What did you forget? - Alan Watts

Alan Watts ask a simple yet profound question.."What did you forget?"

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You know, you can always bug people,

in a beautiful way, in a very helpful way.

by just saying to them: "What did you forget?"

Well, I don't know. What was I supposed to remember?

Oh, I'm really not trying to put you on, I mean it's not difficult.

This is something completely obvious that you forgotten.

You would easily remember it, because it's so obvious.

Well that's the hardest thing in the world to think of.

What's the most obvious thing I've forgotten?

Hell, what's that?

Well who do you think you are?

How do you answer that question? Who are you?

Will you give a name?

You say, "I'm Joe Doe, cause I'm Alan Watts."

That's not true!

That's what people told you you are!

They put that name on you, and they taught you

to identify with it and to behave as it was expected to behave.

But that's not who you are, you know very well.

Go back in your memory, go back into your infancy before they started telling you all this stuff.

Who are you?

And if you get with that you'll know very well who you are.

What you are basically, deep-deep down, far-far in

is simply the fabric and structure of existence itself,

only there's a conspiracy that you musn't let on about that.

Because everybody is. And if one person realizes it the other's a little bit offended.

And they say: "Well, how come you're so great?"

So, everybody therefore who gets an intimation of who they really are

and ever comes out with it in Christian civilization, people say:

"Who the hell do you think you are? You are Jesus Christ?"

Or you can say: "Jesus Christ said he was Jesus Christ and everybody put him down through it

and that's what you're doing to me."

There is a, an as it were recess of the soul, of the psyche.

Where everybody knows perfectly well

that you are not just this irresponsible little mouse

that's been chucked down into this world.

But that you are really doing this work.

You're running it.

Only you can't admit it just in the same way as you can't admit

that you're responsible for the way your own heart beats.

You say: "Oh, that's not my doing. I've no control over my heart.

Do you have any control over being conscious? Do you know how you will?"