Alan Watts Being in the Way

In this new, technological age, Alan Watts explains how seeing reality via only one perspective can lead to a fragmented view of the world; instead, he encourages listeners to adopt both the analytical and the organic.  This series is brought to you by the Alan Watts Organization and Ram Dass’ Love Serve Remember Foundation. Visit Alanwatts.org [https://alanwatts.org/] for full talks from Alan Watts. Today’s episode is brought to you by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at betterhelp.com/alan [https://www.betterhelp.com/alan] and get on your way to being your best self. In this episode, Alan Watts dives into: * Living in an age of technology in a culture obsessed with rational control  * How someone can easily be obstructed by their own cautiousness * The problem of human ecology and how one should best relate to their environment * Considering what our idea of heaven is and what desires we truly want  * The western model of the universe (intellectual, architectural, mechanical)  * Reductive thinking: seeing  the world through a net and making everything into a comprehensible, geometrical unit * The fundamental difference between a mechanism and an organism  * How understanding the world through only conscious attention can lead to seeing everything as parts rather than the whole picture * Combining the academic, analytical mind with the organic, ‘gooey’ mind  “Go to the science of medicine. You get a specialist who really understands the function of the gall bladder. He studied gall bladders ad infinitum, and he really thinks he knows all about it. But, whenever he looks at a human being, he sees them in terms of the gall bladder.” – Alan Watts See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy [https://art19.com/privacy] and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info [https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info].

Diving into the cosmic drama of reality, Alan Watts describes the world as a divine dream which is poetic, playful, and only sometimes serious. Being in the Way is brought to you by the Alan Watts Organization and Ram Dass’ Love Serve Remember Foundation. Visit Alanwatts.org [https://alanwatts.org/] for full talks from Alan Watts. On this episode of Being in the Way, Alan Watts: * Exploring how we get caught in the cosmic game and drama of life * Seeing the universe as the playful expression of divine energy * Questioning identity: the tension between acting and simply being. * Confronting the spiritual taboo of realizing the self as God—tat tvam asi. * Indirect awareness of the networks and systems in the physical world  * Music and the pure delight in complex orders of sound * Embracing the paradox of existence as poetic, musical, and playful, while still being serious. * Considering all of the senses as forms of one, larger sense of touch * The oneness of up and down, black and white, being and non-being  * Complexities of human culture that arise out of duality  Today's podcast is sponsored by Betterhelp & Dharma Seed: Being in the Way is brought to you by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at betterhelp.com/ [https://www.betterhelp.com/alan]alan [https://www.betterhelp.com/beherenow] and get on your way to being your best self. Join Krishna Das, the most well-known voice of Bhakti chanting (Kirtan) in the West, and David Nichtern - a senior Buddhist teacher, founder of Dharma Moon, guitarist in Krishna Das’ band, and producer of several of his albums - for a warm and engaging conversation about these two paths, their shared roots, and how they intersect in contemporary spiritual practice. Learn more about this FREE online gathering - THE HEART & MIND OF PRACTICE: BUDDHISM & BHAKTI [https://www.dharmamoon.com/heart] "The real taboo is 'that art thou'. You, lurking behind the mask of being an impermanent human person, are really responsible for the whole thing. If anybody claims that in our culture, we put them straight away into an asylum. That is the very hallmark of insanity. But, in India, if someone suddenly wakes up one morning and says 'My goodness, I'm God', everybody says, instead of you're crazy or blasphemous, they say 'Congratulations, at last you've found out'". – Alan Watts See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy [https://art19.com/privacy] and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info [https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info].

Breaking free from cause-and-effect and the formal ideas of Confucianism, Alan Watts describes mutual arising as the key idea of the Tao. Today’s episode is brought to you by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at betterhelp.com/ [https://www.betterhelp.com/alan]alan [https://www.betterhelp.com/beherenow] and get on your way to being your best self. This time on Being in the Way, Alan Watts describes: * Chinese philosophies of Taoism and Confucianism * Our roles in social life and Confucianism as the way for people involved in the world * Taoism as the way for those who do not prescribe to formal patterns * How the Taoist goes with nature rather than against nature * Ideologies of God as a ruler or a lord versus the Taoist perspective * Experiences in terms of their polar experience (loud vs. soft) * Mutual arising as they key idea of the Tao * Man as being within nature rather than dominating it * How Taoism gets rid of karma without challenging it * The Chinese philosophy of time * Sensing the flow of the present and flow of the Tao This series is brought to you by the Alan Watts Organization and Ram Dass’ Love Serve Remember Foundation. Visit Alanwatts.org [https://alanwatts.org/] for full talks from Alan Watts. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy [https://art19.com/privacy] and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info [https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info].

Re-familiarizing us with Zen traditions, Alan Watts inspires listeners to move beyond going through the motions of practice. Today’s episode is brought to you by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at betterhelp.com/ [https://www.betterhelp.com/alan]alan [https://www.betterhelp.com/beherenow] and get on your way to being your best self. In this episode of Being in the Way, Alan Watts explains: * Our lack of awareness of the basic structure of the world * The world itself as meaningless (non-symbolic) * Realizing fundamental energy and Zen as the religion of no religion * The metaphysical in terms of the everyday * The composition of Zen practice * How westerners are bothered by ritual and splendor * How Buddhism has degenerated over the years * A re-familiarization with Buddhism for modernity This series is brought to you by the Alan Watts Organization and Ram Dass’ Love Serve Remember Foundation. Visit Alanwatts.org [https://alanwatts.org/] for full talks from Alan Watts. “There is this tremendous problem, unless the Buddhist tradition is to go down the drain completely, of re-familiarizing the Japanese with what it’s all about. Over the years it has degenerated into going through the motions and into being something which is just a kind of magic.” – Alan Watts See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy [https://art19.com/privacy] and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info [https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info].

Focusing on cosmic balance, Alan Watts outlines the fundamentals of Taoism and how to skillfully interfere with our environment. Find the full Zen and the Art of the Controlled Accident series of talks at play.alanwatts.org [https://play.alanwatts.org/]. Today’s episode is brought to you by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at betterhelp.com/ [https://www.betterhelp.com/alan]alan [https://www.betterhelp.com/beherenow] and get on your way to being your best self. This time on Being in the Way, Alan Watts shares a lecture on: * The philosophy of Taoism * Taoism as the flow of things / the course of nature * The pervasive illusion of separateness and seeing it within our language * How we only experience the world bit-by-bit * A transformation of our everyday consciousness into oneness * How we are all indestructible beyond the ego * Life as a game of yin and yang, crests and troughs * The fundamental idea of mutual arising * How everything we do interferes with our environment * Learning how to interfere skillfully This series is brought to you by the Alan Watts Organization and Ram Dass’ Love Serve Remember Foundation. Visit Alanwatts.org [https://alanwatts.org/] for full talks from Alan Watts. “We are not ordinarily aware of how we’re aware, and as a result of that, we don’t understand our connection with the world, and we don’t understand what our real self is. We get anxious; we’re afraid that death may be the end of us. This is, of course, the purest superstition, because everybody is indestructible.” – Alan Watts See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy [https://art19.com/privacy] and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info [https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info].