19 Comments

Sam Harris has all of Alan Watts live lectures on his Waking Up app. It’s worth the subscription to hear the man in his own voice - he is surprisingly (or maybe not surprisingly) goofy and irreverent with a spectacular laugh

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Alan Watts was/is one of the great spiritual teachers of this era, no doubt about it. Thanks for this essay.

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"The world, they are saying, is a mirage."

And yet, we hold onto the hope of an oasis.

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Alan Watts is one of the most wonderful and still resonating writers/thinkers from the middle of the twentieth-century. This book is on my bookshelf. I read it when I was younger and was drawn back to it.

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What is the point of life Alan Watts?

The meaning of life is just to be alive. It is so plain and so obvious and so simple. And yet, everybody rushes around in a great panic as if it were necessary to achieve something beyond themselves. “The physical universe is basically playful.Jul 15, 2022

What was Alan Watts famous quote?

To have faith is to trust yourself to the water.

Instead you relax, and float. This is the real secret of life—to be completely engaged with what you are doing in the here and now. And instead of calling it work, realize it is play.

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I am you

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My goodness, did Watts paint the real zombie apocalypse- humanity - into a corner, cave, worm hole, it cannot possibly escape? :-)

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Alan was a close friend and hero to one of my heroes, poet/filmmaker James Broughton, through whom I first learned about Alan Watts. Today's post is most welcome as I've just recovered from my first bout with Covid, which included a deep and prolonged depression. But the experience inspired me to humble my ego in a manner I'd never considered before: to surrender my lifelong identity as 'filmmaker'. Thank you Alan for opening the gate.

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I have been playing a game;

Find a word, say 'teacher' for instance.

And stare at it, for weeks, or months,

or seconds, until the world appears,

that has no need of that word.

And then, in most cases, I move into that world.

Come play!

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I found the book"On the Taboo" in a bookstore soon after my mother died in '69, listened to his tapes on WBUR in the 70s, bought another for my step daughter in '96.

However I am aware of the 7% randomness in quantum theory and do a lot of riding on that bike, the "element of irreducible rascality."

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Most inspiring

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Truly! Sam Harris pawned his old lectures (anyone can find these on these on internet or youtube) off as his recommendation as to meditate. Gee! I thought Harris was a king of mastering such a skill.

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I am so sick of Alan Watts.

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Thanks for letting us know. We needed to hear that.

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Love Alan Watts content. Thanks for sharing!

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This is such synchronicity. I was having a conversation with an old friend just yesterday about ego and Alan Watt's ideas. I've only watched some of his many videos on YouTube, but I must get a copy of this book!

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Indeed we are chasing the mirage, if we stagnate with anything be it any person, any place, or any position what we get is misery. There is a saying in nonduality "Impermanent impermanent indeed all is impermanent". So we must adhere to a sense of detachment in the world.

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