On People who are Playing a Far-Out Game (Alan Watts Summary)

This is a short summary of a powerful Alan Watts quote on ignorant people playing a far-out game (and how to interact with them given it’s all God).

This page is intended as a learning resource for educational purposes and only meant to offer an overview/introduction. Short quotes aren’t a substitute for source material, so if this page sparks your interest, explore more deeply by checking out Alan Watts’ books (Amazon). Emphasis has been added below in bold.

How to handle People playing a Far-Out Game (Alan Watts Summary)

Let’s say you are awakening (or even enlightened). How should this change your view of ignorant people? Watts says:

“When you see the people who you think are not in on the secret—if you really understand—you have to revise your opinion completely and say that the squares are the people who are really far out because they don’t even know where they started. See, an enlightened Hindu or Buddhist looks at the ignorant people of this world and says, ‘My respects. Because here I see the divine essence having altogether forgotten what it is and playing the most far out game of being completely lost. Congratulations! How far out can you get?'”

How should you interact with them? Should you try to wake them up?

“If you understand that, you don’t start a war with people you might say are square. Don’t challenge them, don’t bug them, don’t frighten them. The reason is not because they are immature—because they are babies and you mustn’t scare babies—it’s nothing to do with that. You mustn’t frighten them because they are doing a very far out act. They’re walking on a tightrope, miles up, and they’ve got to do that balancing act. And, if you shout, they may lose their nerve. See? That’s what we call the ‘responsible people of the world’ are doing: it is an act; it’s a game just like the tightrope walker. But, it’s a risky one, and you can get ulcers from it and all sorts of troubles. But, you must respect it and say, ‘Congratulations on being so far out.'”

Instead of criticizing them, give them a blessing:

“It’s not something that you criticize in an unkindly way. You don’t say, ‘Those damn fools! Those idiots!’ You say, ‘It’s such a pity that they don’t see it.’ Because although they are going around in this wildly ignorant pursuit, one of the funny things about it is that they don’t realize that there is a dimension, a sense, in which their pursuit is magnificent. It’s to give an obverse sense to the saying, ‘Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.’ Turn that into its opposite: not forgive them, but give them a blessing because they don’t know what they do.”

Remember that it’s God (You/I) playing all the parts:

“I deliberately got involved in this thing. Look at it that way instead. And that, even if I got myself into an awful mess, and I got born with syphilis, and the Great Siberian Itch, and tuberculosis, and in a Nazi concentration camp—nevertheless this was a game, which was a very far-out play. It was a kind of cosmic masochism. ButI did it. Isn’t that an optimal game rule for life? Because if you play life on the supposition that you’re a helpless little puppet that got involved, or if you played on the supposition that it’s a frightful, serious risk, and that we really ought to do something about it, and so on, it’s a drag. There’s no point in going on living unless we make the assumption that the situation of life is optimal. That, really and truly, we’re all in a state of total bliss and delight, but we’re going to pretend we aren’t just for kicks. You play non-bliss in order to be able to experience bliss. And you can go as far out on non-bliss as you want to go. And, when you wake up, it’ll be great.”

Bonus:

Pair with this quote from Swami Vivekananda:

“It is only when we identify ourselves with the body that we say, ‘I am suffering; I am Mr. So and-so’ — all such nonsense. But he who has known the truth, holds himself aloof. Whatever his body does, whatever his mind does, he does not care. But mind you, the vast majority of mankind are under this delusion; and whenever they do any good, they feel that they are (the doers). They are not yet able to understand higher philosophy. Do not disturb their faith! They are shunning evil and doing good. Great idea! Let them have it! … They are workers for good. By degrees they will think that there is greater glory than that of doing good. They will only witness, and things are done…. Gradually they will understand. When they have shunned all evil and done all good, then they will begin to realise that they are beyond all nature. They are not the doers. They stand (apart). They are the … witness. They simply stand and look. Nature is begetting all the universe.” — Swami Vivekananda

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