As a reader, I'm slow. Even slower if it's a reasonably good book on metaphysics: I don't read it, I pore over it, with my critical mind on high alert and my mind's eye wide open.
I'm very wary of invitations to leaps of faith, when we are coaxed into embracing both a truism and a vaguely plausible but potentially specious statement that, at first blush, appears to emanate from the logic established by the said truism or automatically gains credibility because it is made by someone deemed credible after revealing (repeating, to be exact) the said truism that needs no proving.
The latter is the secret to cultish teachings: I demonstrate to you that I'm right about one thing (let's call it X) by letting you experience its veracity. Then I go off on a tangent and make a statement about something else (Y), in the hope that the credibility I've established for myself lends such credence to my statement about Y as is sufficient to convince you, although you lack the information or mental clarity or psychological motivation to prove or disprove it for yourself. Once you've accepted Y as very likely to be true simply because I've said it and you very much wish for it to be true and are willing to take my word for it, I go on to make a statement about Z...
Before you know it, you are sold on my entire (BS) theory hook, line and sinker. And if you are the sharing type, you know what the next thing you would do.
I am reading Alan Watts's autobiography. It's a shame he's dead. I can't discuss these points with him directly. I'll just have to communicate with his spirit, by pondering his words and voicing my reaction to them.
Here are my comments on one of the paragraphs:
By the way, I believe in some sort of continuity of life, but not the primitive model of one-to-one reincarnation.
I think what happens is a RECYCLING OF SPIRITUAL VIBRATIONS, sans 'identity' per se.
And that is a liberating thought.
Liberating, in the sense that you are no longer in thrall to your hang-up about how you will fare in your next life.
That said, it also puts the onus on you to be mindful of every thought that grows out of the intricate mesh of instincts, impulses and inclinations. The vibrational quality of your thought is a manifestation of, and reinforces, your spiritual vibration.
And therein lies a choice. Your choice.
It's okay to have faith. Faith goes a long way towards easing our anxieties. But before you take a leap of faith, look thrice. Life is short and you only live once. You don't want to spend this short, once-in-an-eternity life in the dark cell of delusion, lit by a lone lamp installed by your prison warden.
(N.B. This is a collage of random thoughts, a scoop of chicken soup garnished with onion rings. Eat it with a pinch of salt, as you do with any and all spiritual pick-me-ups.)
