Alan Watts - The Joker - The role of Humor, Music, Hindu Philosophy and "the Joker" in our society

Watts discusses the various roles and purposes which music, comedy, art, and the idea of the performer or "The Joker" plays within our culture.  The Hindu concept of Game Theory is the primary philosophy discussed in this episode. Eastern Philosophy such as Confucianism and Taoism have a different view on this particular subject, but the Hindu philosophy has been very clear about the idea that it is all a game in which we play each day of our lives. These social institutions that are divided into thousands of smaller parts of a larger whole, help to create conventions and agreements which we develop within ourselves and with each other, in order to create order, agreement and harmony.  The role of the joker and art is a symbiotic relationship, which gives and takes from culture and our societal status quo. Each piece of the fabric of our society seems to be separated from the rest, such as an entertainer, however, that role the musician plays actually constitutes a much bigger part of the network or the universal whole. The parts of the "network" don't come from outside of itself, they come from within.  This is a give away that the entire thing is a process and is only a game. It has no other object other than to be doing what it's doing. BUT, it does play parts and varies itself, which creates what we refer to as illusions that the parts are separate from each other. Instead, these various games are all interconnected and part of a much greater organism.  --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/theenthusiasts/support