Alan Watts
Who Are You?
All these vibrations, you know, are like the strings on a harp
And the harps that the angels are supposed to play in heaven are really this huge – possibility
(Possibility)
See, when you play the harp you select strings
You don’t play all the strings; it’s stupid to just run your finger along the whole edge of the harp back and forth, back and forth, and go “blrrbllrrblllbrrbllrrblllbrr”
What you do is, you pick out with your fingers—select, just like on the piano—you don’t go “brrrrrrmmmp”— you pick out certain notes, and these make the patterns
But at the same time as you pick out
You reject what you don’t pick out
But it’s all there, constituting a fundamental continuity
The kind of continuity of the thread as they go up to the back of the woven material, and make up the obverse of the pattern that’s on the front
Now, the question that is absolutely basic for all human beings is, “What have you left out?”

[Pre-Chorus]
What have you left out?
(Who are you really?)
(Who are you?)
(Who are you really?)
What have you left out?
(Who are you really?)
Really?

You are focused on certain things that constitute what you call ‘everyday reality.’
Look: you single out people, and you see them sitting, sitting, sitting, all around
(sitting, sitting, sitting, all around)
And you know they are things that are really there
And then, behind the people, are the houses, or whatever we live in, the Earth, and behind all that the sky, and so on
But we see the world as a collection of rather disjointed events and things
And I might say to you, as you came in here today, “Now, my goodness! You all forgot something. What did you forget?”
And you think, “My goodness, did I put my pants on? Did I wear a sweater? Did I—got my glasses, and my hair on, or my wig, or whatever?”
No, no, it’s none of that
But there’s something you’ve forgotten, you see?
Everybody has forgotten something
You left it out; just missed it
See, see?
And so I can bring this out, what you’ve forgotten, if I ask you, “Who are you?”
Well, you say, “I’m Paul Jones,” or whatever your name happens to be
I say, “Oh, no, no, no, no, don’t give me that stuff. Who are you really?”
[Chorus]
Who are you?
(Who are you really?)
Who are you?
(Who are you really?)
Who are you?
(Who are you really?)
Who are you REALLY?
(Who are you really?)

And you think, “Well, of course I’m just—I’m just me.”
“No! Don’t give me that! I don’t want to hear all that nonsense. You’re playing a trick on me. Really, deep down, who are you?”
“I don’t know!”
Well, that’s the thing to find out
That’s the thing that’s been forgotten, see?
That’s the underside of the tapestry
The thing that’s been left out
Because what we are carefully taught to ignore is that every one of us, fundamentally; deep, deep inside is an act of, a function of, a performance of, a manifestation of – the works
The whole blinkin’ cosmos with all its galaxies, and forever, and ever, and ever, whatever it is beyond that
What you might call God in the Western tradition, or Brahman in Hindu philosophy, or Tao in Chinese
Every one of us is really that, but we are – pretending we aren’t
And we’re pretending with tremendous skill and deception

[Chorus]
Who are you?
(Who are you really?)
Who are you?
(Who are you really?)
Who are you?
(Who are you really?)
Who are you REALLY?
(Who are you really?)