The Knee Of Listening Original

Citation preview

Foreword by

ALAN WATTS

IP

EARLY

LIFE

AND RADICAL SPIRITUAL TEACHINGS

OF f F'

$rankun!

I

LSI

I

\l\(.

completely in the present is to strive for what is already the case. Tins should be dear to anyone. The same principle applies to striving for nirvana or union with Cod hy means of so-called spiritual live

no actual necessity for or obstacle course to that which IS. But there are two main reasons for the exen

ises.

There

is

a road persis-

attachment to spiritual methods. The first being ignorant of what we have and are now, we look for it in the future, and therefore can be beguiled by all those gurus who pick our pockets and sell us our own wallets. They promise marvellous states of consciousness, ecstasies, psychic powers, and transportation to other levels of being. So what? If you were managing the tent is

that,

—

entire universe which in one would be absolutely necessary that a lot of things were out the ventriloquist want to dine

only his

sense you are

—

it

appear of control. Does for

it

to

every night with

dummy?

The second

the beguilement of spiritual same thing as a sense of guilt. "I am not worthy to attain this exalted state unless I have suffered, unless the teacher has beaten me, unless I have sat in a cold, dark cave for three years, or practiced za-zen with my legs aching for hours." Anyone silly enough to think this way deserves all the pains he must endure. Nothing is more ostentatious than deliberate humility, nor more egocentric than projects to get rid of egotism. These are strong words, but not uttered in a spirit of condemnation, for those who undertake such projects may, by so pride, which

is

is

also the

— Foreword

doing, realize very clearly that they are futile. But then they may return as gurus thinking that this is the only way to realize the futility of spiritual ambition, and then "lay their trip" upon others without asking themselves, "Is this trip really necessary?" As I read Franklin Jones especially the Epilogue, which is worth the price of the book— he has simply realized that he himself as he is, like a star, like a dolphin, like an iris, is a perfect and authentic manifestation of the eternal energy of the universe, and thus is no longer disposed to be in conflict with himself. Dangerous wis-

—

dom — and

yet

knowledge are inely

know

this,

humble about. is absolutely no

fire,

electricity,

and

technical

dangerous. But if you genuis nothing to be proud of nor

also it

what is so, and there necessity to parade it by defying social conventions, on the one hand, or by coming on as one who is extremely holy, on the other. The hapless Rasputin was, perhaps, an example of the first case, and Meher Baba of the second though he had a jolly face and a lively twinkle It

is

just

in the eye.

should be understood that none of this is to say that one should not practice yoga or any other type of meditation. I myself use some of these disciplines, not to attain anything in terms of spiritual rank, but simply to enjoy them, as if I were playing a musical instrument or preparing a Chinese dinner. Now to say what Franklin Jones is trying to say is like drawing an asymptotic curve a curve It

—

I

which

is

in

km

I

01

I

IM ENING

always getting aearer and nearer to a

straight line, but nl) touches n at infinity. Per-

could be said that hiscurve is approaching a little faster than some others, knowing, however, that there is no hurry. Beyond words, in the silencing of thought, we are already there.

haps

it

it

Rancho

Saucelito, California.

ALAN WATTS. April 1973.

Prologue:

THE HEART OF UNDERSTANDING Death

is

utterly

acceptable

to

consciousness

There has been endless time

and

life.

less

deaths, but neither consciousness nor

ceased

to

arise.

The

felt

of

numberlife

quantity and cycle

has to

death has not modified the fragility of flowers, even the flowers within our human body. There-

our understanding of consciousness and life must be turned to that utter, inclusive quality, that clarity and wisdom, that power and untouchable gracefulness this evidence suggests. We must cease to live in our superficial and divided way, seeking and demanding only consciousness and life in the present form we grasp, avoiding and resisting what appears to be the end of consciousness and life in death. The Heart is that understanding, that true consciousness, that true life that is under the extreme conditions of life and death. Therefore, it is said, that One that is is neither born nor come

fore,

form, not rendered in what appears, and yet it is the living One, than which there is no other, appearing as all of this, but eternally the same. There is only the constant knowledge and enjoyment of the Heart, moment to moment, through the instant of all conditions of appearance and disappearance. Of this I am perfectly certain. I am That. to death, not alive as the limitation of

One:

Part

THE LIFE OF UNDERSTANDING I

On November New

Jamaica,

1939,

3,

York,

I

at

11:21

a.m.,

in

was born Franklin Albert

Jones.

The sign of my birth is Scorpio, marked by the images of Spirit and of Sex, the eagle and the crab.* It is the sign of internal warfare, the problem and perfection. I have played in the dilemma of my natural alternatives, but from my earliest experience of life I have enjoyed a condition that I would call the "bright." As a baby I remember crawling around inquisitively with an incredible sense of joy, light in the middle of my head that was bathed in energies moving freely down from above, up, around and down through my body and my heart. It was an expanding sphere of joy from the heart. And I was a radiant form, a source of

and freedom

I was the power of Reality, and communication. I was the Heart, who lightens the mind and all things. I was the same as everyone and everything, except it became clear that others were unaware of the

energy, bliss and light.

a direct enjoyment

thing

itself.

Even as a little child I recognized it and knew and it was really not a matter of anything else. That awareness, that conscious enjoyment and

it,

space centered in the midst of the heart

The and low,

the

and the crab are symbols for the extremes, high which individuals born under the sign of Scorpio be inclined.

eagle to

are said to

is

THE KNEE

10

"bright."

And

il

is