Seems like it’s well curated.
I am trying to quit smoking, but why so many awakened beings smoke?
I feel like smoking affects my capacity to live in the present really, but I am still addicted.
I've listened to so many Alan Watts lectures that I don't hear anything I haven't heard before, but I still find comfort in listening to him when I'm depressed, sad, or stressed. When I can't sleep, I play his lectures on my phone and fall asleep to his voice.
I'm an atheist, but I always wonder what I feel when I hear his lectures is similar to what religious people feel in church.
I'm just having a bad day, but I want to share my favorite story. Maybe this will reach your feed and cheer you up from a bad day.
“Things are as they are. Looking out into the universe at night, we make no comparisons between right and wrong stars, nor between well and badly arranged constellations.” — Alan Watts
I had no idea who Alan Watts was. Within 30 mins of listening to him on the waking up app, I realized striking similarities between him and Sam in how they view the real world, and the language (specific words) they use to explain consciousness and the human experience. No wonder Sam speaks highly of him, he himself was heavily influenced. Watts died decades ago, but I am blown away by the clarity of his thinking.
I am listened to just a few sessions so far, but loving it.
That's all. Stumbled across this sub by accident and just wanted to share.
Alan Watts - Gurus
Alan Watts was not Buddhist, I know this. But he is a reason that I took interest in it as he touches upon some of Buddhism philosophy. I brought this up and got downvoted a lot, just because I said I liked him and how he introduced me to eastern philosophy.
So I wonder, why is he disliked on this sub so much if he can’t even really be compared to Buddhism in the first place?
I found a song a few years ago that quoted Alan Watts near the end of the song. The quote was "if I am my foot I am the sun" and was part of the outro. I believe the band was similar style of All Them Witches and it may or may not have been on a soundtrack. Literally have been applying OCD to it's fullest for the last 6 1/2 hours trying to find it, because I know it's in my music library, but I have tens of thousands of songs. I first heard it a few years ago, but can't recall anything else.
Of course, I loved them too when I read them in my ignorance. How are they so attractive to people not looking for the truth about self? Maybe a better question is why do we miss the point that is laid out so simply and so perfectly but still come away with an excitement for the book? These are all best sellers but awakening remains so rare. I am suddenly fascinated by this question.
I'm semi-familiar with Zen and a few other Eastern traditions. I've listened to a fair bit of Alan Watts' lectures and am trying to understand how much of his philosophy is based on Zen, how much is his personal interpretation of Zen (and other traditions), and how much is his own original thought/synthesis. I'm particularly curious to hear from folks who have a detailed understanding of Zen.
Any discussion, examples or resources are welcome!
I use the Waking Up app for meditation and they just added an Alan Watts Collection of lectures. Its probably 50+ hours of content.
I know there is a lot available online for free, but its nice to have it all in one place and nicely organized.
I've been enjoying it so far so just wanted to share.
I'm thankful for everything you've said, and all the ways you've said it can't be said.
You've given us all a vocabulary around the unspeakable, for better and for worse ;-)
When did you first learn about Alan Watts? What were the most profound realizations from that time? How has your life grown in response to that learning? If you could say anything to Alan what would it be?
Over the past couple of year, which have been interesting to say the least, I’ve realized that we are often very quick to identify certain situations as either good or bad. We jump the gun on coming to a conclusion on how we feel about a certain thing. I did this too
Now that we are a few weeks into the new year, I’ve realized that we never know what fortune (or misfortune) the future has in store for us. I came to this understanding after reading the incredible Taoist parable of the Chinese Farmer who lost his horse. I highly recommend checking out this story to help with some perspective and peace in the new year. I’ve narrated the story in depth here - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fMZFhnAFyk8
Let me know how you plan to change your approach this year. Happy New Year. To new beginnings…
Been listening to a lot of his stuff lately and it’s actually really fucking interesting. I high advise it , but approach it with an open mind some of it is legit just weird.
“To the Taoist mentality, the aimless, empty life does not suggest anything depressing. On the contrary, it suggests the freedom of clouds and mountain streams, wandering nowhere, of flowers in impenetrable canyons, beautiful for no one to see, and of the ocean surf forever washing the sand, to no end.”
-Alan Watts
I Just wanted to say thanks for all the support. It feels weird not having her around anymore. Lost my aunt 2 months ago, so it’s been a crazy time for us. But I do appreciate your kind words. And Alan has been helping me get through this too. It’s going to be okay
I just love this one.
A farmer is looking for some extra help on the farm, so he hires a farmhand. On the first day he puts him to work pounding in fence posts, it's absolutely grueling work under the hot sun, but the farmhand excels at this. He sets up more fence posts than any other farmhand ever has in a day, more than the farmer ever could. The farmer is astounded at how fast the hand worked.
So, the next day, the farmer sets the farmhand up harvesting corn. It's tedious work, there are rows and rows and rows of corn and all day the farmhand is plucking ears of corn in an endlessly monotonous task. At the end of the day, the farmhand delivers a massive collection of corn. He's done it again - he's worked harder and better than anyone could ever do. At this rate the farmer is going to run out of work!
So on the third day, the farmer is trusting the farmhand to make decisions. He leads him into the root cellar and shows him the potatoes. There's a whole heap of them, a weeks worth of work. The farmer says, "I want you to sort through these guys, put the good ones in a pile here, we'll sell them at market, put the ok ones here, we'll sell them wholesale, and put the bad ones here, we'll take them to the compost."
Come the end of the day, the farmhand comes out of the cellar and shakes his head. "Well," he says. "I quit." The farmer is aghast.
"You can't quit! What's the matter? You did such good work with the fenceposts and the corn!"
"Well," the farmhand says. "The fenceposts and the corn were all well and good, but these potatoes, I can't take it...it's just decision after decision after decision!"
If there is a torrent, that would be appreciated. Otherwise, I'm considering taking the deal. What do you think?
Edit: I would like to say that if no one here could find the torrent of this specifically, I would be willing to be a martyr.
Almost every video on YouTube I’ve seen has soft piano/rain or “inspiring” background music. It’s annoying as hell,no just want to listen to Watts and think for myself without the music telling me how I should feel.
I'm not looking to argue but maybe one of you can help me appreciate him beyond 'He helped bring Eastern mysticism and mindfulness to the West.' To me, Watts speaks with a glint in his eye, relishing how obvious and easy he makes everything about the cosmos seem. Then he dies from alcoholism. As someone who gave up drinking myself, I respect that struggle. But I don't feel comfortable that, after a lifetime of marinating in Alan Watt's lectures himself, he dies in isolation and drunk in northern California, like L Ron Hubbard...
For anyone unfamiliar with Watts, in many of his lectures and in this book particularly, he talks about the misconceptions of the human experience and the illusion of the ego.
I've started listening to the Alan Watts speeches and I'm enjoying it so far. I liked this quote so I thought I'd share it: "You have all the time in the world because you have all the time that exists, which is now."
Have you started Alan Watt's speeches? What do you think?
There is an Alan Watts lecture where he describes a particular state of mind when a monk’s mind is empty.
I vaguely remember him saying something like, “it is a bit dangerous, you have to be careful, because a monk in this state may join in on riots because it was simply the thing to do”
The quote isn’t exact, but I was intrigued by the general idea and want to learn more. But I cannot find the lecture where he discusses this.
Any ideas?
