If a flower had a God it would not be a transcendental flower but a field.
Interpretation
This quote suggests that divinity is found in the collective and interconnected nature of life rather than in isolated entities.
Alan Watts implies that if divinity were represented by a flower, it would not be about a single, solitary flower but rather the entire field of flowers that highlights the beauty of connection and unity. This challenges conventional notions of individuality and celebrates the broader experience of existence that encompasses all aspects of life, hinting at a spiritual or transcendent understanding of the world as a whole.
In practice
In a lecture on spirituality, one might say, 'As Alan Watts beautifully illustrates, if a flower had a God, it would celebrate the unity present in nature around us.'
Jesus Christ knew he was God. So wake up and find out eventually who you really are. In our culture, of course, they’ll say you’re crazy and you’re blasphemous, and they’ll either put you in jail or in a nut house (which is pretty much the same thing). However if you wake up in India and tell your friends and relations, ‘My goodness, I’ve just discovered that I’m God,’ they’ll laugh and say, ‘Oh, congratulations, at last you found out.
What we see as death, empty space, or nothingness is only the trough between the crests of this endlessly waving ocean. It is all part of the illusion that there should seem to be something to be gained in the future, and that there is an urgent necessity to go on and on until we get it. Yet just as there is no time but the present, and no one except the all-and-everything, there is never anything to be gained - though the zest of the game is to pretend that there is.
There is only this now. It does not come from anywhere; it is not going anywhere. It is not permanent, but it is not impermanent. Though moving, it is always still. When we try to catch it, it seems to run away, and yet it is always here and there is no escape from it. And when we turn around to find the self which knows this moment, we find that it has vanished like the past.
Many people never grow up. They stay all their lives with a passionate need for external authority and guidance, pretending not to trust their own judgment.
There are two specific objections to use of psychedelic drugs.First,use of these drugs may be dangerous.Howev er,every worth-while exploration is dangerous-climb ing mountains,testi ng aircraft,rocket ing into outer space,or collecting botanical specimens in jungles.But if you value knowledge & the actual delight of exploration more than mere duration of uneventful life,you are willing to take the risks.
The Godhead is never an object of its own knowledge. Just as a knife doesn't cut itself, fire doesn't burn itself, light doesn't illuminate itself. It's always an endless mystery to itself.
If we lived in a state where virtue was profitable, common sense would make us saintly. But since we see that avarice, anger, pride and stupidity commonly profit far beyond charity, modesty, justice and thought, perhaps we must stand fast a little, even at the risk of being heroes.
If we are not fully ourselves, truly in the present moment, we miss everything.
Evil being the root of mystery, pain is the root of knowledge.
War's a game, which, were their subjects wise, Kings would not play at.
We thought we were the only thinking beings in the universe, until we met you, but never did we dream that thought could arise from the lonely animals who cannot dream each other's dreams
I cannot in all conscience agree to anyone being sent to the gallows. God alone can take life because He alone gives it . . .
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