of stars from some
100028:38
1001completely different position in space
100228:40
1003all those constellations and their
100428:42
1005Arrangements would vanish you would have
100628:45
1007to invent a new one because there is
100828:48
1009nowhere where the stars really are it
101028:51
1011depends where you're looking from so we
101228:56
1013now then in this sense then man in
101428:59
1015nature with his extraordinary
101629:01
1017symmetrical brain and it's amazing
101829:06
1019complications figures it out and it's
102029:11
1021man who introduces the law into the
102229:14
1023world he invents it but in a way in
102429:22
1025venir a to invent is to discover but
102629:30
1027what we discover in a way is not
102829:31
1029something that's out there when we
103029:35
1031invent the laws of nature we are
103229:37
1033discovering something about ourselves
103429:39
1035and our own passion for prediction for
103629:45
1037regularity for keeping things under
103829:47
1039control therefore there has to be a law
104029:55
1041so then going back right now to the
104229:57
1043beginning of what I started to say the
104430:04
1045question was then what is the law of
104630:07
1047relationship between the atoms between
104830:12
1049the fundamental building balls of which
105030:14
1051the world is composed well you watch the
105230:18
1053game of billiards and there's a cue and
105430:20
1055it hits that ball and then it moves over
105630:22
1057and it hits that one and then that hits
105830:24
1059that one and then that hits that one and
106030:26
1061so the final ball which moves into the
106230:29
1063pocket has its behavior explained
106430:33
1065through its contact with the other
106630:36
1067billiard balls in the final contact with
106830:38
1069a cue that's why it did it and so this
107030:45
1071view of the world as something that
107230:48
1073happens by the mechanical processes of
107430:52
1075the law of cause and effect is one that
107630:56
1077is really basic to most people's common
107830:58
1079sense today to most educated people they
108031:05
1081would say it's very difficult to figure
108231:07
1083it all out because the whole thing is so
108431:09
1085complicated but if you could know all
108631:13
1087the details involved in say the behavior
108831:17
1089or a single act of a human being you
109031:20
1091would find that it was the ineluctable
109231:22
1093result of a series of bouncing balls
109431:27
1095against each other fundamental atoms
109631:30
1097that predisposed the great final event
109831:33
1099to be just like that so that theory of
110031:40
1101the relationship between the atoms is
110231:43
1103called in technical language catenary CA
110431:48
1105te n ary catenary a catenary effect or a
110631:56
1107relationship between events is like for
110831:59
1109example - we use another illustration
111032:01
1111where you stand a row of bricks up and
111232:04
1113end up no and you knock over the first
111432:08
1115one and they
111632:08
1117katakana katakana and fall down that is
111832:11
1119a catenary sequence but it becomes
112032:16
1121increasingly obvious today to the
112232:19
1123physicist into the biologist that that
112432:21
1125will not do as a sufficient description
112632:26
1127of how various events affect each other
112832:30
1129and so there's another type of causal
113032:34
1131relationship altogether which is called
113232:37
1133instead of catenary reticulate ret ICU
113432:44
1135la te reticulate from the latin rate a
113632:48
1137meaning in net-net relationship wherein
113832:54
1139in other words any given event is not
114032:59
1141simply ascribed to one or more previous
114233:03
1143events but that the relationship between
114433:09
1145the past and the present and between the
114633:12
1147present and the future is all to be
114833:18
1149taken into consideration in
115033:20
1151understanding any one event in other
115233:23
1153words let's take one event i drop a ball
115433:27
1155and it bounces that's let's say it's an
115633:32
1157event i don't know how many events it
115833:34
1159really is but we'll just say for the
116033:35
1161sake of argument that it's an event now
116233:40
1163is it enough in describing this event to
116433:44
1165say i let the ball go it obeyed the lord
116633:47
1167of glory and hit the floor but because
116833:50
1169it was made of rubber and had some air
117033:52
1171inside it it bounced and sort of
117233:54
1173slightly disobeyed gravity because it
117433:56
1175had an energy in it but that's not
117634:01
1177enough
117834:06
1179because that the ball dropped that I let
118034:14
1181it go that it bounced depended not
118234:17
1183merely upon a historical sequence of
118434:22
1185events that you could lay out in a
118634:24
1187string along along a line of time it
118834:28
1189depends also upon a present context
119034:33
1191there must be a certain density of air
119234:38
1193all kinds of things have to coexist with
119434:41
1195this in order for me to be there to drop
119634:44
1197the ball at all much less manufacturable
119834:49
1199so that what happens must be considered
120034:53
1201not merely as a historical phenomenon
120234:57
1203but it must be seen in context context
120435:03
1205is terribly important because it isn't
120635:07
1207just when a thing happens that is
120835:09
1209important it's where it happens in what
121035:14
1211setting so that you could say that my
121235:19
1213blood in my veins is in a certain
121435:23
1215setting in a test-tube it's in a
121635:26
1217completely different setting and in a
121835:29
1219test-tube my blood is not behaving in
122035:32
1221the way it behaves in my veins therefore
122235:34
1223it's not the same thing so in an
122435:44
1225individual person in one setting will
122635:46
1227behave in one way in another setting in
122835:48
1229a completely different way I remember
123035:50
1231when I was a child I was one boy when I
123235:53
1233was at home with my parents when I went
123435:56
1235to visit my uncle and aunt I was someone
123635:58
1237different when I was with my peers I was
123836:01
1239someone quite different because I
124036:04
1241changed according to the setting and
124236:06
1243children are very well well aware of
124436:08
1245this it's only as we go on that we keep
124636:11
1247having it drummed into our heads that we
124836:13
1249ought to have a consistent character
125036:15
1251because we are influenced by novels well
125236:18
1253the characters are supposed to be
125436:19
1255consistent
125636:20
1257and so you ought to have a consistent
125836:22
1259character you ought to behave the same
126036:24
1261in all circumstances as towards all
126236:26
1263people that merely means you become
126436:28
1265inflexible so what things are therefore
126636:35
1267depend on the context in which they are
126836:38
1269found upon their network relationship to
127036:45
1271everything else that's going on and one
127236:50
1273of the reasons for this which is going
127436:52
1275to lead us to something more profound
127636:54
1277but much simpler is of course that the
127836:59
1279whole notion of a thin or of an event in
128037:06
1281nature and of course all relationships
128237:09
1283between different things and different
128437:11
1285events is a purely abstract idea that
128637:16
1287does not really fit the facts of nature
128837:18
1289at all in nature in what this physical
129037:23
1291world that you feel when you hold your
129237:26
1293head or hold somebody's hand or just
129437:30
1295breathe in that world there aren't any
129637:33
1297separate events none whatever
129837:41
1299sure there are all sorts of Wiggles
130037:44
1301around here all sorts of lines all sorts
130237:46
1303of colors all sorts of surfaces all
130437:49
1305sorts of forms but they're not separate
130637:55
1307because you see you can't separate an
130837:58
1309inside what you are inside your skin
131038:01
1311from the outside of the skin because you
131238:03
1313can see that once if they want anything
131438:05
1315outside your skin there'd be no inside
131638:09
1317it takes the outside and the inside
131838:11
1319working together to create this
132038:14
1321situation done in the simplest way the
132238:18
1323situation that I call my body wouldn't
132438:20
1325be operating unless it was there around
132638:22
1327here to breathe this this the physical
132838:27
1329phenomenon goes with the situation of
133038:30
1331there being air now our true
133238:33
1333about inside the air in a rather
133438:35
1335complicated way and other people
133638:38
1337watching say oh something going on over
133838:40
1339there
134038:41
1341no because the air you can't see and it
134238:43
1343remains rather constant except when
134438:45
1345there's a gale and so you don't pay much
134638:48
1347attention to it because it's always
134838:49
1349around what you pay attention to is what
135038:52
1351changes rather rapidly and you say well
135238:57
1353that's or that say hey you say to
135439:00
1355someone you see this change going on so
135639:02
1357I'm wiggling over there say what's that
135839:05
1359see I mean he knows what you mean by
136039:08
1361that that means something on the end of
136239:11
1363the finger point it's different it's
136439:14
1365peculiar
136639:15
1367see that's at that so from that comes
136839:19
1369the idea of an event or a thing that
137039:22
1371that but all these deaths that are
137239:26
1373happening aren't disconnected they go
137439:30
1375with each other just as I go with this
137639:32
1377surrounding air and just as this whole
137839:35
1379situation in which we are at this moment
138039:37
1381is it complicated going witness now here
138239:42
1383then we get to the fundamental idea of
138439:44
1385this idea of going with and from this we
138639:47
1387shall be able to construct the whole
138839:50
1389notion of network and this is the idea I
139039:54
1391said at the beginning is extremely
139239:56
1393simple but very difficult for people
139440:01
1395brought up to use Western languages to
139640:04
1397understand now going witness we could
139840:10
1399call it relativity relationship means
140040:16
1401simply let me first of all put it in a
140240:19
1403very extreme form consider yourselves
140440:25
1405yourself sitting here at this moment
140640:29
1407being just exactly the sort of person
140840:32
1409you are maybe a little neurotic maybe a
141040:38
1411little sick physically maybe a little
141240:42
1413ashamed of yourself for some reason or
141440:45
1415other
141640:47
1417just the way you are anyway
141840:49
1419just like that sitting here that
142040:54
1421situation goes with as back goes with
142241:02
1423front the entire situation of the rest
142441:06
1425of the universe
142641:12
1427now that was you as you are exactly the
142841:16
1429way you are and you really don't know
143041:18
1431what that is you may have some opinions
143241:21
1433about it but you really don't know that
143441:24
1435goes with the way the whole of the rest
143641:28
1437of boundless being is arranged now it
143841:32
1439isn't that the way the rest of boundless
144041:34
1441being is arranged is determining you to
144241:36
1443be the way you are or if it is that if
144441:43
1445that's true if it determines you then we
144641:48
1447must also allow the other side of the
144841:51
1449picture that you determine it it's your
145041:58
1451karma you did it but you say no but I
145242:03
1453didn't I couldn't help it it did me and
145442:07
1455you can say taste isn't it isn't this
145642:10
1457doesn't like two children arguing until
145842:12
1459you realize that the argument was was
146042:15
1461stupid because you and it are one event
146242:19
1463and it isn't the question of it
146442:20
1465controlling you or you controlling it
146642:22
1467it's all it's all one event as Teilhard
146842:27
1469de Chardin said the whole universe is
147042:29
1471the only true atom the only truly
147242:32
1473indivisible whole so the human being
147442:37
1475though it finds this difficult to
147642:39
1477understand because we're always telling
147842:42
1479each other now you should be different
148042:45
1481you ought to change
148242:50
1483now listen this is if you're sick and
148442:54
1485I've got a system in CI I've got a
148642:55
1487system I would a real school here a
148842:58
1489thing that there's very important and
149043:00
1491you should come and study with that may
149243:02
1493not be mine it buddy maybe some big sage
149443:05
1495or pundit that I know and you should
149643:07
1497come around and study that and I've
149843:13
1499thought about this for a long time
150043:15
1501because I've heard every kind of opinion
150243:18
1503of all the sorts of things that I should
150443:20
1505do in order to get myself into shape and
150643:23
1507I realized that if I followed this
150843:26
1509advice I would spend my entire day doing
151043:30
1511exercises in preparation for life I
151243:34
1513[Music]
151443:35
1515don't know we're not ever get around to
151643:38
1517that you know I would have my half an
151843:42
1519hour's yoga practice one hour of zazen
152043:46
1521so much physical exercises and so much
152243:52
1523memory practice so much the special diet
152443:56
1525preparation to be sure that I got proper
152643:59
1527food and if I think this all through I
152844:02
1529think oh my god then another school of
153044:09
1531thought will say no that's the thing
153244:12
1533you're getting confused just do one
153444:13
1535thing see
153644:16
1537but then I say now how am I going to
153844:18
1539choose which one I'm going to do what he
154044:20
1541says obviously this one's the best and
154244:22
1543then before you know why you are you're
154444:23
1545sewed up by some religious fanatic now
154644:30
1547please I don't want to do this to you
154844:31
1549please don't think that I have any such
155044:33
1551recipe that I'm going to give you
155244:35
1553anything to do for five minutes every
155444:37
1555morning I just am NOT
155644:39
1557I want to my whole notion would be to
155844:43
1559set you a whole free heat so that you'd
156044:47
1561only have to attend one seminar never
156244:49
1563have to come back that's the idea really
156444:58
1565because I know that so far as my own
156645:00
1567livelihood is concerned that there are
156845:03
1569always more people and if no I don't
157045:10
1571collect the following and just send them
157245:12
1573all away
157445:12
1575plenty more people to fill the vacuum
157645:15
1577[Laughter]
157845:17
1579but this is the important this is the
158045:20
1581whole idea that we're going to work on
158245:22
1583of a net that you are like a dewdrop on
158445:34
1585a multi-dimensional spider's web early
158645:37
1587in the morning and if you look at that
158845:40
1589thing one or carefully you will see that
159045:42
1591in every dewdrop there the reflections
159245:45
1593of all the other view drops so the way
159445:47
1595that dew drop looks goes with the way
159645:50
1597all the other ones look see but to kill
159845:54
1599a glimmer in it and so on it's peculiar
160045:56
1601position and everybody has to have a
160245:58
1603peculiar position in the cosmos ok so
160446:04
1605you see the reflections in every one of
160646:06
1607them are different according to the
160846:09
1609position they're in and the other dew
161046:11
1611drops that they reflect that
161246:12
1613such-and-such angles but nevertheless
161446:19
1615but the whole network all the dew drops
161646:23
1617depend on each individual teardrop and
161846:26
1619each individual view drop mutually
162046:29
1621depends on all the others and that's the
162246:31
1623sort of a scheme we're living in and
162446:34
1625it's a little bit of front sound logic
162646:36
1627at first because we say I can understand
162846:40
1629that I depend on this universe because
163046:41
1631after all I need sunlight and air and
163246:43
1633water and the help of the society and
163446:46
1635all I can think I needed a father and
163646:47
1637mother but looking at it from the other
163846:50
1639point of view I find it very difficult
164046:52
1641see how the whole thing depends on me
164246:55
1643that's because we've been brought up
164446:57
1645with a put-down theory of the individual
164647:00
1647new and a little children should be seen
164847:03
1649enough hello you are the servant and
165047:06
1651subject of God and don't you ask
165247:08
1653impertinent questions or another way of
165447:12
1655putting us down is to say well you're
165647:13
1657just a piece of the Fluke in a mindless
165847:15
1659mechanism we always managed not to find
166047:20
1661out that the relationship of the network
166247:23
1663is mutual it runs both ways that it
166447:27
1665depends on you just as much as you
166647:30
1667depend on it cause you see it's you with
166847:37
1669your ingenious brain that for example
167047:41
1671turns vibrations of air and a sound you
167247:45
1673turn whatever the Sun is doing into
167447:48
1675light you turn whatever the air is doing
167647:51
1677into a sky called blue there is only
167847:54
1679blue for a brain just like if you hit a
168047:59
1681drum and it's got no skin it won't make
168248:01
1683any noise so it's the tight skin that
168448:05
1685evokes the noise out of a moving fist no
168648:09
1687skin no noise so you as the reflector
168848:15
1689like the dew drop reflects you as the
169048:18
1691so-called reflector of all that goes on
169248:20
1693by the constitution of what kind of a
169448:23
1695reflector you are you evoke what we call
169648:29
1697Sun Moon and stars nebulae vast spaces
169848:34
1699there any vast in relation to you
170048:36
1701they're not really fast and if you
170248:39
1703compare them with yourself they're vast
170448:42
1705they could be considered very tiny or
170648:47
1707equally the space between two sides of
170848:50
1709the hair could be considered vast if you
171048:52
1711want to think about it that way I mean
171248:54
1713if you really want to go into a hair an
171448:56
1715awful lot between 101 diameter of a hair
171649:00
1717and if you think about it a long time
171849:03
1719you'll think it's of what we call a vast
172049:05
1721subject like microscopy it is a vast
172249:12
1723subject depends on on the attitude
172449:15
1725reasoning but the the the basic
172649:20
1727principle thing I really want to try and
172849:22
1729get across is this idea of going with
173049:26
1731the universe around you is your outside
173249:30
1733just as much as the organs inside your
173449:33
1735skin are your inside you go with it
173649:38
1737in the same way that the stalk goes with
173849:42
1739the root or with the flower and
174049:55
1741as front goes was back as north pole of
174250:00
1743magnet goes with South Pole this
174450:03
1745principle of relationship governs
174650:05
1747everything
174850:05
1749I wouldn't say governs I'm only using
175050:09
1751these wretched terms that we have to use
175250:11
1753all of our language it hit it underlies
175450:15
1755everything
175650:23
1757and it's important to realize and let me
175850:27
1759repeat this that the great universe does
176050:32
1761not control the small individual anymore
176250:40
1763than the small individual actually
176450:41
1765controls the great universe this is not
176650:44
1767a question of controlling it is a
176850:48
1769question of more like dancing of what
177050:51
1771happens rather than what makes it happen
177250:55
1773things aren't made to happen
177451:04
1775only if you insist that a certain event
177651:06
1777is quite separate then you can think of
177851:09
1779it being made to happen by the events
178051:12
1781that came before it but if you realize
178251:15
1783they're all parts of one event or
178451:18
1785different aspects different phases of
178651:20
1787one event then you see it happening and
178851:23
1789you don't see anything making it happen
179051:27
1791forcing that whole idea of things being
179251:30
1793made to happen in other words goes back
179451:32
1795to the idea of a universe that is based
179651:36
1797on a monic a monarchical image where the
179851:39
1799bus says damage you do that and the
180051:42
1801thing can't help it and so it's made to
180251:44
1803happen but say in Chinese Taoist
180451:50
1805philosophy the universe is just not seen
180651:52
1807in that way it's not seen as but
180851:55
1809anything is not made to happen it is
181051:58
1811what does happen but it's all
181252:00
1813interrelated and therefore there is a
181452:03
1815pattern to it there is an order to it
181652:05
1817the order of the net things and events
181852:09
1819are explained as being links in a causal
182052:12
1821chain and so every particular happening
182252:16
1823that is identified as a thing or an
182452:18
1825event which is however quite an
182652:20
1827arbitrary kind of selection is explained
182852:24
1829by its past by the chain of events which
183052:27
1831lead to it in a causal sequence on the
183252:31
1833other hand in the thinking of the
183452:33
1835reticulate relationship a thing is
183652:35
1837explained not simply by its relationship
183852:37
1839to past events but by its context that
184052:41
1841is to say its relationship to present
184252:44
1843and future events as well as past so
184452:47
1845that every event becomes something in a
184652:50
1847network now you will very well
184852:52
1849understand that when you see the knots
185052:54
1851in a network or or better the squares of
185253:00
1853the net they're all held together by
185453:03
1855each other imagine the kind of network
185653:08
1857where instead of there being well
185853:11
1859something like knitting in knitting the
186053:14
1861stitches are all helping together by
186253:16
1863each other and
186453:17
1865something breaks at one point the thing
186653:20
1867starts raveling so the reticulate view
186853:26
1869though the net view of the universe is
187053:29
1871one in which the Buddhists say
187253:33
1873everything mutually interpenetrates
187453:37
1875everything else so as I was trying to
187653:41
1877make the central point the point of
187853:43
1879implication the point of relativity that
188053:47
1881things go together like two sticks
188253:49
1883standing on the ground in this way see
188453:56
1885they give each other mutual support or
188654:01
1887like the three rings in the ballantine
188854:03
1889via trademark or the Christian symbol of
189054:06
1891the Holy Trinity those rings interlock
189254:09
1893but take one of them away and the
189454:12
1895interlocking is broken down for all of
189654:14
1897them so in the same way the individual
189854:21
1899although seeming to be something that
190054:25
1901rattles around in the universe
190254:28
1903although a given planet or a given star
190454:30
1905seems to be something that is moving on
190654:34
1907its own the motion the behavior of stars
190854:40
1909is a situation that arises only because
191054:43
1911of the mutual interdependence of all
191254:45
1913stars because to take a very simple
191454:49
1915illustration if there is only one star
191654:51
1917in the whole universe no motion can be
191854:54
1919ascribed to it it can't even be said to
192054:57
1921be still nobody knows what it's doing
192255:00
1923because there's nothing for it to relate
192455:01
1925to but take two stars and they can get
192655:06
1927nearer to each other or further away
192855:07
1929from each other but nobody knows which
193055:10
1931is moving get three stars and then you
193255:16
1933have say too close together and one of
193455:19
1935them seems to go away now
193655:20
1937who is moving away from who now the
193855:23
1939toothed star saying hey we don't like
194055:25
1941you we're gonna get out of your way or
194255:27
1943are they saying to the other star why
194455:28
1945don't you like us why do you keep going
194655:30
1947away
194855:30
1949Oh who's right well you can say on the
195055:34
1951principle of democracy that the majority
195255:36
1953must be right but then they say well
195455:40
1955let's have an umpire and we have a
195655:41
1957fourth star who can stand above us you
195855:45
1959see two stars can only move in a
196055:48
1961straight line with respect to each other
196255:50
1963three stars can move in a plane with
196455:52
1965respect to each other but a fourth star
196655:54
1967can establish a third dimension where we
196855:56
1969can say I can look down on you
197055:58
1971and take an objective standpoint but
197256:00
1973then the argument is which one of them
197456:02
1975is the fourth but that's the basic
197656:06
1977principle on which the whole universe is
197856:07
1979constructed it's a relativity system in
198056:13
1981which motion depends on comparison with
198256:18
1983something relatively still and there
198456:22
1985can't be any motion at all unless there
198656:24
1987is that comparison so because of this
198856:31
1989relationship every individual is so
199056:39
1991related to everything else that's going
199256:42
1993on that you imply it
199456:49
1995in other words anybody who was a great
199656:54
1997scientist from some other world
199856:55
1999altogether who studied a human body
200056:59
2001carefully and figured out the conditions
200257:02
2003under which such a thing would exist he
200457:06
2005would come to the conclusion that that
200657:09
2007human body was something from a universe
200857:13
2009just such as we have he would find that
201057:17
2011your structure and your behavior implied
201257:20
2013this whole thing just as with a laser
201457:24
2015beam system you can photograph a small
201657:28
2017fragment of any photographic negative
201857:31
2019and from that tiny fragment you can
202057:34
2021riess construct the whole picture from
202257:36
2023which it was taken because the
202457:39
2025crystalline tensions in that fragment
202657:41
2027imply the whole
202857:43
2029context of crystalline tensions that
203057:45
2031belong to that particular negative so in
203257:48
2033exactly the same way you as an
203457:51
2035individual imply this world and this
203657:53
2037world mutually implies you and you are a
203857:58
2039natural formation moving in and with
204058:02
2041this universe not determined by it
204258:04
2043because this is not a system of
204458:06
2045determinism but you are moving with it
204658:10
2047in just the same harmonious way that you
204858:13
2049notice the waves moving and the trees
205058:16
2051growing and the clouds moving and as you
205258:20
2053don't accuse the clouds of making
205458:23
2055aesthetic mistakes so really is a
205658:26
2057certain light in which you can see human
205858:28
2059beings both good and bad as perfect
206058:35
2061forms of nature you may have fashionable
206258:38
2063discriminations about who is beautiful
206458:40
2065and who is ugly you may have
206658:42
2067metaphysical discriminations about who
206858:45
2069is sick and who is healthy you may have
207058:47
2071moral discriminations about who is good
207258:49
2073and who is evil now these are all points
207458:53
2075of view relative points of view they are
207658:55
2077all legitimate because they are parts of
207858:57
2079the functioning of the whole the fact
208058:59
2081that you take those points of view that
208259:01
2083too is part of nature but a skillful
208459:06
2085person lives on two levels at once you
208659:11
2087live basically on the level where you
208859:14
2089know there are no mistakes can't leave
209059:19
2091everything moves in accordance with what
209259:21
2093the Chinese call the Dao the way of
209459:24
2095nature and if you have that basic
209659:27
2097feeling you will always be sane but you
209859:33
2099are able to comprehend within that
210059:35
2101feeling a more restricted point of view
210259:41
2103whereby things are good and bad just as
210459:45
2105in the confines of this room in this
210659:48
2107area it's perfectly clear that there's a
210859:50
2109difference between the up direction and
211059:52
2111the down direction but we know that this
211259:56
2113area
211459:57
2115is situated in interstellar space and
211659:59
2117there there is no up and no down now the
211860:03
2119second situation doesn't contradict the
212060:05
2121first but if you have only the
212260:11
2123discriminatory point of view if you take
212460:14
2125your fundamental stand as a being on the
212660:18
2127difference between good and evil you get
212860:20
2129in the Christian hang-up you have them
213060:23
2131to say that there is eternal heaven and
213260:27
2133eternal hell that the distinction
213460:30
2135between good and evil is radical and if
213660:35
2137you do that you begin to suffer from a
213860:38
2139disease called chronic guilt which is
214060:44
2141one of the most destructive emotions
214260:46
2143that anybody can have you feel an
214460:50
2145outcast from the universe at odds with
214660:53
2147reality itself at odds with God and that
214860:58
2149sends people quite mad and it's
215061:01
2151responsible for a good deal of the
215261:02
2153craziness of Western civilization it's
215461:08
2155making too much of a good thing out of
215661:10
2157the distinction between good and evil it
215861:13
2159is an important distinction but it's not
216061:15
2161fundamentally important and you have to
216261:19
2163learn to admit different degrees of
216461:22
2165importance and just say that because you
216661:27
2167can't just say that because a certain
216861:29
2169distinction isn't absolute that it's not
217061:31
2171important after all your own physical
217261:36
2173formation is not absolute but it's
217461:39
2175important so
217661:46
2177the situation of man in this network is
217861:53
2179to repeat the proposition on the one
218061:57
2181hand that he as an ordinary psycho
218262:01
2183physical organism is something that the
218462:05
2185whole cosmos is doing that was the as
218662:12
2187much of truth I think as there is in
218862:15
2189modern astrology which I regard as a
219062:18
2191pseudoscience but it is based on a very
219262:22
2193fundamental principle when you draw a
219462:25
2195map of a person's soul you draw a small
219662:28
2197picture of the universe a very crude
219862:31
2199picture and that is the design of that
220062:36
2201person's individuality the truth is
220262:39
2203therefore that your soul is something
220462:41
2205which contains your body your body does
220662:44
2207not have the soul inside it like a spook
220862:46
2209and the whole cosmos is your soul so the
221062:53
2211cosmos
221262:54
2213is doing you at the point you call here
221462:58
2215and now reciprocally you are doing it
221663:01
2217and the one depends upon the other you
221863:07
2219have difficulty in conceiving this as a
222063:09
2221westerner because we have all been
222263:12
2223brainwashed by several centuries of put
222463:15
2225down theories of man that you were a the
222663:21
2227wretched little subject another
222863:23
2229disobedient one at that of an eternal
223063:26
2231king and be that you adjust the
223263:29
2233fortuitous Congress of atoms in a
223463:31
2235mindless mechanism of incredible
223663:34
2237vastness having entertained those two
223863:38
2239theories of man and of existence for so
224063:41
2241many centuries we are very much
224263:43
2243brainwashed into being unable to see
224463:46
2245that we and the universe are mutually
224663:53
2247positive or to use the Chinese
224863:56
2249expression
225063:58
2251mutually arising now then a second
225264:06
2253difficulty arises in this which requires
225464:08
2255that I bring in some ideas first of all
225664:10
2257from Buckminster Fuller the the
225864:14
2259principle notion of buckminster fuller's
226064:16
2261thought and if you don't know this name
226264:18
2263Buckminster Fuller is what I would call
226464:20
2265a philosophical engineer a man who is
226664:25
2267one of the most creative minds in the
226864:27
2269modern world he invented the geodesic
227064:30
2271dome which is his main claim to economic
227264:33
2273fame but beyond that he has done a great
227464:37
2275deal of extremely fascinating thinking
227664:40
2277about the future of technology and the
227864:49
2279situation of man in the universe and he
228064:54
2281has devised this important term synergy
228265:03
2283coming from the Greek assume with Argos
228465:08
2285workers but what he means by synergy is
228665:17
2287this that every complex organism has as
228865:25
2289a whole an intelligence greater than any
229065:29
2291one of its parts and that every complex
229265:37
2293organism as a whole has an intelligence
229465:42
2295greater than any one of its parts this
229665:50
2297again is a difficult idea to swallow
229865:53
2299because he applies it to technology in
230065:56
2301this way he is saying that the
230266:00
2303industrial natural complex in which we
230466:03
2305live is something that is going in a
230666:08
2307certain direction on its own whether you
230866:11
2309like it or not and that it is able to
231066:17
2311organize your behavior in a more
231266:20
2313intelligent way than you can organize it
231466:22
2315and he believes therefore that the
231666:26
2317increasing complexity of the industrial
231866:30
2319complex will of itself say outlaw such
232066:33
2321lunacy is war it will make it impossible
232266:36
2323and that we shall find ourselves
232466:40
2325increasingly organized by an intelligent
232666:45
2327system that is not under our conscious
232866:48
2329direction but will make us feel I
233066:52
2331suppose rather as our individual selves
233266:54
2333feel inside our bodies he gives an
233466:58
2335illustration the transportation
233667:02
2337communications network aircraft radio
233867:07
2339television telephone
234067:11
2341these taken together are constituting a
234267:14
2343global net which might be said to be
234467:18
2345something like Teilhard de Chardin idea
234667:21
2347of the noosphere I hope you all read
234867:24
2349Teilhard de Chardin the famous Jesuit
235067:26
2351theologian who wrote the the best of his
235267:29
2353books is the phenomenon of man the earth
235467:37
2355which is the geosphere from the Greek
235667:43
2357Geoff's geese geese the earth then the
235867:48
2359earth as the geosphere is covered with a
236067:51
2361biosphere that is the sphere of living
236267:54
2363organisms the biosphere in turn
236467:57
2365generates the noosphere which is the
236667:59
2367communication network that we call the
236868:01
2369mind through literature through speech
237068:05
2371through radio and television
237268:07
2373communication the noosphere is slowly
237468:10
2375realized so you know Buckminster Fuller
237668:14
2377is really talking about the same thing
237868:16
2379the noosphere
238068:18
2381is the network of communication set up
238268:21
2383by technology and the so for example
238468:26
2385let's just take air transportation as a
238668:33
2387result of jet planes all centers that
238868:38
2389are in communication with each other by
239068:40
2391jet aircraft are becoming increasingly
239268:43
2393the same place when you wake up in Tokyo
239468:50
2395having come from Los Angeles or San
239668:53
2397Francisco you are slightly in doubt as
239868:56
2399to where you are because Tokyo is an
240069:00
2401immense muddle it's a mixture of Paris
240269:04
2403with Los Angeles of San Francisco with
240469:11
2405Shanghai of London a vaguely thrown in
240669:16
2407and sort of a touch of Japan
240869:23
2409that's a phenomenal place but if you
241069:26
2411live in San Francisco you realize it's
241269:29
2413becoming more like Tokyo because we have
241469:33
2415a tremendous inrush of Japanese culture
241669:35
2417we have superb Japanese restaurants you
241869:39
2419can go to sushi bars that is to say bars
242069:42
2421for rice balls and raw fish which are
242269:45
2423beautifully served just like in a bar in
242469:48
2425Tokyo and increasingly we have
242669:51
2427supermarkets which sell Oriental African
242869:54
2429and Japanese goods and I call them
243069:58
2431supermarkets for the unusual and more
243270:01
2433and more people are laying down tatami
243470:03
2435mats and cooking over hibachis and using
243670:08
2437chopsticks and every kind of thing like
243870:10
2439that so the point is that how near a
244070:17
2441place is to you is simply a factor of
244270:19
2443transportation there are places in the
244470:22
2445United States I was just in one another
244670:25
2447far out
244870:26
2449Indian area of South Dakota it takes
245070:30
2451longer to reach them to get to Tokyo so
245270:32
2453it's further away that's all there is to
245470:34
2455it for all practical purposes so
245670:38
2457Fuller's idea is that by the year 1968
245870:41
2459so soon we have a one-town world and
246070:50
2461it's coming fast and as you command
246270:56
2463beings have some problem adapting to
246470:57
2465this because as you know when you travel
246671:00
2467by jet just as when you're in an
246871:03
2469elevator that drops too fast you feel it
247071:05
2471left your stomach on the 14th floor and
247271:08
2473has taken the rest of you down to the
247471:09
2475first so the jet aircraft leaves your
247671:13
2477psyche in London and brings your body to
247871:16
2479San Francisco and it takes some time to
248071:19
2481catch up all your time rhythms are
248271:21
2483thrown off but we'll get used to it and
248471:26
2485eventually therefore we must add to this
248671:29
2487planes are very expensive all
248871:32
2489governments have immense investments in
249071:34
2491our
249271:35
2493and to work they must be kept flying
249471:39
2495otherwise they they get out of order so
249671:43
2497they must be kept moving that means
249871:45
2499there's a also a huge tourist business
250071:48
2501constantly interested in shuffling
250271:50
2503people all around the earth and as a
250471:54
2505result of that it's going to be
250671:56
2507increasingly a vested interest and
250871:59
2509politicians will find it harder and
251072:01
2511harder to stop it in the interest of
251272:04
2513having a war so what we are in effect
251472:08
2515reduced to at the moment so far as Wars
251672:10
2517are concerned our experimental Wars was
251872:15
2519under small in small areas against
252072:18
2521people who allegedly don't matter very
252272:20
2523much in order to test out our military
252472:22
2525materials and techniques because nobody
252672:26
2527can afford to keep a large standing army
252872:28
2529in which there are no veterans so they
253072:33
2531must have practice and so practice wars
253272:35
2533are carefully arranged but increasingly
253472:39
2535you see they find that these practice
253672:41
2537wars arouse passions and disturb
253872:44
2539everybody in all directions because
254072:46
2541there is no such thing as an unimportant
254272:48
2543people and so they become increasingly
254472:52
2545difficult to carry on so fuller is
254672:56
2547extraordinarily hopeful about the future
254872:58
2549of mankind because he feels that the
255073:01
2551synergy the quality of intelligence in
255273:03
2553the total system will overcome the folly
255473:07
2555of individuals or of parts who are
255673:11
2557unable to act with full understanding of
255873:13
2559what's going on
256073:14
2561and you see this is a serious problem so
256273:18
2563far as the individual is concerned
256473:19
2565because today not only is there a
256673:23
2567population bomb there's also an
256873:25
2569information bomb the proliferation of
257073:29
2571information about everything is so great
257273:32
2573that no individual can possibly grasp it
257473:35
2575not only has he difficulty in grasping
257673:38
2577it but there is difficulty even for big
257873:41
2579committees to organize this information
258073:43
2581to integrate it in such a way that if I
258273:46
2583need to know a certain thing I can
258473:48
2585various
258673:49
2587we find it out for an individual
258873:53
2589untrained in physics it's very difficult
259073:56
2591to find out quickly about physics
259273:59
2593because physics is expressed in a
259474:01
2595mathematical language which he probably
259674:02
2597has never learned to read so the time
259874:08
2599lag in scanning you see all
260074:11
2601consciousness is a matter of scanning
260274:13
2603and it takes in the totality of events
260474:17
2605in the world by a sweeping motion like
260674:21
2607the glance of our eyes around the room
260874:23
2609well it takes time to glance your eyes
261074:27
2611around the room and register what's
261274:29
2613there if you want to remember it
261474:31
2615consciously so what we are saying is
261674:35
2617that the intelligence of the system the
261874:38
2619synergy is more intelligent than any
262074:42
2621individual consciousness can be but of
262274:46
2623course as a living organism you are much
262474:49
2625more than consciousness in this scanning
262674:52
2627sense because you certainly don't
262874:56
2629arrange the complexities of your own
263074:58
2631brain by conscious decision that's
263275:01
2633something that you grow or we could put
263475:06
2635it this way that the intelligence of the
263675:08
2637universe grows as it grows you but here
263875:13
2639again is another hurdle for the average
264075:16
2641Westerner whose common sense is derived
264275:19
2643from the philosophy of science current
264475:20
2645in the 19th century of thinking that the
264675:24
2647organization of the universe is
264875:26
2649intelligent that seems to us to echo of
265075:31
2651theism of God ideas where God is based
265275:35
2653on an anthropomorphic or man-like image
265475:37
2655the old gentleman with whiskers in the
265675:40
2657sky and of course that God is dead
265875:44
2659beyond recall but that's not the only
266075:49
2661kind of God
266275:52
2663to think of the universe itself its vast
266475:55
2665and complex organization as being
266675:58
2667intelligent what on earth does that mean
266876:00
2669what do you mean by the word intelligent
267076:06
2671well when you come to think of it it's
267276:08
2673my most difficult word to define
267476:11
2675everybody knows what it is but very few
267676:14
2677can say it's like you know what love is
267876:17
2679but just try and define it you know what
268076:21
2681time is but try and define that space
268276:26
2683everybody knows what space is but it's
268476:28
2685the most difficult thing to pin down and
268676:30
2687that's equally true of intelligence we
268876:34
2689can see certain elements in intelligence
269076:36
2691we can see complexity as an element of
269276:39
2693it we can see our complexity as what we
269476:47
2695call an orderly arrangement of different
269676:51
2697clusters of complexity but again we're
269876:57
2699using words all of which are imprecise
270077:01
2701what do you mean orderly that's
270277:04
2703practically to say it's all in order it
270477:07
2705was almost like saying it's
270677:09
2707intelligently arranged we recognize
270877:13
2709these things but we are not quite sure
271077:16
2711what we mean by them but we recognize
271277:19
2713them at once and for example if we begin
271477:22
2715with the pure hypothesis that we
271677:26
2717ourselves are intelligent and let it go
271877:29
2719at that if we are not then nothing is
272077:35
2721but let's for the sake of argument say
272277:37
2723that we human beings are intelligent now
272477:44
2725if that is so then the environment in
272677:50
2727which we live must also be intelligent
272877:55
2729because we are symptoms of that
273077:59
2731environment and I don't for the life of
273278:01
2733me see how you can tell have
273478:04
2735intelligent symptoms of an unintelligent
273678:07
2737organization we belong in this world we
273878:20
2739didn't arrive here from someone else
274078:22
2741somewhere else we're not tourists in the
274278:24
2743universe
274478:26
2745we're expressions of it like branches
274678:30
2747express the tree of fruit express the
274878:34
2749tree and so you will not find an
275078:39
2751intelligent organism living in an
275278:44
2753unintelligent environment that is to say
275478:48
2755the environment in which you live will
275678:52
2757be a system of mutual cooperation
275878:55
2759between a vast complexity of different
276078:58
2761kinds of organisms and the total balance
276279:03
2763of that makes your life possible in
276479:10
2765other words human life goes with as
276679:15
2767front goes with back an extremely
276879:18
2769complex bacteriological world which
277079:23
2771sometimes diseases us but most of the
277279:28
2773time assists us by its colonies its
277479:33
2775societies its methods of reproduction
277679:36
2777all these complex interrelations are the
277879:42
2779which without which not the scene a
278079:45
2781quinone of their being blood and veins
278279:48
2783and bones and intestines and all that
278479:51
2785kind of thing that's only the
278679:52
2787bacteriological world in addition to
278879:55
2789that there's a world of insects which is
279079:57
2791tremendously important to us but the
279280:00
2793insects are extremely clever and if you
279480:04
2795talk to a good entomologist he will
279680:06
2797scare the Wits out of you because he
279880:08
2799will show you the most conclusive
280080:10
2801reasons why insects should ultimately
280280:12
2803take the whole planet over fortunately
280480:16
2805we are not
280680:18
2807absolutely abominated by flies because
280880:20
2809we have lots of spiders and we have
281080:24
2811birds and so birds and insects are
281280:29
2813mutually necessary to each other and
281480:33
2815especially flowers and insects have an
281680:37
2817arrangement with each other
281880:38
2819whereby one could say our flowers and
282080:41
2821bees that although they look very
282280:43
2823different they are one in the same
282480:45
2825organism flowers perfume and color bees
282680:53
2827buzz and fly around but you can't have
282880:59
2829the flowers of without the bees and you
283081:01
2831can't have the bees without the flowers
283281:02
2833and so you can think through
283481:06
2835relationships between every conceivable
283681:09
2837kind of organism into which you must add
283881:13
2839things like atmosphere qualities gas
284081:15
2841content of atmosphere on and on and on
284281:18
2843until you suddenly realize that what you
284481:21
2845call your mind and intelligence and your
284681:23
2847very brain and body is utterly involved
284881:28
2849with this network of other kinds of
285081:30
2851organisms existing at a special
285281:33
2853temperature in certain gases which could
285481:37
2855only be found in certain kinds of solar
285681:39
2857system now then seeing that should give
285881:46
2859every technologist pause because you
286081:51
2861can't go running into that situation
286281:52
2863with penicillin and DDT unless unless
286481:58
2865you know very well when to stop unless
286682:03
2867you know unless you can be very
286882:05
2869discriminating just what surplus of
287082:07
2871insects you want to get rid of without
287282:10
2873killing the other ones that are
287482:11
2875important how to give penicillin without
287682:14
2877destroying all the stomach flora and
287882:18
2879having to build them up again on
288082:19
2881acidophilus and stuff so this is why in
288282:25
2883the taoist chinese view of nature and
288482:28
2885the relation of nature to human polity
288682:31
2887they set us fundamental the principal
288882:34
2889called whoo weh-weh
289082:54
2891which means our non-interference not
289283:00
2893quite what we mean by less affair but
289483:03
2895rather close to it that is to say when
289683:07
2897you act upon nature and you must you
289883:12
2899can't help but interfere there's no way
290083:14
2901of isolating yourself from the world
290283:17
2903every time you breathe you interfere
290483:19
2905with something see about the art of Wu
290683:23
2907Wei is that when you interfere endeavor
290883:27
2909to do so by going with the grain of
291083:30
2911things in other words if you want a
291283:33
2913split would split it with the grain
291483:35
2915don't try to split it across the grain
291683:38
2917and likewise when you want to pick a
291883:40
2919fight don't use violence but use the
292083:45
2921other person's violence to bring about
292283:46
2923his downfall
292483:47
2925that's judo and that judo is applied
292683:50
2927will way sailing is Wu Wei as distinct
292883:58
2929from rowing which isn't so then
293084:06
2931the Daoists you see recognized that
293284:12
2933there is this Universal organism and
293484:15
2935they thought of the cosmos as a great
293684:19
2937organism without a boss there is no one
293884:24
2939in Chinese philosophy making the world
294084:26
2941happening or ordering it there is no as
294284:30
2943it were central principle in the middle
294484:33
2945which sends out commands to all the
294684:37
2947subordinate parts but rather that the
294884:41
2949thing organizes itself their word for
295084:44
2951nature being run meaning what is so of
295284:47
2953itself so they saw the whole cosmos as a
295484:54
2955self-regulating organism and they
295684:56
2957further saw that the individual is not
295884:58
2959merely a part of that organism he is a
296085:05
2961an expression of the whole thing and the
296285:10
2963whole depends upon this expression just
296485:12
2965as much as the expression depends upon
296685:14
2967it and that was the principle of mutual
296885:17
2969interpenetration which is called in well
297085:23
2971it's more familiarly known by its
297285:24
2973Japanese name GG muguet the principle of
297485:31
2975the network between thing event and
297685:33
2977thing event there is no obstruction
297885:43
2979but you see it remains to us a bit of a
298085:47
2981puzzle to say that all this is an
298285:51
2983intelligence because we can think of all
298485:52
2985kinds of objections to it we could think
298685:57
2987if by some conscious science we were
298886:00
2989able to construct the universe we would
299086:03
2991do it a little differently we would have
299286:07
2993improvements too just to suggest the pom
299486:09
2995mosquitoes we would perhaps a great a
299686:13
2997great surgeon might suggest that the
299886:17
2999human body be organized a little
300086:18
3001differently we can think of dozens of
300286:23
3003things but you'll find that curious
300486:26
3005thing is this when you try to think out
300686:29
3007carefully how to improve the world and
300886:32
3009then you realize is what the
301086:34
3011consequences of your suggestion would be
301286:36
3013you wouldn't like all of the
301486:38
3015consequences hence the saying be careful
301686:42
3017of what you desire you may get it and
301886:51
3019then one invites the individual and this
302086:55
3021is one of the great great things to do
302286:58
3023to suggest another kind of universe
302487:03
3025what kind of universe would you design
302687:06
3027if you were God and I recommend I'm not
302887:13
3029going to go into this because it's a
303087:14
3031long story but I thoroughly recommend it
303287:18
3033as an exercise in thought
303487:19
3035model your own universe and see what
303687:22
3037comes out of it because I can only tell
303887:26
3039you that you will eventually discover
304087:28
3041that you will model this one
304287:35
3043and you'll find out you see that they
304487:39
3045that it's based on certain absolutely
304687:42
3047fundamental principles which of course
304887:44
3049includes the game of hide-and-seek now
305087:47
3051you see it now you don't which is
305287:49
3053vibration which is the same thing as
305487:50
3055energy you've got to begin with that
305687:52
3057with that if once you start with that it
305887:55
3059implies the rest because all that we see
306088:00
3061around us is just a fantastic
306288:03
3063combination of black and white elements
306488:05
3065of what the Chinese call the yin in the
306688:07
3067end the negative and positive forces and
306888:11
3069it all leads to this but in an
307088:15
3071incredible so then you have difficulty
307288:25
3073though of course in seeing the world as
307488:27
3075an organism because when you look out at
307688:31
3077the Stars you are in roughly the same
307888:37
3079situation or relationship to what you
308088:40
3081are seeing as when a physicist studies
308288:45
3083the constitution of the atom
308488:48
3085he will make a map of the behavior of
308688:53
3087the nucleus in which there will be
308888:56
3089various rotating particles or wavicles
309089:00
3091and you will see something which looks
309289:03
3093like a mathematical design and doesn't
309489:05
3095look like an organism because we expect
309689:10
3097an organism to be a kind of gooey thing
309889:13
3099with blood and flesh and wriggles and so
310089:18
3101on so if you looked only through the
310289:23
3103microscope now you wouldn't see the
310489:26
3105organism well when we look out at the
310689:29
3107rest of the universe we are as it were
310889:31
3109sitting down on one of those electrons
311089:33
3111looking through a microscope at the rest
311289:36
3113of it and therefore we don't see the
311489:39
3115sort of the total design it makes up
311689:42
3117that's much too far away from our
311889:44
3119conscious inspection
312089:46
3121and this is one of the reasons then why
312289:49
3123it's difficult for us to formulate the
312489:51
3125idea that there is an intelligence
312689:53
3127operating here because all we see is the
312889:56
3129firework display this tremendous display
313090:00
3131of radioactive mud and gas and one would
313290:05
3133say well that's sir it's just a is this
313490:08
3135just a kind of a contraption that
313690:12
3137happened to arrive there and that's all
313890:18
3139there is to it but the funny thing about
314090:25
3141man is that he can put himself down and
314290:30
3143say that he is an accident a kind of
314490:34
3145colloidal chemical accident that
314690:37
3147occurred on this very unimportant rock
314890:41
3149rotating around a lesser star on the
315090:46
3151fringe of one of the minor galaxies and
315290:49
3153that this is where we are and that the
315490:54
3155universe does not give a damn about it
315690:59
3157yet that the odd thing is that
315891:07
3159this wretched little kemon chemical
316091:11
3161thing can reflect an image of the whole
316291:15
3163cosmos in its vastness inside his head
316491:19
3165and can know he's there and that means
316691:27
3167though that this thing however small in
316891:30
3169dimensions is vast in comprehension and
317091:35
3171what scale are you going to attach the
317291:38
3173word importance to near size or degree
317491:44
3175of comprehension by degree of
317691:48
3177comprehension man is huge by that scale
317891:56
3179so then if the principle is simply that
318092:02
3181if we can see from a perfectly physical
318292:05
3183point of view what we recall is strictly
318492:07
3185a scientific point of view that the
318692:10
3187individual organism goes with its
318892:14
3189environment in just the same way as bees
319092:17
3191go with flowers and flowers in their
319292:21
3193turn go with grubs and grubs in their
319492:26
3195turn go with birds and so on all the way
319692:30
3197through then when you want to define
319892:33
3199yourself you cannot say that I am just
320092:37
3201what is inside the skin because what is
320292:42
3203inside the skin goes with everything
320492:44
3205outside it and constitutes a single
320692:48
3207complex field of diversified behaviors
320892:55
3209diversified processes you look at that
321092:59
3211then from a strictly physical point of
321293:01
3213view and there it is this network but
321493:05
3215then the trouble comes up is you say
321693:08
3217when you've studied that and you read
321893:09
3219all the books on ecology and botany and
322093:11
3221zoology astronomy and so on
322293:15
3223you say yes I see that now that's quite
322493:18
3225true theoretically
322693:22
3227but I would like to be able to feel that
322893:24
3229this is so as Mystics report that they
323093:28
3231have felt it to have that kind of
323293:34
3233experience in which the network is
323493:37
3235absolutely clear because you see if we
323693:45
3237don't take it that far if we know about
323893:48
3239it theoretically only the theoretical
324093:51
3241knowledge is not going to have much
324293:53
3243effect on what we do but knowledge of a
324493:58
3245more emotionally compelling nature will
324694:01
3247indeed affect the way we act with
324894:06
3249respect to our environment and may in
325094:12
3251fact prevent us from destroying our
325294:15
3253environment as we are now very busily
325494:18
3255doing it's interesting that the Congress
325694:23
3257of the United States recently passed an
325894:27
3259act making it a very serious offence to
326094:30
3261burn the American flag and they passed
326294:33
3263this act with many patriotic speeches
326494:35
3265and rhetoric and much reciting of poems
326694:40
3267this is the most fantastic example of
326894:45
3269American confusion between symbol and
327094:48
3271reality between menu and meal because
327294:53
3273this same Congress is directly or
327494:57
3275indirectly responsible for burning up
327694:59
3277what the flag stands for namely the
327895:02
3279geographical United States and its
328095:04
3281people by not really doing much about
328295:11
3283the devastation of our forests the
328495:15
3285pollution of our water and atmosphere
328695:17
3287the reckless waste of our natural
328895:20
3289resources and resorting to a form of
329095:23
3291economy which under any the same
329295:29
3293circumstances would be termed sheer
329495:31
3295lunacy
329695:33
3297obviously they cannot distinguish
329895:36
3299between the symbol and the reality
330095:39
3301because we are all hypnotized with words
330295:43
3303and symbols and so when the flag is more
330495:49
3305precious than the country we are insane
330695:57
3307when you say I love my country and what
330896:01
3309you mean by that as you feel certain
331096:03
3311emotions when you salute a flag you
331296:04
3313don't love your country at all because
331496:09
3315of the love of the country it means to
331696:12
3317participate in its life in a loving way
331896:15
3319in a considerate way and our floor our
332096:21
3321animals are in a certain sense members
332296:24
3323of the United States Birds bears all
332496:30
3325these lovely creatures and what we are
332696:33
3327doing is we are getting rid of birds at
332896:35
3329a fast rate we've reduced certain
333096:38
3331populations of birds by as much as 75%
333296:40
3333in the last few years because they eat
333496:44
3335are poisonous insecticides and so on and
333696:48
3337eventually they get into us that's love
333896:50
3339of country so as a result of this
334096:58
3341confusion you see and failure to see
334297:01
3343that the outside world is not a kind of
334497:06
3345chunk of mineral resources and cows to
334697:10
3347be exploited and be just eaten up if we
334897:14
3349do that we turn ourselves into a swarm
335097:15
3351of locusts on the planet the price for
335297:20
3353eating beef is that you must farm beef
335497:23
3355you must conduct husbandry you must melt
335697:27
3357it to help cattle to multiply and you
335897:29
3359must care for them properly the same
336097:33
3361with fishing we have not husbanded
336297:36
3363whales and therefore they're on their
336497:37
3365way to extinction this is the price that
336697:41
3367you've got to cherish the animals that
336897:43
3369you live off
337097:45
3371and then furthermore after that to put
337297:46
3373in my particular prejudice you've got to
337497:48
3375cook them properly you don't let's chew
337697:52
3377it up because it's supposed to give you
337897:53
3379energy it'd be good for you that's an
338097:56
3381irreverent use of dead animals and dead
338297:58
3383plants they give their lives for you and
338498:01
3385the proper response to that is take it
338698:05
3387with reverence and that means cook it
338898:07
3389well so that your act of cooking is like
339098:11
3391the rituals of a priest at an altar it
339298:14
3393is the sacrificial altar the chopping
339498:16
3395board in the range which we use and
339698:21
3397another kind of kitchens are not to be
339898:24
3399looked on a sort of lavatories where you
340098:26
3401throw things together to put in at the
340298:29
3403upper end so that this can only come
340498:39
3405about you see in a situation where human
340698:42
3407beings are vividly aware of the external
340898:49
3409world as as much themselves as their own
341098:53
3411bodies and you must allow yourself
341298:59
3413therefore to feel that what you see is
341499:03
3415not merely something out there it's in
341699:10
3417your head and your heads in it and these
341899:15
3419things mutually interpenetrate each
342099:17
3421other like this now it's in your head
342299:19
3423now your heads in it now it's in your
342499:21
3425head now your heads in it like this you
342699:23
3427see and this rhythm sets up what we call
342899:26
3429vision so if you see that the external
343099:32
3431world is as much you as anything inside
343299:34
3433your skin or anything inside your head
343499:37
3435then you have a certain respect for it
343699:41
3437and no longer consider matter for
343899:47
3439example take a piece of wood piece of
344099:49
3441wood not just a chunk of stuff but
344299:52
3443people think about wood that way you
344499:55
3445can't be a good carpenter if that's the
344699:56
3447way you think about wood
344899:59
3449we think we're dealing and see with
3450100:02
3451these inert unfeeling blocks of stuff
3452100:05
3453rocks have no feelings of course bang it
3454100:08
3455around mountains have no feelings blow
3456100:10
3457them up with dynamite but they do have
3458100:14
3459fields and if you hurt them this is the
3460100:20
3461Indians say I've just been with a whole
3462100:22
3463bunch of Indians they say the continent
3464100:27
3465of the United States is getting ready to
3466100:29
3467shake us off as a dog would shake off
3468100:32
3469fleas they say the storms are going to
3470100:38
3471get worse
3472100:38
3473the earthquakes worse the floods worse
3474100:41
3475and the insect pests will multiply in
3476100:46
3477all sorts of strange ways and finally
3478100:48
3479get rid of us and leave the land of the
3480100:50
3481Indians who originally after the
3482101:05
3483question arose this morning about the
3484101:11
3485problem of whether the extension of the
3486101:15
3487network especially by electronics might
3488101:21
3489not abolish individual privacy
3490101:27
3491and I said I was planning to devote this
3492101:32
3493afternoon session to that problem and
3494101:35
3495some of its ramifications
3496101:44
3497this of course is the area of the
3498101:48
3499problem with which Marshall McLuhan is
3500101:52
3501very largely concerned for he has
3502101:56
3503pointed out that just as the wheel is an
3504102:01
3505extension of the feet and as beyond the
3506102:10
3507wheel naturally comes the horse and
3508102:12
3509carriage the automobile and the airplane
3510102:18
3511all these technological creations are
3512102:23
3513extensions of the human organism and
3514102:27
3515finally the electronic network of
3516102:30
3517telephone telegraph radio and television
3518102:33
3519is an extension of the nervous system
3520102:35
3521and into that we must throw as an
3522102:39
3523additional extension of the nervous
3524102:41
3525system the computer the computer into
3526102:46
3527which data can be fed from the files of
3528102:50
3529the insurance companies the Internal
3530102:55
3531Revenue Service the police credit
3532102:59
3533agencies everything so that in a matter
3534103:04
3535of seconds when an individual is
3536103:07
3537identified an enormous amount of
3538103:11
3539information about him can be instantly
3540103:13
3541known in a rather similar way the time
3542103:18
3543is not too far ahead when you will be
3544103:21
3545able to have a box about so big on your
3546103:25
3547desk which has a little screen on it and
3548103:28
3549a dial and after dialing a key code you
3550103:33
3551will dial the catalog number of any book
3552103:35
3553in the Library of Congress that you want
3554103:37
3555to read and at any rate that you wish
3556103:40
3557the spread pages of that book will
3558103:42
3559appear on your television screen and you
3560103:46
3561can get it right like that
3562103:49
3563when we get to the television worked
3564103:55
3565with the agency of laser beings you will
3566103:58
3567of course be able to see solid
3568104:00
3569three-dimensional images in color
3570104:02
3571projected in a certain area and you can
3572104:05
3573walk around it
3574104:05
3575I haven't discovered yet whether you can
3576104:08
3577kiss it but when you get a phenomenon
3578104:19
3579like that
3580104:20
3581it begins raising the question of where
3582104:22
3583somebody actually is yeah when the
3584104:27
3585reproduction becomes technically perfect
3586104:30
3587you see you won't know that a difference
3588104:33
3589between the reproduction and the
3590104:35
3591original that's going to be a new kind
3592104:39
3593of confusion and we will perhaps even be
3594104:46
3595able to think about the word
3596104:48
3597reproduction in a new sense we say now
3598104:53
3599one of the meanings we give to the word
3600104:55
3601reproduction is sexual reproduction of
3602104:57
3603the species are the biological method
3604105:00
3605then we have reproduction through
3606105:02
3607photocopy and all that kind of thing
3608105:06
3609let's suppose to that we begin
3610105:09
3611increasingly to be able to manufacture
3612105:13
3613the parts of the human body in very
3614105:18
3615perfect kinds of plastic so that when
3616105:22
3617your heart goes wrong or your kidneys go
3618105:25
3619wrong the surgeon will simply replace
3620105:27
3621them with a plastic reproduction which
3622105:30
3623will work equally well and perhaps
3624105:34
3625they'll never be able to reproduce in
3626105:36
3627plastic the brain but there can at least
3628105:39
3629put in there a radio device which will
3630105:42
3631connect with the computer system of some
3632105:46
3633kind which will do the same job so that
3634105:50
3635then after the years go by and your
3636105:53
3637parts have been replaced the serious
3638105:55
3639question arises as to are you the same
3640105:57
3641individual
3642105:59
3643and we would say well now you've been
3644106:04
3645entirely replaced Gossett does you're
3646106:12
3647being replaced all the time there by a
3648106:13
3649different method and just as say an
3650106:16
3651institution like the University of
3652106:18
3653California which is a very rapidly
3654106:20
3655changing university for some mysterious
3656106:23
3657reason it remains the University of
3658106:25
3659California recognizable as such even
3660106:28
3661though the students the faculty the
3662106:32
3663office and administrative staffs and the
3664106:35
3665very building's themselves are in a
3666106:37
3667state of flux so that they hardly remain
3668106:39
3669a constant four five years in succession
3670106:41
3671what then is the university the
3672106:46
3673university is a pattern of behavior and
3674106:50
3675the organisms involved in that pattern
3676106:55
3677keep changing but the pattern retains an
3678106:59
3679identifiable continuity so does your
3680107:04
3681body so does the whirlpool in the stream
3682107:10
3683so do the hot springs down below
3684107:13
3685although the water is running through
3686107:15
3687them all the time and is never the same
3688107:22
3689so you can envisage the reproduction of
3690107:26
3691the human being in this electronic way
3692107:29
3693and at first you say Oh horrors are we
3694107:34
3695going to be converted into nothing but
3696107:35
3697plastic replicas of ourselves will we be
3698107:39
3699there in any sense anymore
3700107:43
3701will the soul survive it that you see in
3702107:47
3703the case of the University of California
3704107:49
3705it is what we call the University of
3706107:51
3707California that is the soul and its
3708107:55
3709bodily expression keeps changing so when
3710108:03
3711we find out that we are electronic
3712108:07
3713echoes of ourselves being perpetuated
3714108:10
3715perpetuated through the ages we shall
3716108:14
3717come to the astonishing conclusion that
3718108:16
3719that's what we already are only we have
3720108:21
3721to do it again ourselves in order to
3722108:23
3723realize it we are already the most
3724108:28
3725remarkable electronic patterns from the
3726108:30
3727standpoint of physics
3728108:35
3729so let's bit lay that bugbear to rest
3730108:39
3731although I must say there is something
3732108:42
3733about plastic in its present stage of
3734108:44
3735evolution that is somewhat repulsive
3736108:48
3737there is a state of consciousness which
3738108:53
3739those who are psychedelic Lee hip or hep
3740108:57
3741call the plastic doll
3742109:02
3743in which everything looks as if it's
3744109:06
3745made of plastic as if our patent leather
3746109:10
3747or enamel tin that it only reflects
3748109:13
3749light and has no light inside it there
3750109:16
3751is another side to the vision whereby
3752109:18
3753everything becomes living jewelry with
3754109:21
3755light inside a kind of beatific vision
3756109:24
3757as distinct from a diabolic vision and
3758109:26
3759at the present stage of its development
3760109:28
3761plastic always suggests the diabolic
3762109:31
3763vision but it is through the diabolic
3764109:36
3765vision that you gather the deepest
3766109:39
3767insights it's really profound er than
3768109:42
3769the beatific vision in a certain way
3770109:46
3771because if you can go down into any
3772109:52
3773experience I hope you understand the
3774109:56
3775meaning of this phrase go down into very
3776109:59
3777important it means exploring a certain
3778110:08
3779sensation or a certain feeling to find
3780110:13
3781out all its implications to find out
3782110:16
3783what it is at root that you like about
3784110:19
3785it or dislike about it and you will find
3786110:23
3787if you explore the plastic doll vision
3788110:27
3789sufficiently carefully that it will
3790110:31
3791bring about in the end a far greater
3792110:33
3793depth of bliss and realization then
3794110:38
3795merely exploring the things that are
3796110:41
3797lovely at first sight
3798110:44
3799obviously so so one should think about
3800110:49
3801this funny thing of technology
3802110:55
3803considered as artificiality in the light
3804111:00
3805of the realization that there really is
3806111:03
3807nothing artificial you might say the
3808111:07
3809distinction of the artificial from the
3810111:09
3811natural is a very artificial distinction
3812111:13
3813that the constructs of human beings are
3814111:18
3815really no more unnatural than bees nests
3816111:21
3817and birds nests and constructs of animal
3818111:27
3819and insect beings they're extensions of
3820111:31
3821ourselves so then what about the
3822111:35
3823situation when it arises that we are all
3824111:38
3825computerized that no one is hidden I
3826111:42
3827want you to notice something already
3828111:45
3829about the Bell Telephone Company they
3830111:50
3831have a regulation whereby you cannot
3832111:54
3833switch your telephone off you may have
3834111:57
3835an extension in the house and you may
3836111:59
3837switch that off but you may not switch
3838112:02
3839off your main phone and if you leave it
3840112:06
3841off the hook it starts screaming after a
3842112:08
3843while they project that not many years
3844112:13
3845hence the ordinary telephone will
3846112:16
3847disappear and every individual will
3848112:18
3849carry it around with him a thing about
3850112:20
3851the size of the old pocket watches one
3852112:23
3853side of it will be a TV screen and a
3854112:25
3855speaker the other side of it will be a
3856112:28
3857set of buttons over which you just place
3858112:33
3859your finger to activate them you will be
3860112:37
3861able to dial world information who will
3862112:40
3863give you the number of any given
3864112:42
3865individual if he doesn't answer is dead
3866112:55
3867so under such circumstances absolutely
3868112:59
3869no one can get lost and then you see as
3870113:08
3871as this moves on let me develop some of
3872113:12
3873its further possibilities people like
3874113:16
3875twine B and McLuhan have noted that as
3876113:19
3877technology progresses there enters into
3878113:22
3879it equality of what they call ethereal
3880113:25
3881ization and this is connected with
3882113:29
3883Teilhard de Chardin doctrine of
3884113:32
3885peduncles
3886113:36
3887but uncle's aren't exactly relatives and
3888113:42
3889we have to understand first the doctrine
3890113:44
3891of peduncles now here it is here is a
3892113:52
3893globule it might be an amoeba or it
3894113:55
3895might be boil in water suspended and
3896113:58
3897this globule is going to separate first
3898114:02
3899it does this then it does this then it
3900114:10
3901does this and then it does this
3902114:17
3903see
3904114:19
3905now these things here are peduncles from
3906114:25
3907the Latin root pays pedis meaning a foot
3908114:35
3909some sort of protrusion of a globular
3910114:40
3911body so notice then that the production
3912114:46
3913of a peduncle here in the form of a
3914114:48
3915connecting neck and here in the form of
3916114:51
3917little tails when the neck is broken
3918114:52
3919that in the course of the development
3920114:55
3921when we reach this stage the peduncles
3922114:57
3923have disappeared according to de Sharda
3924115:03
3925this is why we do not find missing links
3926115:06
3927around in the evolutionary process they
3928115:11
3929vanished in accordance with the law of
3930115:13
3931peduncles now in exactly the same way
3932115:16
3933the human technology sets up certain
3934115:19
3935kinds of peduncles a road for example or
3936115:24
3937a railroad is a peduncle because with
3938115:29
3939the development of automotive traffic
3940115:32
3941truck traffic
3942115:34
3943the railroads become increasingly
3944115:37
3945obsolete and there are rusty old tracks
3946115:40
3947lying all over the country that are not
3948115:42
3949used anymore and then with the
3950115:46
3951development of aircraft the road tends
3952115:49
3953to become obsolete with the development
3954115:53
3955of radio the wire as a connection as a
3956115:57
3957peduncle becomes obsolete so that more
3958116:02
3959and more the the connecting links that
3960116:05
3961we saw in a visible way disappear with
3962116:10
3963the development of more expert types of
3964116:12
3965communication we can easily take this a
3966116:16
3967step further when we develop a form of
3968116:19
3969electronic communication such that you
3970116:22
3971don't even need to take a plane you want
3972116:27
3973to see supposing I want to see my father
3974116:29
3975in England
3976116:31
3977we both have these laser beam TV jobs
3978116:34
3979and like that I can recreate in front of
3980116:40
3981him myself and my exact environment
3982116:42
3983everything around just as if he was
3984116:44
3985sitting in the room and he I can do that
3986116:47
3987with his set on the other end so that
3988116:52
3989eventually we don't need to take the
3990116:53
3991plane you can conceive as some science
3992116:58
3993fiction writers have what seems to us a
3994117:01
3995rather appalling situation where you
3996117:03
3997never never needin need to leave the
3998117:06
3999place where you're sitting all food
4000117:09
4001supplies and everything are
4002117:10
4003automatically delivered you just die or
4004117:13
4005what you want and some kind of
4006117:15
4007mechanical process that transmits it to
4008117:17
4009you then they go further than that but
4010117:21
4011they don't
4012117:22
4013they really abolish food altogether
4014117:24
4015because they've got it down to some
4016117:26
4017special essences which you take then
4018117:30
4019they go beyond that and you give
4020117:33
4021yourself a certain kind of electronic
4022117:34
4023stimulation and it does all for you that
4024117:37
4025food could ever do and then you think oh
4026117:42
4027dear what's the next step beyond that of
4028117:48
4029course the next step beyond that is of
4030117:53
4031course there's one thing yet one
4032117:55
4033peduncle we have to have to get rid of
4034117:58
4035and that is the black box the electronic
4036118:03
4037gadget because by the time we have
4038118:06
4039become as hithi realized as that we move
4040118:09
4041into a telepathy and psychic
4042118:14
4043communication and as soon as you make
4044118:16
4045that step of course it would seem that
4046118:19
4047all privacy whatsoever has gone because
4048118:23
4049what you are inside is an open book to
4050118:26
4051everybody else
4052118:27
4053your thoughts are easily read and
4054118:30
4055therefore you may say at first boo that
4056118:36
4057is the conversion of humanity into an
4058118:39
4059anthill of the worst type and this is in
4060118:44
4061a way naturally but all properly
4062118:46
4063educated Americans and I will add
4064118:48
4065properly educated brittish's and some
4066118:51
4067other people's dread it is said the
4068118:55
4069Englishman's home is his castle and
4070118:59
4071everybody needs a castle place we can
4072119:01
4073get away from it all and just be
4074119:04
4075yourself but even then when you're away
4076119:07
4077from it all and you're just being in
4078119:09
4079yourself
4080119:09
4081you've unfortunately got a lot of
4082119:11
4083thoughts inside your head that aren't
4084119:13
4085yours because you think in the English
4086119:18
4087language and that was given to you by
4088119:19
4089other people and contains their
4090119:22
4091prejudices that you can't avoid them and
4092119:24
4093think Japanese people will say that when
4094119:29
4095they think in Japanese they can have
4096119:31
4097certain feelings that are
4098119:34
4099characteristically Japanese but when
4100119:37
4101they start thinking in English they
4102119:38
4103can't have those feelings
4104119:42
4105and so you are very very much really in
4106119:47
4107the sphere of public influence when you
4108119:51
4109sent them when you start to think and if
4110119:53
4111you listen carefully to your thoughts
4112119:55
4113insofar as they are uttered in words and
4114119:57
4115they very often are try and discover the
4116120:01
4117tone of voice in which certain of your
4118120:03
4119thoughts are being said and you will
4120120:05
4121listen and hear your mother or you will
4122120:08
4123hear an aunt or you will hear a
4124120:10
4125schoolteacher or will hear certain
4126120:12
4127friends expressing their opinions and
4128120:14
4129telling you who you are and how you
4130120:16
4131ought to behave and you think those are
4132120:19
4133your thoughts and they're nothing of the
4134120:20
4135kind
4136120:21
4137an inner pandemonium under the dome of
4138120:24
4139the skull is going on all the time
4140120:27
4141millions of voices millions of
4142120:30
4143influences from outside working upon you
4144120:33
4145even when you are physically quite alone
4146120:38
4147so weight of the quested period please
4148120:44
4149this means that you are not nearly as
4150120:50
4151much of a private individual as you
4152120:52
4153think you are also of course exercising
4154120:58
4155these influences upon other people
4156121:00
4157you're telling them who they are what
4158121:02
4159you think about them what you think of
4160121:03
4161their behavior and even if they don't
4162121:05
4163believe you they're nevertheless pay
4164121:07
4165very serious attention to it they can't
4166121:09
4167help it you can take the experiment for
4168121:13
4169example that BF Skinner used to try is
4170121:15
4171very terrifying he would send two
4172121:19
4173members of the class selected
4174121:20
4175arbitrarily outside of the room then he
4176121:23
4177would arrange two chairs chair a and
4178121:26
4179chair B you would say to the class now
4180121:28
4181look when these people come back we're
4182121:31
4183going to engage them in a conversation
4184121:33
4185whatever a says agree with him whatever
4186121:36
4187B says disagree with him so there come
4188121:41
4189back into the room and they take their
4190121:42
4191seats and a conversation begins now B
4192121:46
4193may be a very strong-headed articulate
4194121:49
4195person and a really rather feeble now
4196121:53
4197what happens is there
4198121:54
4199that by group agreement with anything a
4200121:57
4201says he is encouraged he is built up he
4202121:59
4203becomes more articulate he finds himself
4204122:02
4205sprouting but be by being disagreed with
4206122:05
4207on every point begins to get baffled and
4208122:08
4209confused and feel very uncomfortable
4210122:11
4211indeed unless he is on to the game and
4212122:18
4213he challenges the whole group I see now
4214122:20
4215what you're playing you have made up
4216122:22
4217your minds to disagree with everything I
4218122:24
4219say
4220122:25
4221therefore of course you don't count I
4222122:28
4223[Laughter]
4224122:33
4225shall pay no attention to you so in this
4226122:41
4227way you see we're already colossal II
4228122:45
4229influenced by each other and this is why
4230122:48
4231I think that Harry stack Sullivan x'
4232122:50
4233basic ideas about psychopathology are in
4234122:54
4235some respects more profound than Freud's
4236122:57
4237Freud is always looking into the
4238122:59
4239individual history into the physiology
4240123:03
4241into the depth psychology of the
4242123:07
4243individual in an interior sort of way
4244123:09
4245but Sullivan was always looking to the
4246123:13
4247individual as the expression of a social
4248123:15
4249network and the same in the psychology
4250123:20
4251of George Herbert Mead where he called
4252123:23
4253the conceptions that we have of
4254123:26
4255ourselves the interior eyes other in
4256123:30
4257other words the sum total of all the
4258123:33
4259things that people have told us we are
4260123:36
4261because you do not know yourself as a
4262123:39
4263self except in a society just as you do
4264123:45
4265not exist
4266123:46
4267biologically without a father and a
4268123:48
4269mother you do not carry on an existence
4270123:51
4271without a society and the reactions of
4272123:54
4273other people to you provide you with the
4274123:56
4275mirror in which you attain a realization
4276124:00
4277of yourself you know who you are
4278124:05
4279in terms of your relationships with
4280124:07
4281others so there now when we contemplate
4282124:14
4283this disappearance of privacy and a
4284124:17
4285completely integrated human society we
4286124:21
4287can look at this from two different
4288124:23
4289points of view pro and con let us first
4290124:27
4291look at the pro point of view how great
4292124:30
4293to have nothing to hide how great to
4294124:36
4295give up all worries about ownership
4296124:40
4297because you can say if somebody says
4298124:43
4299they would like something you have and
4300124:46
4301you say please have it because you know
4302124:48
4303very well you can go to someone else and
4304124:50
4305say could I have that and they'll give
4306124:52
4307it to you and so all the way around
4308124:57
4309there there is no propriety in the sense
4310125:01
4311not of them prudish propriety but
4312125:03
4313propriety in the sense of possession now
4314125:06
4315also of course in the sense of prudish
4316125:08
4317propriety nobody has any dirty little
4318125:12
4319secrets because if I have any dirty
4320125:14
4321secrets I know very well that you have
4322125:16
4323to and so let's drop the whole pretense
4324125:19
4325and let go so in this sense there might
4326125:28
4327be a very very close fellowship between
4328125:32
4329all people in which there are no
4330125:36
4331barriers no defenses and we all
4332125:39
4333cooperate together beautifully and love
4334125:42
4335each other now let's look at the common
4336125:48
4337point of view con point of view would
4338125:51
4339say yes but surely the more we
4340125:57
4341communicate with each other in that way
4342125:59
4343and have no property and there are no
4344126:01
4345boundaries and there are no fences or
4346126:03
4347defenses then just in the same way that
4348126:07
4349jet aircraft makes all cities the same
4350126:09
4351city so this would make all people the
4352126:13
4353same individual would that be what the
4354126:16
4355Hindus mean by saying you are all
4356126:18
4357one you are all the Godhead in disguise
4358126:21
4359would it mean that now part of our
4360126:27
4361difficulty in approaching this is that
4362126:31
4363we begin from the standpoint of a
4364126:32
4365certain conception of the individual
4366126:34
4367person and this is of course the
4368126:40
4369Christian ego which is the soul as a
4370126:47
4371center of action and something alive
4372126:51
4373with consciousness and intelligence that
4374126:55
4375lies hidden in the bag of skin as for
4376127:00
4377example King John says in Shakespeare's
4378127:04
4379play to Hubert within this wall of flesh
4380127:09
4381there is a soul counts the her creditor
4382127:11
4383and with advantage means to pay thy love
4384127:14
4385see the image within this wall of flesh
4386127:17
4387there is a soul within the castle there
4388127:20
4389is the king and every man's home is his
4390127:23
4391castle
4392127:25
4393and so those of us who are brought up in
4394127:29
4395that way to feel a that we are basically
4396127:33
4397the soul in the body and be that every
4398127:38
4399soul that exists is of infinite value in
4400127:40
4401the eyes of God we therefore have
4402127:44
4403instituted since the Industrial
4404127:46
4405Revolution a tremendous technological
4406127:50
4407campaign to preserve the individual we
4408127:57
4409have all kinds of social services
4410127:59
4411hospitals ambulances medicine welfare
4412128:04
4413agencies every kind of thing with the
4414128:07
4415one aim of preserving life getting you
4416128:12
4417to live longer and giving what is called
4418128:15
4419full opportunity for the development of
4420128:18
4421your personality to the myriads of Asia
4422128:23
4423this is almost unbelievable
4424128:30
4425and then of course we are teaching the
4426128:35
4427peoples of Asia medicine and sanitation
4428128:41
4429industrialization so that every single
4430128:47
4431coolie child can be regarded not as so
4432128:51
4433much waste human material which because
4434128:53
4435it's sick has to be thrown away but at
4436128:56
4437some individual to be loved and
4438128:57
4439cherished and properly treated
4440128:59
4441and because individuality the human the
4442129:05
4443the particular each particular human
4444129:08
4445organism is infinitely precious that is
4446129:12
4447the moving ideal of the sort of people
4448129:17
4449who first created the great hospitals
4450129:21
4451who abolished slavery who abolished the
4452129:25
4453death penalty for trivial offenses who
4454129:28
4455made that great humanitarian movement of
4456129:31
4457the 19th century associated with such
4458129:33
4459people as Wesley and Charles Dickens and
4460129:35
4461Wilberforce and so on to rescue the
4462129:42
4463precious individual from the ravages of
4464129:46
4465impersonal disease or impersonal
4466129:49
4467political exploitation
4468129:57
4469then when a kind of American capitalist
4470130:01
4471liberalism achieved to some extent this
4472130:05
4473sort of ideal we look then at political
4474130:09
4475forms which are socialistic communistic
4476130:12
4477and our leery of them because they seem
4478130:20
4479to go back on all that so of course did
4480130:26
4481National Socialism in Germany because
4482130:29
4483the position there is this not the
4484130:31
4485individual who is the supremely
4486130:33
4487important being but it is the community
4488130:36
4489the state which is supremely important
4490130:39
4491the individual realizes himself as a
4492130:43
4493servant of the state but our theory in
4494130:47
4495the liberal capitalism of the United
4496130:49
4497States is that the state is the servant
4498130:52
4499of the individual that we employ
4500130:56
4501policemen and soldiers and sanitary
4502131:00
4503inspectors and Department of Commerce
4504131:03
4505officials all to serve us that we call
4506131:06
4507them public servants and when a
4508131:08
4509policeman gets a fish he has to be
4510131:11
4511reminded that we paid his salary and
4512131:15
4513that his job is to serve us and not to
4514131:18
4515be a kind of admirable Crichton sort of
4516131:22
4517Butler who takes the upper hand but of
4518131:26
4519course the very idea of a servant still
4520131:28
4521calls it hasn't it doesn't it something
4522131:30
4523aristocratic and as we all know in this
4524131:35
4525country it is increasingly difficult to
4526131:37
4527get services of any kind more and more
4528131:42
4529it is felt beneath the individuals
4530131:44
4531dignity to be say a waiter a barber
4532131:49
4533after all they give you a certain kind
4534131:51
4535of service certainly it's beneath
4536131:53
4537anyone's dignity to shine shoes because
4538131:55
4539that's the feet and that's very low
4540131:57
4541dollars like kissing people's feet
4542132:01
4543to give massage to do all these things
4544132:05
4545for other people that if there are other
4546132:07
4547material skills increasingly you have to
4548132:11
4549get them in another way either by a
4550132:13
4551do-it-yourself system or by some sort of
4552132:16
4553machinery and so in the same way people
4554132:21
4555who used to give service want to
4556132:22
4557translate themselves professionally
4558132:24
4559people who were formerly called
4560132:26
4561Undertaker's now call themselves
4562132:28
4563morticians janitors call themselves
4564132:34
4565maintenance services
4566132:38
4567I suppose barbers will soon call
4568132:40
4569themselves tonsorial experts now all
4570132:44
4571sorts of things like that a good are
4572132:46
4573happening right now
4574132:47
4575in order to give the sense of equality
4576132:51
4577all-round and so the guy who gives you
4578132:57
4579gas at the garage will notice your first
4580132:59
4581name on your credit card and will
4582133:01
4583address you by I get very irritated to
4584133:04
4585be called owl I just don't respond to
4586133:07
4587that form of address at all but I
4588133:10
4589suppose that's my British snobbish but
4590133:16
4591here it is you know where everybody
4592133:19
4593slaps everybody's back I was very
4594133:20
4595puzzled by this when I first came to
4596133:23
4597live in California because here the use
4598133:26
4599of first names and this kind of
4600133:28
4601familiarity is extraordinarily common
4602133:31
4603and when I found myself on first-name
4604133:35
4605terms with a man who was in a certain
4606133:38
4607sense my boss who was the president of
4608133:41
4609the University of the Pacific
4610133:43
4611I felt distinctly uncomfortable the
4612133:46
4613reason I felt uncomfortable was that I
4614133:48
4615felt the whole thing was insincere that
4616133:52
4617there was not the kind of relationship
4618133:54
4619between us which would normally be
4620133:56
4621represented by being on first-name terms
4622133:59
4623but there was what was much worse and
4624134:02
4625sort of effort to prove that there
4626134:07
4627really ought to be that kind of
4628134:08
4629relationship when neither side had any
4630134:11
4631intention of for Mia
4632134:15
4633and that's very baffling if you come
4634134:17
4635from outside and you don't know I
4636134:20
4637suppose what all good born and bred
4638134:22
4639Californians know what are the cues the
4640134:26
4641subliminal cues which distinguish one
4642134:28
4643form of first name address from another
4644134:30
4645cause what eventually happens is that
4646134:31
4647people have two first names the the the
4648134:35
4649published one and the nickname known
4650134:36
4651only to an internet circl used only by
4652134:40
4653an internet circl about you see what we
4654134:45
4655see in this then is the creeping
4656134:48
4657socialism the creeping abolition of what
4658134:54
4659is precious and what is private and what
4660134:56
4661is property and feel that as that
4662135:00
4663disappears and as all fences disappear
4664135:03
4665the collection of human beings will
4666135:06
4667simply dissolve into an amorphous mass
4668135:10
4669and indeed there is a danger of that we
4670135:16
4671have seen people disappear into
4672135:18
4673amorphous masses we have seen Hitler's
4674135:22
4675legions we have seen the things that
4676135:27
4677Chinese can do with what they the
4678135:29
4679military tactic called the human scene
4680135:31
4681when swarms and swarms with troops all
4682135:35
4683identically uniformed are absolutely
4684135:37
4685thrown at the enemy in wave after wave
4686135:41
4687after wave but let us not forget that
4688135:43
4689the generals of the Western powers did
4690135:46
4691exactly the same thing in the First
4692135:47
4693World War
4694135:48
4695on both sides they used the tactics of
4696135:52
4697the human sea in which the lives of
4698135:56
4699individuals meant nothing whatsoever
4700136:03
4701now
4702136:09
4703there are two different ways of
4704136:12
4705responding to what we will call the
4706136:14
4707invasion of privacy very often you will
4708136:23
4709encounter someone who attacks your
4710136:27
4711privacy in a psychological way it may be
4712136:32
4713a drunk sitting next you at a bar or it
4714136:37
4715may be someone who fancies himself as an
4716136:41
4717expert psychological guru and when you
4718136:46
4719express an opinion or say you know you
4720136:55
4721walk up to such an individual and say
4722136:57
4723good morning how are you thinking this
4724137:03
4725is why do you ask
4726137:11
4727and he immediately as he breaks the
4728137:13
4729social rules whereby you communicate
4730137:16
4731with another person without actually
4732137:18
4733saying anything so the phrases like how
4734137:22
4735are you nice day isn't it ah like on a
4736137:25
4737radio buzzing to be sure that the other
4738137:29
4739side is in communication and so you make
4740137:32
4741various noises testing is that so and so
4742137:34
4743give a call letter etcetera etcetera and
4744137:37
4745you know you're in touch so in the same
4746137:39
4747way we in our general daily converse we
4748137:43
4749feel each other out by saying these
4750137:47
4751little social platitudes and then we
4752137:51
4753test the person as to whether they by
4754137:53
4755the sound of the voice by the snail
4756137:55
4757which we don't think about that which we
4758137:57
4759absorb unconsciously unless they smell
4760138:00
4761very strong then
4762138:12
4763complete with bombs and then and then we
4764138:20
4765get the feeling do I want to explore
4766138:23
4767this relationship further we test but
4768138:28
4769then those people who see who invade
4770138:30
4771your privacy instantly it's either the
4772138:35
4773drunk or the child who's quite innocent
4774138:38
4775or the probing psychologist who is
4776138:42
4777playing his special game maybe of
4778138:45
4779one-upmanship of some kind and this is
4780138:48
4781how uncomfortable he can make you now
4782138:51
4783what are what are the tactics of
4784138:53
4785response to be in these various
4786138:55
4787situations when you get the probing
4788139:01
4789psychologist you can shrug your
4790139:05
4791shoulders and say does your mother ever
4792139:10
4793teach you manners or you can simply not
4794139:17
4795defend yourself some people just don't
4796139:23
4797need to defend themselves at all
4798139:25
4799and so they're probing them in that way
4800139:29
4801is like tossing a rock into a well and
4802139:32
4803you wait and there's no splash and that
4804139:39
4805really sets people back Krishnamurthy
4806139:44
4807does that if you make a comment about
4808139:48
4809somebody in his presence that is in any
4810139:52
4811way adverse or critical he gives us no
4812139:55
4813response at all so if you suddenly feel
4814139:58
4815like the Buddha said you spat at the sky
4816140:01
4817and the spit falls back into your own
4818140:02
4819fairies
4820140:07
4821and I was once present where a certain
4822140:15
4823person of that nature was using as his
4824140:21
4825ploy silence and the silence implied the
4826140:26
4827conversation of everyone else around
4828140:28
4829this table is trivial it was one of
4830140:32
4831those tangible silences and suddenly
4832140:37
4833someone at the table turned him and said
4834140:40
4835you know I can't stand people who use
4836140:43
4837silence as a weapon no conversation then
4838140:56
4839started but yeah and it was a very
4840141:03
4841rather a disagreeable conversation so
4842141:18
4843there is you see always the the response
4844141:21
4845to psychological attack an invasion of
4846141:23
4847privacy as Allen Ginsberg does it
4848141:28
4849if anybody presses hit on him too hard
4850141:31
4851he'll strip naked and if anybody
4852141:36
4853challenges him to fight he said all
4854141:37
4855right you challenged me I choose the
4856141:39
4857weapons who's gonna undress first
4858141:47
4859and he has this kind of marvelous
4860141:51
4861feeling that there really isn't anything
4862141:53
4863that he's hiding I don't know maybe but
4864141:56
4865certainly that doesn't impress me as
4866141:58
4867anyone who really hides anything so that
4868142:03
4869you see to enter into a human
4870142:06
4871relationship where there is nothing to
4872142:09
4873hide and you don't depend on any sort of
4874142:12
4875property gimmick for your personal worth
4876142:19
4877and that's the thing we get very easily
4878142:21
4879hooked on it may be your car maybe your
4880142:26
4881clothes it may be your cameras your
4882142:30
4883style of watches your fountain pens your
4884142:33
4885heaven only knows what your home that
4886142:36
4887you possess and that is inseparable from
4888142:39
4889your personality and you can't be you if
4890142:43
4891you'll start naked
4892142:48
4893so the confrontation of people in an
4894142:51
4895atmosphere of physical or spiritual
4896142:53
4897nakedness is one where many individuals
4898142:58
4899seem they have completely lost because
4900143:01
4901they can't play they're accustomed bro
4902143:08
4903because I have a certain advantage that
4904143:09
4905even if I'm to start naked I can still
4906143:11
4907talk but now supposing they say now you
4908143:18
4909shut up don't defend yourself with
4910143:26
4911language that's like taking off her an
4912143:32
4913extra set of clothes but as I say
4914143:38
4915there's a certain kind of individual
4916143:39
4917whom this doesn't faze at all because he
4918143:43
4919knew from the beginning he was nothing
4920143:50
4921and nobody and of course that's a very
4922143:54
4923important thing to know because you have
4924143:58
4925nothing to lose he who sleeps on the
4926144:02
4927floor will not fall out of bed and he
4928144:06
4929who has nothing to lose
4930144:08
4931has really no fear either of the loss of
4932144:10
4933his property his propriety or his
4934144:14
4935privacy but there are other people who
4936144:24
4937in this situation of the loss of privacy
4938144:28
4939are completely degraded the way for
4940144:33
4941example we systematically deprive
4942144:36
4943privacy of the from the intimate inmates
4944144:39
4945of prisons and mental hospitals you go
4946144:45
4947to a mental hospital all the John's are
4948144:48
4949completely exposed
4950144:51
4951everything is smooth walls there are no
4952144:55
4953corners there are no secrets everybody
4954145:00
4955sort of herded around and they all look
4956145:02
4957the same but the same uniform have the
4958145:05
4959same haircut and and also in the army
4960145:09
4961and they say in the marine boot camps
4962145:12
4963the same the first thing is to degrade
4964145:15
4965the individual ritually so that he has
4966145:19
4967no privacy
4968145:21
4969and to see what happens to him if you do
4970145:25
4971that now you may the result of this is
4972145:28
4973that you may brainwash him completely
4974145:30
4975and make him nothing more than an
4976145:36
4977obedient tool of the system and in this
4978145:42
4979case you see what you've got you're back
4980145:44
4981again to monarchical politics and so in
4982145:51
4983a system where the design of the the
4984145:56
4985politics is that the community of human
4986146:01
4987beings is ruled whether by an individual
4988146:04
4989monarch or by a totalitarian state makes
4990146:07
4991no difference but the dynamics of that
4992146:11
4993situation is that this community is not
4994146:14
4995a group it is a crowd now we therefore
4996146:19
4997have to understand the difference
4998146:21
4999between a group and a crowd because this
5000146:24
5001is the key to the whole thing and if you
5002146:26
5003understand this you can get round the
5004146:28
5005things that seem threatening in the
5006146:30
5007society where there is no privacy
5008146:34
5009the crowd is structured in this way
5010146:37
5011there is a number of identical
5012146:42
5013individuals suitably brainwashed and
5014146:49
5015there is a leader whether this is an
5016146:54
5017individual again or a bureaucratic
5018146:57
5019entity of some kind the relationship
5020147:00
5021between them is this
5022147:06
5023in other words the line of communication
5024147:10
5025is from the individual to the leader and
5026147:20
5027they don't really they're not really in
5028147:22
5029communication with each other at all
5030147:25
5031except insofar they may communicate with
5032147:28
5033each other but this controls the nature
5034147:31
5035of their communication so in other words
5036147:34
5037when a politician speaks to an enormous
5038147:36
5039audience what he sets up is a crowd
5040147:43
5041because the audience they are
5042147:46
5043individuals who don't know each other
5044147:48
5045they're just people they're just heads
5046147:50
5047or hands and so the leader really
5048147:57
5049communicates with them and they can't
5050148:00
5051answer back unless they do so as a group
5052148:04
5053Sieg Heil
5054148:05
5055you know then they answer back but all
5056148:08
5057as a collective because along the lines
5058148:11
5059of this kind of communication supposing
5060148:13
5061I talk to a whole thousand people over
5062148:16
5063the radio and they all send me back
5064148:18
5065letters well I can't read them much less
5066148:21
5067answer them there isn't time so this is
5068148:25
5069a strictly one-way communication now
5070148:29
5071then let's look in contrast to that to
5072148:31
5073the design of a group we'll make it a
5074148:35
5075circle again for convenience
5076148:39
5077now the group has no leader because it
5078148:45
5079is itself an organism and so the lines
5080148:47
5081of communication run first of all like
5082148:49
5083this very well drawn was they were an
5084148:57
5085odd number in it at the thought
5086149:07
5087now they're much more complicated than
5088149:08
5089that they are also this
5090149:19
5091now I see what's going on let's go this
5092149:23
5093one around who isn't he talking to yet
5094149:24
5095he isn't talking to that one talking to
5096149:27
5097this one to this one you see how I'm not
5098149:30
5099gonna draw this oh and take forever but
5100149:32
5101the thing is that these that this sort
5102149:35
5103of pattern is group communication this
5104149:38
5105sort of pattern is crowd communication
5106149:40
5107so a group an effective group a true
5108149:44
5109group of human beings is one in which
5110149:48
5111there are enough people or not too many
5112149:54
5113people so that they can all know each
5114149:56
5115other and are in communication with each
5116150:01
5117other now then you say how do you relate
5118150:04
5119that sort of a cell to the larger human
5120150:08
5121group why very simply every group
5122150:13
5123appoints one cell to represented and
5124150:17
5125that cell goes and joins a group of
5126150:22
5127representative cells and they have to be
5128150:25
5129of adequate size for them all to be in
5130150:27
5131touch with each other
5132150:29
5133and if it's necessary to go higher than
5134150:32
5135that and include a still number greater
5136150:35
5137number of collectivity of small cells
5138150:37
5139through the representative group
5140150:40
5141representative sub one will represent
5142150:43
5143elect representative sub two to go to a
5144150:47
5145representative group of sub twos and in
5146150:52
5147this method which is the actual original
5148150:54
5149design of the Republic of the United
5150150:57
5151States which of course has been
5152150:59
5153completely overlooked you get a
5154151:03
5155hierarchy of cell structures where
5156151:16
5157because I am in communication with you
5158151:19
5159here and I'm fully occupied in this
5160151:22
5161system of communication the chances are
5162151:25
5163that I don't know a great deal about
5164151:26
5165what other cell groups are doing because
5166151:30
5167it's too complicated for me to scan but
5168151:34
5169therefore we will delegate one
5170151:36
5171particular individual and say you make a
5172151:39
5173specialty of scanning these other groups
5174151:41
5175around here so that you have a wider
5176151:43
5177knowledge and so it goes so that you
5178151:48
5179have a hierarchical system of
5180151:51
5181communication you you can call it
5182151:53
5183government if you want to because of
5184151:55
5185what we are simply talking about is an
5186151:58
5187information system so that for example
5188152:03
5189one of these will not ever individually
5190152:06
5191elect the President of the United States
5192152:09
5193but his representative at a certain
5194152:12
5195level will because his representative a
5196152:14
5197certain level knows far more about who
5198152:17
5199to select than he does
5200152:19
5201because he's made it his business to do
5202152:21
5203so every individual can't do that and so
5204152:25
5205you will find that this is the system of
5206152:28
5207direct representation used by all
5208152:32
5209dictators all dictators vote themselves
5210152:35
5211into office by referendum they take it
5212152:38
5213to the people and say you are the people
5214152:40
5215you elect me well it's the easiest thing
5216152:43
5217in the world to bamboozle
5218152:45
5219an enormous number of people by mass
5220152:49
5221persuasion to do practically anything
5222152:52
5223you want but you can't bamboozle that
5224152:55
5225kind of structure it's too strong
5226153:00
5227here was the mass communication to see
5228153:03
5229everybody getting the same thing now
5230153:07
5231oddly enough you see McLuhan in his
5232153:09
5233thought about the future of
5234153:11
5235communications says that with the
5236153:15
5237development of the electronic circuits
5238153:17
5239we tend towards tribalism and this
5240153:25
5241precisely is tribalism this is the
5242153:30
5243monolithic state this is the tribal
5244153:33
5245community this is utterly paternalistic
5246153:37
5247but this is different this is gives
5248153:43
5249everybody a chance to have itself and
5250153:47
5251have a say so not only in terms of a
5252153:49
5253yes-or-no vote but the thing the unit
5254153:52
5255the tribe is small enough for there to
5256153:54
5257be a discussion and that's why we can't
5258153:57
5259understand about Indians
5260153:58
5261Amerindians why they don't like the idea
5262154:01
5263of voting they have a powwow
5264154:05
5265they're like Quakers the Quakers don't
5266154:07
5267vote they get what they call a sense of
5268154:10
5269the meeting because they all know each
5270154:13
5271other and they consider putting a thing
5272154:15
5273to a vote as a kind of unreasonable
5274154:18
5275procedure we should all get together and
5276154:22
5277feel it out and establish through
5278154:24
5279discussion a consensus so this as I say
5280154:31
5281is a very strong human cluster very
5282154:34
5283difficult to be pushed around by this
5284154:37
5285now as we have developed electronic
5286154:40
5287communications thus far we have things
5288154:43
5289like great national hookups so everybody
5290154:48
5291in the United States is watching
5292154:50
5293whatever it is that comes over ABC or
5294154:52
5295NBC at the major hours and but that is I
5296155:00
5297think a very temporary phenomenon with
5298155:04
5299the development of uhf ultra high
5300155:07
5301frequency television broadcasting and
5302155:10
5303the more we
5304155:13
5305develop micro electric machinery the
5306155:22
5307greater the capacity for the
5308155:26
5309discrimination on the dial see as it is
5310155:30
5311you get a lot of interference and
5312155:31
5313therefore it cuts out the possibility of
5314155:35
5315an innumerable cluster of stations but
5316155:38
5317as the technology becomes more perfect
5318155:41
5319you can receive an enormous number of
5320155:43
5321different stations and these stations
5322155:46
5323will increasingly have machinery that
5324155:49
5325makes them fairly simple to run for
5326155:52
5327example with a video tape machine now
5328155:56
5329made by Ampex costing six thousand
5330155:59
5331dollars and a sony television camera
5332156:02
5333costing two hundred and fifty dollars
5334156:04
5335you can produce a television show with
5336156:07
5337only one technician the average TV show
5338156:11
5339produced in the studio requires fourteen
5340156:13
5341technicians to handle it so as this
5342156:18
5343happens you see it means that there can
5344156:20
5345be an increasing variety of the kind of
5346156:25
5347material that is presented through the
5348156:28
5349electronic channels
5350156:33
5351the McLuhan adds to this a kind of
5352156:35
5353strange point of view which is that it
5354156:38
5355really doesn't matter what kind of
5356156:40
5357material is going over because the
5358156:44
5359message is not the content of the
5360156:47
5361television show but your exposure to and
5362156:50
5363involvement in that kind of a medium
5364156:54
5365well there's something to this that when
5366157:04
5367you touch a person physically which is a
5368157:07
5369sort of their direct communication you
5370157:10
5371don't necessarily say anything it is
5372157:14
5373just the act of touching that may give
5374157:17
5375the message or the massage of affection
5376157:21
5377or love and so people love to wander
5378157:28
5379into the streets and mingle with a crowd
5380157:30
5381of shoppers especially a colorful crowd
5382157:32
5383going back and forth and the feeling of
5384157:34
5385all the interesting people around a
5386157:35
5387living and saying do anything to each
5388157:37
5389other in words but this this the
5390157:40
5391exciting feeling of being involved in
5392157:42
5393this colorful goings-on and so in the
5394157:46
5395same way when we are plugged in if not
5396157:51
5397turned on to a huge in an outing of
5398158:00
5399human communication we feel very like an
5400158:04
5401old Italian peasant lady leaning on the
5402158:12
5403windowsill and gazing at the busy street
5404158:17
5405watching life flow by and in a way you
5406158:21
5407see the something when you see it in
5408158:23
5409terms of the old Italian mama watching
5410158:27
5411the world go by
5412158:28
5413there's something very fundamentally
5414158:31
5415good about that something we associate
5416158:34
5417with colorful villages exciting streets
5418158:40
5419and the romance of an archaic peasant
5420158:45
5421type person but you see that that sort
5422158:50
5423of thing of watching and ever varying
5424158:54
5425panorama of life is not completely
5426158:57
5427excluded by electronic technology
5428159:00
5429especially if people in their net
5430159:06
5431structure are organized here has true
5432159:10
5433Nets this is not a true net this is just
5434159:17
5435a trap one of the reasons is that
5436159:23
5437our technology is impeded and prevented
5438159:31
5439from feeding the world properly is the
5440159:34
5441failure of one of our networks it's an
5442159:40
5443information network and it's called
5444159:42
5445money about which we have the most
5446159:46
5447unbelievable superstitions and
5448159:51
5449psychological blocks which have been
5450159:53
5451gone into at some length by Freud who
5452159:57
5453equates our valuation of money with our
5454160:00
5455attitude to excrement and a very
5456160:05
5457complicated lot of complexes grow up
5458160:07
5459around that money and our psychological
5460160:11
5461attitude to money is a major obstacle to
5462160:19
5463a proper development of technology
5464160:22
5465enabling it to do what it is supposed to
5466160:25
5467do that is to save labor and to produce
5468160:31
5469goods services and so on adequately so I
5470160:37
5471must introduce this with a story which
5472160:39
5473is entirely legendary indeed quite
5474160:42
5475apocryphal the great banks of the world
5476160:46
5477at one time got absolutely sick of the
5478160:50
5479expense and security measures involved
5480160:52
5481in shipping consignments of gold from
5482160:55
5483one bank to another and so they decided
5484160:59
5485that all the chief banks of the world
5486161:01
5487would open offices on a certain island
5488161:06
5489in the South Pacific which was balmy and
5490161:08
5491comfortable and there they would store
5492161:12
5493all the gold in the world
5494161:14
5495and they put it in great subterranean
5496161:17
5497vaults reached by deep elevator shafts
5498161:19
5499and then all they had to do when one
5500161:23
5501bank or one country owned gold to
5502161:25
5503another was to trundle it across the
5504161:27
5505street
5506161:28
5507and this was very efficient and it went
5508161:32
5509on beautifully for five or six years
5510161:36
5511then the presidents of the world banks
5512161:38
5513got together and said let's have a
5514161:40
5515convention out on this island and take
5516161:42
5517our wives and families so about seven
5518161:47
5519years from the date of opening or all
5520161:49
5521those presidents and their wives and
5522161:51
5523families went out for this Pacific
5524161:53
5525island and they inspected the books and
5526161:56
5527everything was beautifully in order then
5528162:00
5529the children said Oh daddy can't we see
5530162:03
5531the gold they said of course you may see
5532162:06
5533the gold and they said to the managers
5534162:08
5535let's take our children down to the
5536162:10
5537vaults and show them to gold and the
5538162:13
5539managers said well it's it's a little
5540162:18
5541bit inconvenient at this time and
5542162:20
5543perhaps the children would not really be
5544162:25
5545very interested after all it's just only
5546162:27
5547old plain gold another manner and the
5548162:30
5549president said no no no come now they'd
5550162:33
5551be thrilled let's let's go down and see
5552162:35
5553there was further humming and hawing and
5554162:37
5555delays and finally it came out that a
5556162:43
5557few years before there had been a
5558162:45
5559catastrophic subterranean earthquake and
5560162:49
5561all the vaults had been swallowed up and
5562162:51
5563all the gold have disappeared but so far
5564162:54
5565as the bookkeeping was concerned
5566162:56
5567everything was in perfect order what
5568163:05
5569this means then is that money is nothing
5570163:11
5571but bookkeeping it is figures it is a
5572163:16
5573way of measuring what you owe the
5574163:24
5575community and what the community owes
5576163:26
5577you it is of course as you all know a
5578163:30
5579substitute for barter if you worked on a
5580163:34
5581farm and the farmer paid you in terms of
5582163:37
5583years of corn onions cabbages and other
5584163:41
5585vegetables and yet you wanted a pot and
5586163:44
5587pan of some kind and you took a few
5588163:46
5589vegetables over to the mouth
5590163:47
5591whoo so who made pots and pans and you
5592163:49
5593swapped some people used calorie shells
5594163:57
5595to stand for money so that you wouldn't
5596163:59
5597have to barter and carry around all
5598164:02
5599these inconvenient loads of goods and
5600164:08
5601then of course gold was used because
5602164:11
5603gold was rare and because gold was
5604164:15
5605supposed to have a constant value you
5606164:21
5607might ponder the question when a banker
5608164:25
5609buys gold with what does he pay for it
5610164:30
5611the answer is a mystery called credit
5612164:34
5613credit is bookkeeping and
5614164:43
5615as the economy of the Western world
5616164:46
5617developed it was found that there was
5618164:49
5619not enough gold around if it were to
5620164:51
5621remain constant in value to exchange
5622164:55
5623goods and services you could of course
5624164:59
5625have changed the picture by putting down
5626165:01
5627the price of goods and services to keep
5628165:05
5629pace with the amount of gold in
5630165:07
5631circulation but nobody will ever put
5632165:10
5633down the price there's something in our
5634165:13
5635psychology whereby prices always tend to
5636165:16
5637go up but at the same time therefore
5638165:20
5639because the the amount of gold in the
5640165:23
5641world did not provide an adequate
5642165:25
5643channel for the circulation of goods and
5644165:28
5645services all great industrial nations
5646165:31
5647went heavily into debt
5648165:34
5649they created a thing called the national
5650165:36
5651debt which year by year gets bigger and
5652165:39
5653bigger and bigger to the horror and
5654165:41
5655consternation of old fashioned
5656165:42
5657Republicans who pay their bills but the
5658165:47
5659reason for the increase of the national
5660165:49
5661debt is extremely obvious it is that in
5662165:52
5663an X with an expanding gross national
5664165:54
5665product there needs to be more and more
5666165:57
5667money
5668165:59
5669that is to say tokens of exchange in
5670166:02
5671order to circulate the amount of goods
5672166:04
5673produced which is ever-increasing now
5674166:12
5675I'm not an economist and I can refer you
5676166:17
5677to the work of those who really are but
5678166:20
5679any fool can see certainly extremely
5680166:22
5681fundamental principles about this whole
5682166:24
5683situation and I'm speaking of the
5684166:28
5685thought today of a man called Robert
5686166:30
5687Theobald who sort of ties in with the
5688166:33
5689general picture of people like McLuhan
5690166:35
5691and Buckminster Fuller in having very
5692166:39
5693far-out thoughts and very adventurous
5694166:42
5695thoughts about what we should do about
5696166:44
5697money but he is in the following of a
5698166:48
5699man like Frederick Soddy who was a Nobel
5700166:52
5701Prize chemist
5702166:54
5703who was one of the first people to think
5704166:59
5705really freshly about economics or people
5706167:02
5707like Silvio Gesell in Austria and major
5708167:05
5709Douglas in England he's in that
5710167:08
5711following and the proposition that he
5712167:15
5713puts forward is very simple that money
5714167:20
5715is a circulation of information and in
5716167:24
5717itself has no value gold of course has
5718167:29
5719some value it has some value for an
5720167:32
5721industry and some value for dentistry
5722167:35
5723and some value for jewelry but as a
5724167:39
5725means of exchanging the goods and
5726167:42
5727services of the world it is as primitive
5728167:45
5729as post-horses for carrying the mail
5730168:00
5731we must recognize them that money is a
5732168:06
5733pure abstraction I was on a television
5734168:10
5735show a little while ago with Ted
5736168:16
5737Sorensen and Raymond moly
5738168:18
5739and they were having a long long
5740168:21
5741discussion which sounded like something
5742168:22
5743that goes on in a smoke-filled back room
5744168:25
5745of party bosses well they were talking
5746168:30
5747about the prospects for the Republican
5748168:31
5749Democratic parties in 1968 and then they
5750168:36
5751got on to the question of automation and
5752168:38
5753the problems of unemployment that it was
5754168:40
5755making and the difficulties of
5756168:42
5757transferring workers from this to that
5758168:44
5759when they were only trained for this
5760168:46
5761finally I said the trouble with you
5762168:48
5763gentlemen is you still think money is
5764168:50
5765real and they looked at me and said aha
5766168:55
5767someone who doesn't think money is real
5768168:57
5769because every now anybody knows money is
5770168:59
5771money and it very important about it
5772169:04
5773just isn't real at all because it has
5774169:06
5775the same relationship to real wealth
5776169:08
5777that is to say to actual goods and
5778169:10
5779services that words have - meaning that
5780169:13
5781words have to the physical world and as
5782169:17
5783words are not the physical world money
5784169:19
5785is not wealth it only is an accounting
5786169:23
5787of available energy economic energy now
5788169:31
5789what happens then when you introduce
5790169:34
5791technology into production you produce
5792169:39
5793enormous quantities of goods by
5794169:42
5795technological methods but at the same
5796169:44
5797time you put people out of work you can
5798169:49
5799say oh but it always creates more jobs
5800169:52
5801there will always be more jobs yes but
5802169:54
5803they will be lots of them will be futile
5804169:56
5805jobs there will be jobs making every
5806170:00
5807kind of frippery
5808170:01
5809and unnecessary contraption and one will
5810170:06
5811also at the same time have to beguile
5812170:08
5813the public into feeling that they need
5814170:09
5815and want these of completely unnecessary
5816170:11
5817things that aren't even
5818170:13
5819beautiful and therefore an enormous
5820170:16
5821amount of nonsense employment and busy
5822170:18
5823work bureaucratic and otherwise it has
5824170:21
5825to be created in order to keep people
5826170:23
5827working because we believe as good
5828170:26
5829Protestants that the devil finds work
5830170:28
5831for idle hands to do but the basic
5832170:32
5833principle of the whole thing has been
5834170:33
5835completely overlooked that the purpose
5836170:37
5837of the machine is to make drudgery
5838170:40
5839unnecessary and if we don't allow it to
5840170:46
5841achieve its purpose we live in a
5842170:48
5843constant state of self frustration so
5844170:52
5845then if a given manufacturer automates
5846170:56
5847his plant and dismisses his labor force
5848170:59
5849and they have to operate on a very much
5850171:06
5851diminished income say some sort of dole
5852171:10
5853the manufacturer suddenly finds that the
5854171:14
5855public does not have the wherewithal to
5856171:16
5857buy his products and therefore he has
5858171:21
5859invested in this expensive ottoman
5860171:24
5861automated machinery to no purpose and
5862171:29
5863therefore obviously the public has to be
5864171:33
5865provided with the means of purchasing
5866171:36
5867what the machines produce that people
5868171:40
5869say that's not fair where's the money
5870171:43
5871gonna come from who's gonna pay for it
5872171:45
5873the answer is the machine the Machine
5874171:49
5875pays for it because the machine works
5876171:53
5877for the manufacturer and for the
5878171:56
5879community this is not saying you see
5880171:59
5881that this is not the statist communist
5882172:04
5883idea that you expropriate the
5884172:07
5885manufacturer and say you can't own and
5886172:09
5887run this factory anymore it is owned by
5888172:11
5889the government
5890172:12
5891it is only saying that the government or
5892172:16
5893the people have to be responsible for
5894172:19
5895issuing to themselves sufficient credit
5896172:23
5897to circulate the goods they are
5898172:25
5899producing
5900172:26
5901and have to balance the measuring
5902172:30
5903standard of money with the gross
5904172:33
5905national product that means the taxation
5906172:38
5907is obsolete completely obsolete it ought
5908172:42
5909to go the other way
5910172:43
5911Theobald points out that every
5912172:45
5913individual should be assured of a
5914172:48
5915minimum income now you see that
5916172:51
5917absolutely horrifies most people say all
5918172:55
5919these wastrels these people who are out
5920172:58
5921of a job because they're really lazy see
5922173:02
5923given the money
5924173:04
5925yeah because otherwise the machines
5926173:09
5927can't work they come through blockage
5928173:14
5929this was the situation of the Great
5930173:16
5931Depression when here we were still in a
5932173:20
5933material sense a very rich country with
5934173:23
5935plenty of fields and farms and mines and
5936173:27
5937factories everything going
5938173:29
5939but suddenly because of a psychological
5940173:32
5941hang-up because of a mysterious
5942173:35
5943mumbo-jumbo about the economy about the
5944173:40
5945banking we were all miserable and poor
5946173:45
5947starving in the midst of Plenty just
5948173:49
5949because of a psychological hang-up and
5950173:50
5951that hang-up is that money is real and
5952173:53
5953that people ought to suffer in order to
5954173:58
5955get it but the whole point of the
5956174:01
5957machine is to relieve you of that
5958174:03
5959suffering which is an ingenuity you see
5960174:06
5961we are psychologically back in the 17th
5962174:10
5963century and technically in the 20th and
5964174:14
5965here comes the problem
5966174:18
5967so what we have to find out how to do is
5968174:28
5969to change the psychological attitude to
5970174:31
5971money into wealth and furthermore to
5972174:34
5973pleasure and furthermore to the nature
5974174:37
5975of work and this is a formidable problem
5976174:42
5977it requires the best brains in public
5978174:46
5979relations in propaganda and all that
5980174:49
5981kind of thing in all the media
5982174:51
5983television radio newspapers everything
5984174:55
5985to try to get across a message to the
5986175:00
5987vast general public about what money is
5988175:04
5989you see the difficulty is this when the
5990175:07
5991public suspects that the money that is
5992175:10
5993being issued the dollar bills being
5994175:12
5995issued by the government are only paper
5996175:14
5997and stand only for paper they start
5998175:17
5999putting up prizes so you get an
6000175:20
6001inflationary situation where the more
6002175:22
6003paper money there is the higher and
6004175:25
6005higher and higher the prices go which is
6006175:29
6007a very stupid psychological maneuver and
6008175:36
6009people have to be persuaded the least
6010175:41
6011effective way of persuading people is
6012175:43
6013passing laws but they have to be
6014175:45
6015persuaded somehow not to put up the
6016175:48
6017prices but to play fair with each other
6018175:50
6019and keep some sort of standard
6020175:57
6021correspondence between how much is
6022176:01
6023produced and how much credit is issued
6024176:09
6025so this goes very deep into us it goes
6026176:13
6027deep deep deep into a problem we have
6028176:17
6029about guilt
6030176:18
6031I wonder often if there's any
6032176:22
6033relationship between guilt and gold that
6034176:26
6035the love of money is the root of evil
6036176:29
6037very true saying because you see I was
6038176:35
6039saying yesterday that the difference
6040176:37
6041between having a job and having a
6042176:40
6043vocation is that a job is some
6044176:44
6045unpleasant work you do in order to make
6046176:47
6047money with the sole purpose of making
6048176:50
6049money and there are plenty of jobs
6050176:55
6051because there is still a certain amount
6052176:57
6053of dirty work that nobody wants to do
6054176:59
6055and that therefore they will pay someone
6056177:01
6057to do it there is essentially less and
6058177:06
6059less of that kind of work because of
6060177:08
6061mechanization but if you do a job if you
6062177:12
6063do a job with the sole purpose of making
6064177:15
6065money you are absurd because if money
6066177:24
6067becomes the goal and it does when you
6068177:26
6069work that way you begin increasingly to
6070177:31
6071confuse it with happiness or with
6072177:35
6073pleasure yes one can take a whole
6074177:39
6075handful of crisp dollar bills and
6076177:41
6077practically water your mouth over them
6078177:43
6079but this is this kind of a person who is
6080177:46
6081confused like a Pavlov dog who salivates
6082177:49
6083on the wrong Bell it goes back you see
6084178:03
6085to the ancient guilt that
6086178:11
6087if you don't work you have no right to
6088178:14
6089eat there if there are others in the
6090178:21
6091world who don't have enough to eat you
6092178:24
6093shouldn't enjoy your dinner even though
6094178:26
6095you have no possible means of conveying
6096178:28
6097the food to them and while it is true
6098178:36
6099that we are all one human family and
6100178:41
6101that every individual involves every
6102178:43
6103other individual while it is true
6104178:48
6105therefore we should do something about
6106178:52
6107changing the situation the one way of
6108178:56
6109not doing anything about a situation is
6110178:58
6111feeling guilty about it because when
6112179:02
6113people feel guilty about a situation
6114179:04
6115they most usually instead of doing
6116179:07
6117something practical to change it they
6118179:10
6119resort to all sorts of symbolic methods
6120179:13
6121of expiation they go to confession they
6122179:18
6123see an analyst they do all kinds of
6124179:22
6125things which will be ways of actually
6126179:25
6127not doing anything about the problem but
6128179:29
6129feeling alright about it instead and
6130179:32
6131guilt invariably produces that sort of
6132179:35
6133reaction it is a destructive emotion and
6134179:42
6135instead we need to have a different
6136179:46
6137attitude to our mistakes and to our
6138179:50
6139misdeeds Walt Whitman always admired
6140179:55
6141animals because they do not lie awake at
6142179:57
6143night and weep for their sins
6144180:01
6145animals are practical in the real sense
6146180:05
6147as our children who haven't been taught
6148180:09
6149this extraordinary hang-up of guilt
6150180:16
6151because if you've done something wrong
6152180:19
6153or you have made a mistake and somebody
6154180:23
6155makes you ashamed of it I'm guilty you
6156180:28
6157run around licking the sores of your
6158180:31
6159wounded ego because you feel your pride
6160180:36
6161has been hurt the first thing to
6162180:40
6163understand is that it is not a serious
6164180:46
6165failing in a human being to make
6166180:48
6167mistakes everybody has to make mistakes
6168180:53
6169there is no way out of it you can't
6170180:56
6171learn anything unless you make mistakes
6172180:58
6173we find for example in Japan the
6174181:01
6175Japanese have a terrible hang-up about
6176181:03
6177making mistakes they therefore never
6178181:08
6179have the courage to practice their
6180181:10
6181English properly they've had seven years
6182181:14
6183of English in school most of it very
6184181:17
6185very badly taught and it's irrelevant
6186181:20
6187English they learn all about Shakespeare
6188181:24
6189and Dickens and Thackeray and Thomas
6190181:30
6191Hardy and so on and therefore they can't
6192181:33
6193carry on in everyday conversation it's
6194181:37
6195like the way the English study French
6196181:39
6197all about pens of gardeners ants and
6198181:42
6199things like that and so but they are
6200181:47
6201ashamed to try out their English unless
6202181:49
6203drunk so if you want to get into
6204181:53
6205conversation with the Japanese in
6206181:55
6207English you have to go to bars and then
6208181:59
6209they say University students and so long
6210182:01
6211there will loosen up and talk because
6212182:07
6213they're no longer have the inhibition
6214182:08
6215the shame of saying the wrong thing so
6216182:13
6217likewise I know a very great
6218182:16
6219anthropologist who was taught music
6220182:20
6221playing the piano in the same way I was
6222182:23
6223when I was taught music the
6224182:28
6225schoolmarm who taught me used to put an
6226182:31
6227india-rubber and erase though it's
6228182:34
6229called in this country on the top of
6230182:36
6231each hand so that I would have my hands
6232182:38
6233in good posture and every time I play a
6234182:42
6235wrong note she'd hit my fingers with a
6236182:43
6237pencil and this great anthropologist
6238182:48
6239that had a similar sort of musical
6240182:50
6241education and when confronted with the
6242182:53
6243piano in the presence of an absolutely
6244182:55
6245marvelous teacher in San Francisco she
6246182:57
6247said she was amazed he was completely
6248183:00
6249incapable of reading notes he blocked at
6250183:03
6251everything so another great teacher of
6252183:11
6253the piano I knew said simply you must
6254183:15
6255not be afraid of playing wrong notes
6256183:19
6257just forget it
6258183:23
6259play it wrong and then eventually go
6260183:27
6261over it again and you'll eventually get
6262183:29
6263it right but you must not block always
6264183:32
6265keep the same rhythm going even if you
6266183:36
6267have to slow it down but keep the
6268183:39
6269proportionate rhythm of one note to
6270183:42
6271another and if it's the wrong now play
6272183:44
6273the wrong note as long as you play
6274183:45
6275something in the right rhythm so you
6276183:51
6277know this is a way of taking away
6278183:53
6279people's blockage people's guilt and
6280183:57
6281shame about making mistakes so you
6282184:03
6283absolutely freedom means basically the
6284184:07
6285freedom to make mistakes the freedom to
6286184:11
6287be a damn fool and then not to
6288184:15
6289recriminate with yourself when you do
6290184:17
6291finally realize that it was a mistake
6292184:19
6293but simply don't do it again or at least
6294184:26
6295do it less off so you know this is the
6296184:31
6297puzzle
6298184:34
6299when you go to confession in the
6300184:37
6301Catholic Church which is an enormous
6302184:39
6303method of inculcating a sense of guilt
6304184:41
6305very subtle one says of course that
6306184:46
6307Catholics are on the whole less guilty
6308184:48
6309than Protestants more relaxed and
6310184:52
6311there's some truth in that but only some
6312184:56
6313Protestants of course have chronic guilt
6314185:00
6315and you can work this out by a very
6316185:03
6317simple little formula that when the
6318185:07
6319Protestants in England abandoned what is
6320185:10
6321called auricular confession to a priest
6322185:14
6323they inserted in their prayer book a
6324185:18
6325general confession in which the
6326185:21
6327congregation all made its confession
6328185:23
6329together now what does a Catholic say
6330185:28
6331when he makes his confession the formula
6332185:31
6333is I confess to God Almighty the Blessed
6334185:34
6335Mary ever-virgin Blessed John the
6336185:35
6337Baptist the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul
6338185:37
6339and all the saints that I've sinned
6340185:39
6341exceedingly in thought word and deed by
6342185:41
6343my fault by my own fault by my own most
6344185:43
6345grievous fault well for I beg blessed
6346185:46
6347Mary etc a new father to pray for me to
6348185:49
6349the Lord our God and the priest says
6350185:55
6351Almighty God have mercy upon you forgive
6352185:58
6353you your sins and bring you to
6354185:59
6355everlasting life by the authority of our
6356186:01
6357Lord Jesus Christ committed unto me
6358186:02
6359absolve me from all thy sins in the name
6360186:05
6361of the Father and of the Son and of the
6362186:06
6363Holy Spirit very now instead of that
6364186:10
6365yeah what they had to introduce into the
6366186:16
6367Anglican formulary was instead of this
6368186:19
6369very simple confession of sins and
6370186:23
6371before the whole company of heaven an
6372186:27
6373absolute grovel wherein they say that
6374186:32
6375they have sinned so horribly and that
6376186:37
6377the remembrance of these sins is
6378186:40
6379Grievous unto us the burden of them is
6380186:42
6381intolerable have mercy upon us have
6382186:44
6383mercy upon us most merciful father
6384186:46
6385and all this cringing and crying
6386186:50
6387breast-beating and wallowing in guilt
6388186:52
6389and then the priest instead of saying a
6390186:56
6391simple formula of absolution quotes all
6392187:01
6393kind of scriptural texts to prove from
6394187:05
6395the Bible that those who do truly
6396187:07
6397eternity repent will be forgiven by God
6398187:10
6399because they're very uncertain about it
6400187:12
6401therefore have to quote all the
6402187:13
6403authorities and this absolutely
6404187:19
6405groveling form of confession replaces
6406187:25
6407the old one because they were a little
6408187:28
6409bit scared about abandoning direct
6410187:31
6411confession of sins to the priest but now
6412187:34
6413that the the the going back to the
6414187:36
6415Catholic problem about guilt you say
6416187:42
6417when you have confessed after saying
6418187:46
6419this formula about to all the saints you
6420187:51
6421confess the specific sins you've
6422187:54
6423committed and you know I stole something
6424187:59
6425committed adultery three times so on
6426188:02
6427whatever it was and then you say at the
6428188:05
6429end for these and all my sins which I
6430188:07
6431cannot now remember I firmly purpose
6432188:18
6433amendment and humbly ask for pardon of
6434188:22
6435God
6436188:28
6437now I firmly purpose amendment that is
6438188:32
6439where the fly in the ointment consists
6440188:36
6441because the doctrine is that you have
6442188:40
6443made a true confession if at the same
6444188:43
6445time you have a sear intention of acting
6446188:46
6447differently in the future now no
6448188:50
6449sensitive Catholic can say that without
6450188:53
6451having grave doubts
6452188:56
6453as to whether actually he isn't going to
6454188:59
6455do some of these things again so if
6456189:02
6457you're a workaday Catholic like a
6458189:05
6459Mexican peasant or something like that
6460189:07
6461you know that the confession is just a
6462189:09
6463safety valve you're going to go on
6464189:11
6465living
6466189:11
6467just as lackadaisically as ever and but
6468189:17
6469you go to church every so often and you
6470189:19
6471get rid of the of the the guilt and the
6472189:22
6473evil it's like going to the bathroom
6474189:25
6475but when you get the thought we get
6476189:28
6477thoughtful about these things and you
6478189:29
6479wonder whether you do really mean what
6480189:31
6481you say
6482189:33
6483whether your motive is pure and your
6484189:35
6485intention is right you get into a
6486189:37
6487rightful hanger so you see how this idea
6488189:44
6489of the the somehow there is a book kept
6490189:49
6491somewhere God's black book in which he
6492189:53
6493writes down every mistake you made and
6494189:57
6495then at the day of judgment there's
6496190:00
6497going to be in accounting see and
6498190:03
6499they're going to add up on one side and
6500190:07
6501add up your good deeds on the other side
6502190:09
6503and weigh them instant Michael's ballot
6504190:12
6505balance the Archangel Michael carries in
6506190:15
6507one hand a balance and in the other hand
6508190:18
6509the sword is the older sort of prototype
6510190:21
6511of the figure of justice and it's the
6512190:25
6513good deeds against the evil deeds as in
6514190:27
6515the Egyptian Book of the Dead you see
6516190:29
6517the heart of the deceased weighed
6518190:31
6519against the feather of truth that's a
6520190:34
6521little more profound than the good deeds
6522190:36
6523against the bad deeds you know your your
6524190:39
6525heart has to be light as a feather you
6526190:42
6527mustn't be heavy hearted so then as a
6528190:54
6529result of this there arose in the latter
6530190:58
6531part of the Middle Ages an enormously
6532191:00
6533complicated system of celestial
6534191:03
6535bookkeeping it was argued you see that
6536191:07
6537the Saints
6538191:08
6539and especially the Blessed Virgin Mary
6540191:11
6541had lived lives of such sinless
6542191:14
6543character even though to be a good saint
6544191:18
6545you have to say you're a miserable
6546191:20
6547sinner often wondered about that but
6548191:27
6549therefore they have many merits that are
6550191:32
6551surplice merits that they don't need in
6552191:36
6553order to get into heaven and therefore
6554191:42
6555by a very clever dispensation the
6556191:45
6557surplus merits are put at the disposal
6558191:47
6559of the Holy Father and they are
6560191:52
6561available in the form of what are called
6562191:54
6563indulgences and if therefore you make
6564191:58
6565certain pilgrimages or save certain
6566192:00
6567prayers or make certain contributions
6568192:02
6569above all you may receive a plenary
6570192:06
6571indulgence which means you get off the
6572192:08
6573whole of the time due to you in
6574192:09
6575purgatory or a partial indulgences which
6576192:13
6577say of 300 days which means 300 days off
6578192:17
6579your period in purgatory whatever days
6580192:20
6581in purgatory may be and so an enormous
6582192:23
6583ly complicated banking system was set up
6584192:26
6585whereby people could settle their
6586192:28
6587heavenly accounts by using credit issued
6588192:34
6589by the Saints who were of course
6590192:38
6591producing surplus goods like machines
6592192:49
6593so now this is why I made in the earlier
6594192:58
6595part of this seminar such a big point
6596193:04
6597about human behavior being able to be
6598193:10
6599seen at its deepest level at which level
6600193:17
6601and only at which level it is completely
6602193:22
6603harmonious with the order of the
6604193:25
6605universe this is what one is enabled to
6606193:30
6607see by cosmic consciousness by seeing
6608193:36
6609that the good things and the evil things
6610193:40
6611that human beings do are just like the
6612193:44
6613behavior of other creatures animals
6614193:48
6615insects worms fish and flowers and that
6616193:54
6617the good side has to have the bad side
6618194:00
6619to balance it so that you know that it's
6620194:02
6621good in the words of the Taoist sage
6622194:06
6623Duong sir those who speak of having good
6624194:12
6625government without its opposite misrule
6626194:16
6627and those who speak of good behavior
6628194:20
6629without the presence of its opposite bad
6630194:23
6631behavior do not understand the great
6632194:27
6633principles of the universe it is as if
6634194:30
6635they could have the Yang without the Y
6636194:32
6637in the positive without the negative and
6638194:35
6639such people must be either knaves or
6640194:38
6641fools now that's a saying which really
6642194:42
6643sets us back because we Westerners are
6644194:47
6645dedicated to the abolition of evil
6646194:53
6647and but the Jews are much more sensible
6648194:59
6649about this than the Christians because
6650195:03
6651the Jews don't think that evil is
6652195:08
6653something extraneous to God they believe
6654195:12
6655that God created evil where it is said
6656195:15
6657in the book of the prophet Isaiah I am
6658195:18
6659the Lord and there is none else i form
6660195:21
6661the light and create darkness I make
6662195:23
6663peace and create evil either Lord do all
6664195:26
6665these things and they believe that God
6666195:29
6667implanted in the human heart at the
6668195:31
6669beginning of creation when he very first
6670195:34
6671made Adam something called the yet
6672195:36
6673Sahara or the wayward spirit because he
6674195:40
6675knew that if that wasn't there
6676195:41
6677human life would be insipid and without
6678195:44
6679the least significance there has to be
6680195:47
6681this element and so the Jews say yes God
6682195:57
6683is responsible for evil but he put it in
6684196:01
6685us so that we could have something to
6686196:03
6687fight against
6688196:09
6689and so in this way you can see at one
6690196:13
6691level that the evil side of things is
6692196:18
6693part of the total harmony it must be
6694196:20
6695there but that the function of its being
6696196:24
6697there is to give you something to chew
6698196:27
6699on to work out you will never get rid of
6700196:32
6701it but the joy of life is being in the
6702196:35
6703process of getting rid of it so in other
6704196:39
6705words you might say that the function of
6706196:41
6707the devil is to be always losing the
6708196:46
6709battle but never finally lost and the
6710196:52
6711function of the good side is to be
6712196:54
6713always winning the battle but never to
6714196:56
6715be the victor and by this means the part
6716197:02
6717is kept boiling interest is kept up and
6718197:05
6719everything is kept moving so that of
6720197:08
6721course if we solve certain economic
6722197:10
6723problems for example and we have a world
6724197:14
6725where people are not committed to
6726197:17
6727drudgery we shall discover social evil
6728197:21
6729in some new form it's exactly the same
6730197:25
6731is when you are worried sick about money
6732197:27
6733and are you going to make the payments
6734197:28
6735on the house and the car and all that
6736197:30
6737the insurance you think if only I could
6738197:33
6739have a lot more money I'd be so happy
6740197:34
6741and then somehow you get it and for a
6742197:38
6743few days you're ecstatic and walking on
6744197:40
6745air then you suddenly realize that you
6746197:45
6747might get sick or that someone the
6748197:50
6749government or burglars or something
6750197:52
6751might take your money away from you and
6752197:54
6753you start worrying about that with just
6754197:57
6755the same intensity as you had formerly
6756198:00
6757worried about not having enough money so
6758198:05
6759we always find if you are a worried bird
6760198:08
6761you will always find something to worry
6762198:10
6763about it no matter what happens in your
6764198:13
6765external circumstances and so we may be
6766198:16
6767assured that when the human race goes to
6768198:19
6769full economic prosperity and there is
6770198:21
6771nothing
6772198:22
6773to be worried about in the way of
6774198:24
6775housing and clothing and food that we
6776198:27
6777shall instead worry quite fervently
6778198:29
6779about something else because you see we
6780198:35
6781are always really in the same place this
6782198:38
6783is the basic understanding of relativity
6784198:46
6785it always reminds me of so Cedric
6786198:49
6787Hardwicke when asked about his life he
6788198:54
6789died just a little while ago and he
6790198:56
6791lived there for across the centuries he
6792199:02
6793said if I had really had my wish as to
6794199:06
6795when I would have liked to live I would
6796199:08
6797have liked to have been a grown adult in
6798199:10
6799the high Victorian age with penicillin
6800199:15
6801[Laughter]
6802199:24
6803now those of us therefore who remember
6804199:28
6805from childhood the abominable dentistry
6806199:32
6807of the British are very thankful indeed
6808199:35
6809for American dentistry I remember as a
6810199:39
6811boy that dentistry was just torture and
6812199:42
6813the American dentists have changed all
6814199:45
6815that I am therefore in a position of
6816199:48
6817relativity to remember this change and
6818199:51
6819still feel its effect and I'm very
6820199:53
6821grateful for it but my children who are
6822199:58
6823accustomed to fine American dentistry
6824200:00
6825from the beginning are less appreciative
6826200:03
6827of the situation and therefore have
6828200:05
6829other worries so you see when I would
6830200:14
6831say one of the great philosophical
6832200:16
6833questions is are we going to make it
6834200:21
6835that all beings at every scale
6836200:24
6837whatsoever from the angels and gods at
6838200:29
6839the very highest development of
6840200:30
6841evolution down to the most obscure
6842200:33
6843little creepy crawlies all feel about
6844200:38
6845life the same way how are we going to
6846200:42
6847make it an Angels problem is a very
6848200:46
6849different kind of problem from the
6850200:48
6851problem of a common worm about as
6852200:54
6853meister eckhart said if a stone were as
6854200:57
6855aware as an angel a stone could be as
6856201:00
6857happy as an angel or perhaps as
6858201:03
6859miserable it is said in the holy texts
6860201:08
6861of christianity that there are occasions
6862201:10
6863upon which the Angels weep what sort of
6864201:14
6865thing would make an angel weep here you
6866201:23
6867see the problem of life at every level
6868201:26
6869of evolution in the whole thing it's
6870201:28
6871always the same blue sash our Bissell mm
6872201:31
6873shows more it changes the more it's the
6874201:33
6875same thing because everybody's really in
6876201:36
6877the same situation
6878201:38
6879the great dare are we going to make it
6880201:44
6881because this is the situation of the
6882201:46
6883cosmos the cosmos when the Hindus say
6884201:50
6885God is playing hide and seek with
6886201:53
6887himself and every now and then the
6888201:55
6889Brahman the supreme self deliberately
6890201:59
6891falls into the illusion of Maya and
6892202:02
6893pretends that he's all of us
6894202:04
6895well that's God also saying how far out
6896202:08
6897can I get next time around yeah yeah am
6898202:13
6899I going to make it and therefore thinks
6900202:16
6901up some fantastic way of getting lost we
6902202:19
6903are one of these ways you see and
6904202:23
6905creates the horrors and the shudders and
6906202:26
6907most appalling situations in each one of
6908202:31
6909which says am I going to make it and the
6910202:36
6911answer is no you're not gonna make
6912202:45
6913you're gonna get away with it for a
6914202:48
6915while yeah you'll get away with it for a
6916202:50
6917while but in the end no you're not gonna
6918202:52
6919make it oh why not but for obvious
6920202:57
6921reasons look at a star a star is a great
6922203:04
6923burst of fire see well the question is
6924203:09
6925how far to go the fire goes out and out
6926203:14
6927and out and out and out and then
6928203:15
6929suddenly it begins to fade the energy
6930203:17
6931falls away and there's darkness unless
6932203:21
6933something is there to reflect the more
6934203:24
6935tenuous form of the fire which is light
6936203:27
6937that is being thrown out to immense
6938203:29
6939distances but eventually light gives up
6940203:32
6941and that's why some of the farthest
6942203:35
6943galaxies are beginning to disappear
6944203:38
6945because it's too far for the light it
6946203:40
6947gives up eventually because if there
6948203:44
6949isn't a point you see where the light
6950203:45
6951gives up all the radiance gives up it
6952203:50
6953fills everything and therefore has no
6954203:54
6955way of realizing itself because you can
6956203:57
6957only realize light by the contrast of
6958203:59
6959darkness and that's why then you as a
6960204:03
6961ray which shoots out of the Godhead will
6962204:08
6963say are we going to make it in other
6964204:11
6965words how long a ray there to be it'd be
6966204:14
6967a long long ray or a little short one
6968204:17
6969and some people think well if I'm only a
6970204:21
6971short ray it's not really a great
6972204:22
6973success I want to be a long ray I want
6974204:26
6975to live till I'm 90 or maybe a hundred
6976204:28
6977get longer and longer then you must
6978204:31
6979listen to the Zen poem which says in the
6980204:36
6981spring in the scenery of spring
6982204:39
6983there is nothing superior nothing
6984204:42
6985inferior flowering branches grow
6986204:45
6987naturally some short some long
6988204:49
6989and when one of the great Zen masters
6990204:53
6991was asked about the meaning of Buddhism
6992204:57
6993he said to the Enquirer wait till
6994205:00
6995there's no one around and I'll tell you
6996205:03
6997when there was no one around he took
6998205:08
6999this Enquirer out into the garden and
7000205:10
7001pointed at the bamboos and The Enquirer
7002205:16
7003said I don't understand and he said what
7004205:20
7005a long bamboo that one is what a short
7006205:22
7007one that so what a long way that one is
7008205:31
7009what a short one that is see if you look
7010205:36
7011at some sort of stellar form object it
7012205:42
7013adds great interest to it if it's rays
7014205:45
7015are of unequal length if they're all
7016205:48
7017equal it looks sort of flat and
7018205:49
7019mechanical by having all sorts of
7020205:53
7021different lengths as you find them in
7022205:54
7023some of those gorgeous radiolaria
7024205:56
7025creatures that are minut and amount
7026206:00
7027fools of the ocean you see all these
7028206:03
7029there's a certain balance of length
7030206:05
7031there's a certain average which gives it
7032206:07
7033a globular form but many different
7034206:10
7035lengths in the stems so you see are we
7036206:16
7037gonna make it how far out can you get
7038206:22
7039this is always the question but then
7040206:25
7041you're not gonna make it at that point
7042206:27
7043the Ray finishes and we call that death
7044206:33
7045but you are actually not the Ray so much
7046206:38
7047as the source of the Ray that's where
7048206:40
7049you are ready and the sauce doesn't
7050206:42
7051vanish you see the sauce is there always
7052206:45
7053but is shooting out shooting out
7054206:47
7055shooting out and then vanish
7056206:53
7057so then if you remember that for that at
7058206:56
7059every stage of the universe whether you
7060207:01
7061are up there with the gods or whether
7062207:03
7063you are down there with the what we
7064207:07
7065could call human refuse you have you are
7066207:11
7067basically in the same situation because
7068207:14
7069everybody is basically in the same
7070207:16
7071situation for the reason that everybody
7072207:18
7073is basically the divine being working
7074207:22
7075out the panorama of its life in millions
7076207:26
7077of different ways and these differences
7078207:28
7079of ways require spectra of many kinds
7080207:33
7081there's the spectrum of color there's
7082207:36
7083the spectrum of tones but there is also
7084207:39
7085the spectrum of orders of being so that
7086207:45
7087from the most minut animalcules right up
7088207:49
7089through all kinds of animals through
7090207:52
7091human beings of every grade to the gods
7092207:55
7093you'll have a great spectrum and just as
7094208:00
7095at one end of the spectrum you have
7096208:03
7097purple and that the other you have red
7098208:05
7099but now look what is purple purple is
7100208:11
7101blue mixed with red spectrum goes right
7102208:14
7103the way around and therefore if we say
7104208:19
7105that do begin any end you want to but if
7106208:25
7107we say that the purple end like the
7108208:28
7109deeps of the waters of the very
7110208:30
7111primitive forms of life and the red the
7112208:34
7113most radiant they are actually if you
7114208:38
7115see the spectrum as a circle they join
7116208:44
7117so that when you get up the only place
7118208:48
7119to go is down
7120208:53
7121unless somehow you can go back into the
7122208:57
7123white light at the center which is
7124209:02
7125neither up nor down neither good nor bad
7126209:04
7127just what there is substance so I think
7128209:10
7129that one of the things that should be
7130209:12
7131drawn is a symbol of a circular spectrum
7132209:16
7133instead of one that's stretched out on a
7134209:18
7135tape and that would tell something to
7136209:22
7137people that no amount of words can
7138209:24
7139convey it would speak to the unconscious
7140209:28
7141in us to the depth of understanding that
7142209:31
7143are much more subtle than our
7144209:33
7145intellectual thinking and everybody
7146209:36
7147could see this everywhere and it would
7148209:38
7149convey the message about
7150209:40
7151ring-around-the-rosy
7152209:43
7153as is said in the Chinese texts of drunk
7154209:48
7155sir what is the center of a circle the
7156209:52
7157center of a circle the true center is
7158209:54
7159any point on the circumference because
7160209:58
7161you can start the circle anywhere and
7162210:01
7163finish it anything so there's a Cohen in
7164210:05
7165Zen which says Indra built a seamless
7166210:08
7167tower you know when a sleeve has a seam
7168210:12
7169on it this is a zip where where the
7170210:14
7171cloth begins and have to take it round
7172210:16
7173and sew it so it has a seam now imagine
7174210:19
7175here's a tower but it has no seam Indra
7176210:26
7177built the seamless tower where did he
7178210:28
7179begin
7180210:33
7181so in in the in nature then one has this
7182210:39
7183seamless order where every point on it
7184210:44
7185is central and therefore feels in the
7186210:47
7187same situation envying those above and
7188210:50
7189pitying those below and there is always
7190210:53
7191a below maybe the most primitive
7192210:56
7193animalcules imaginable have pity on the
7194210:59
7195angels so let's take an intermission