Saturday, July 29, 2006

physical tension and anxiety.

http://www.spacetruckingmogul.com/mindfieldtv/

as i listen to alan watts talk i am struck by how he doesn`t mess around with the dogma, he goes directly to the experiences themselves. he talks, in one of the lectures linked above, about how before we can think about the meaning of words and concepts as children, our parents and teachers give us instructions that we take as absolute. things like "pull yourself together" or "get a grip" or somesuch that makes us go inside and command our bodies to strain in a desperate attempt to comply. as adults we don`t take these things quite so literally and so we think about strategies to improve or whatever........but the command is still in there......get anxious and tighten up.
so we put energy into tighening our limbs and organs thinking we are solving problems, but what happens is that we can`t relax mentally or physically and we get tighter and tired and eventually ill from the strain.
and the doctors don`t know what`s going on because they`re busy doing the same thing. straining away. so they prescribe pills and surgery to medicate and cut you in the hopes that the symptoms will go away and you go home and get more gripping done and get more tired.......and so on.

5 comments:

Rand said...

Thanks for the link! I heard Watts speaking this afternoon on the radio about the concept of marriage. He cut right to the central problem with most people's conception of what a marriage is. And he was so refreshingly candid. I wish I knew which lecture he was giving because I'd like to find a way to sneak it onto my wife's mp3 player! ;)

Dr.Alistair said...

well, alan is a gift to us all, but we have to recognise what he`s talking about to gain anything from the words. we have to be ready.
when your wife is ready she will hear with perfect clarity in your own words............in the meantime love her with all your heart.

Anonymous said...

Are you a psychologist? Why do you let Watts tell you things? You are worthless.

Dr.Alistair said...

no, i`m not a psychologist.
why do i let alan watts tell me things? interesting question. i suppose one could become so unattached that even the words of other have no meaning.
less feelings at all that way.
i`m not sure there would be a point to being alive then.
an unfeeling, dispassionate observer............hmmm, no, i`ll have some feelings thanks.

Anonymous said...

alan is not so bad, but he is already gone, he died of lung cancer, which probably meant he couldn't stop smoking, just an idea