Alan Watts - Money

The following is from another speech given by Alan Watts entitled "From Time & Eternity".

*"Do you remember the Great Depression? One day everything was going all right. Everybody was pretty wealthy and had plenty to eat. The next day everybody was in poverty. What had happened? Had the fields disappeared; had the dairy vanished into thin air; had the fish of the sea ceased to exist; had human beings lost their energy; their skills and their brains?

No, but on the morning after the Depression a man came to work building a house and the foreman said to him "Sorry chum you can't work today, there ain't no inches." He said "What do you mean there ain't no inches?" "Yeah" he said, "Yeah, we got lumber, we got metal, we even got tape measures." The foreman said "The trouble with you is you don't understand business. There are no inches. We have been using too many of them and there's not enough to go around."

Because what happened in the Great Depression was a slump in money. Human beings are so unbelievably stupid, that they confused money with wealth. They don't realize that money is a measure of wealth, in exactly the same way that meters are a measure of length. They think it is something that is valuable in and of itself. And as a result of that get into unbelievable trouble, in exactly the same way time is nothing but an abstract measure of motion.

And we keep counting time. We have the sensation time is running out, and we bug ourselves with this as we sit and watch the clock. Supposing you are working, are you watching the clock? If you are, what are you waiting for? Time off? Five o'clock, we can go home and have fun? Yeah, fun. What are you going to do when you get home? Have fun? Or are you going to watch TV, which is an electronic reproduction of life which doesn't even smell of anything and eat a TV dinner which is a kind of a warmed over airline nastiness until you just get tired and have to go to sleep. You know, the great society.

This is our problem you see. We are not alive, we are not awake. We are not living in the present."

*This speech was slightly edited for clarification.

Full Speech: http://www.scribd.com/doc/5468658/FROM-TIME-TO-ETERNITY-By-Alan-Watts

Category:

Nonprofits & Activism

Tags:

• Alan
• Watts
• Money
• FED
• Zeitgeist
• Movement
• Venus
• Project
• Buddhism
• Great
• Depression
• Illusion

[wiscokiddd]

We will establish a monetary system based on goods and services rather than tyranny and servitude to greedy spawn and outright slavery. We can and will work toward the health wellbeing and longevity of life on this planet as a whole.

[yinyangnature]

@wiscokiddd Indeed. Very well stated. 

[Dragon33304]

We have gathered so much information since Alan spoke these words and yet we have learned nothing. Thank you for uploading. We are still listening. There is hope.

[yinyangnature]

@Dragon33304 I think there are some encouraging signs. Unfortunately, there are some very worrying signs also. I guess our species is at some type of turning point, where things could go either way from here, but things can no longer stay the same.

[Earthenenigma]

Imagine that tomorrow morning all money dissapeared or lost its representative value, a depression or what not.

Lets say additionally we just continued to do what we do day to day and just not adding the money paper or credit aspect of the transactions.

True freedom. The only thing that would dissapear would be the ability for someone to taxes or get tithes or exploit us.

[yinyangnature]

@Earthenenigma We can only hope that this will soon be a reality for everyone on the entire planet.

[tsvetkovprelude]

@IIemzyII 'What do you mean "No inches.' ? :D

[somegamer1879]

If only more people could see things from his perspective. I think then there would be a lot less stress in the world and people would have a friendlier relationship with life.

[broadcastmyass4u]

@genericity i think you are right as long as people keep talking like that and thinking that way, of course it's pretty much always been this way all the way back to the cave men. people, as a whole, wright history based on the way they view the world. now with todays media and it's ability to influence thought, things become scary. As long as we keep acting like there is nothing we can do about it and believe that, the longer the ones who have been in control of us will control us yet still.

[IIemzyII]

"No inches.." LOL

[GuitarMannnnnn]

0 dislikes. no wonder

[Sinbolik]

Yup

[Meshuggaaaahhhhh]

@genericity Are you saying you're a tyrant?

[genericity]

@Meshuggaaaahhhhh nope, i won't

you're the slave

[Meshuggaaaahhhhh]

@genericity You're being very pessimistic, sir. Now get back to work, slave.