Alan Watts Being in the Way

Moving beyond the imagined boundary of form, Alan Watts explores the idea that humanity is a microcosm of the universe and that the two are inseparable.
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This time on Being in the Way, Alan Watts discusses:
Considering whether being part of a whole means that we are the whole
The radial structure of humanity, Earth, and all beings
Recognizing that skin is not the boundary of man
How foreign the inner workings of the human body seem to humanness
The nature of the mind, likened to the nature of space
The illusion of an individual operating from himself
Blending together materialism and mysticism, not getting too stuck in one or the other
This series is brought to you by the Alan Watts Organization and Ram Dass’ Love Serve Remember Foundation. Visit Alanwatts.org for full talks from Alan Watts.
“Any other way of looking at things is kind of schizoid. It looks at human beings as if they arrived in this world like a bunch of birds on the branches of a barren tree. They just got settled there, they don’t belong, a sense of being strangers and pilgrims from another domain altogether. Well, where is this other domain, and how does it relate to this one?” –Alan Watts
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Alan Watts explores the inseparable dance between structure and formlessness, revealing why the universe can never be fully captured by words alone.
Today’s episode is brought to you by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at betterhelp.com/alan and get on your way to being your best self.
This time on Being in the Way, Alan Watts outlines:
Two distinct schools of thought: those who focus on structure, and those who focus on what Watts calls ‘goo’
How fixating on practicality is like knowing all the words to a song without ever truly hearing the music
The difference between a scientific perspective and a spiritual perspective
Why structure and formlessness are inseparable aspects of the same cosmic process
Understanding that the universe cannot be explained with words alone
This series is brought to you by the Alan Watts Organization and Ram Dass’ Love Serve Remember Foundation. Visit Alanwatts.org for full talks from Alan Watts.
"What is it? What is this universe? What is an atom? What is energy? The only answer that would really please me wouldn't be an ordinary answer, because it wouldn't be in words." –Alan Watts
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Inviting listeners to question the nature of reality, consciousness, and perception, Alan Watts explores the limits of what the mind can truly know.
This series is brought to you by the Alan Watts Organization and Ram Dass’ Love Serve Remember Foundation. Visit 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 and get on your way to being your best self.
This time on Being in the Way, Alan Watts explains:
Solipsism and how it subtly shapes modern human consciousness
The philosophical case for idealism and the nature of reality as mind-dependent
Relativity and how things exist for the purpose of other things
The mind as a mirror and the illusion of an objective, external viewpoint
Considering how the spiritual world affects the material world
The enduring philosophical question: What exists when no one is observing?
The Four Buddhist Inconceivables and the limits of conceptual thought
"Being is always being for something; it is, in other words, relational. The sun is light for eyes. Eyes are organs of vision for a mind. If there are no eyes, the sun gives forth no light. If there are no nerve ends it gives forth no heat. If there are no muscles, nothing is heavy.” –Alan Watts
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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 for full talks from Alan Watts.
Today’s episode is brought to you by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at 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
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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 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/alan 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
"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
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