Alan Watts - How We Define Ourselves
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- Опубліковано 7 вер 2024
- "Out Of Your Mind" Lecture on "The Nature of Consciousness"
At a time when the West was just starting to take notice of Eastern spiritual thought, Alan Watts was in the vanguard. A former Anglican priest who dove into an intense study of Buddhism, he explained mystical ideas in terms that an English or American ear could understand. And he combined a profound scholarly knowledge of both traditions with an irreverent sense of humor that was more than just leavening-it was an essential piece of his world view.
To take an example that comes from the very beginning of the Out of Your Mind collection, Watts discusses the two Western views of the cosmos. In the "ceramic myth," the universe is created by God as a potter creates the bowl. As created beings, we are fragile and infinitely dependent on our creator. By contrast, the "fully automatic myth" views the universe as a clockwork machine, running by its own laws independently toward the inevitable conclusion. Both, Watts insists, are myths: meant to serve a certain purpose, and reflective of the people who created them. He proposes an alternative, the "dramatic myth," in which we are all players acting on the illusory stage of life, making up the rules as we go.
You see how many levels this operates on? On the one hand, we can say that the "ceramic" myth represents the traditional Judeo-Christian world view, and the "fully automatic" myth represents the scientific materialism that has displaced it among Western intellectuals. In the West, we tend to feel that we have to choose between the two. But the "dramatic" myth, essentially Watts's framing of the Hindu or Buddhist cosmology, suggests that there are infinitely many more choices, and that "Christian vs. scientific" is a very narrow, false dichotomy.
But Watts is not insisting at all that the dramatic myth is true. His real point is that any myth falls short as an objective description of reality, but works to express the needs of the people who create it. We all look at the myths of ancient peoples in exactly that way. If we can view our own myths in that same light, we can come to take them less seriously, on a certain level. We can learn from them and we can laugh at them at the same time.
Of course this way of thinking is familiar to anyone who has read much Watts. But listening to him speak is a very different experience. For one thing-and this is a bit embarrassing to admit-I was surprised by his accent. His British vowels sound almost stuffy at first, in a C.S. Lewis kind of way (if you've ever heard C.S. Lewis). He plays with it, mimicking different British accents as well as Chinese and Irish for comic effect, and he does them all incredibly well. He seems perfectly at home telling a joke, and he laughs at his own humor if the audience laughs first.
But beyond that, I was impressed by his seriousness. I don't mean "serious" as in "grim," but as in "dedicated." Watts read everything about Buddhism, so he can explain why Buddhists value reading so much less than Christians do. He discusses ancient Vedic texts, making frequent reference to the original Sanskrit or Pali when appropriate-but strangely, I never get the feeling he is just showing off. He is trying to educate his audience, to entertain them, to inform them, and most importantly, to share with them the highest and most beautiful wisdom.
Since the publication of his first book, The Spirit of Zen in 1936, Alan Watts has brought the essential teachings of the East to generations of seekers, suggesting the need to "go out of your mind in order to come to your senses." Carefully distilled from hundreds of hours of never-before-released material, Out of Your Mind presents a philosophical tour de force from this legendary self-described "spiritual entertainer" -- 12 lucid sessions sparking insights into the nature of reality; death and rebirth; the dilemma of polarity; the suspension of judgment; the art of contemplation; and much more.
James Horner - Track: Freedom/The execution Bannockburn - Album: Braveheart
For Waringa...
I have listen to this video over 100 times. Really let yourself take it in, and you will discover joy.
After years I still come back to it and Alan's lectures! Truly enlightning work!
@@zerothehero123 me too:)
@Usernamenottaken2k In the words of Morpheus to Neo before he awoke, "I know, exactly what you mean!" What gave me that similar mix of experience was when I first heard Alan's lecture on, "Higher Self" featured under "Favorties" on my channel. Glad you enjoyed it though. Those of us whom we have delegated (like Alan) to figure out such profound wisdom and bring it to our awareness will forever jolt us out of our self induced hypnosis to remind us of who we really are, and what this is all about.
this is what i love about the internet, i can listen to people who hold great wisdom for free and learn much more than any of college classes and gain values and perspective
Well... I fucking cried... Thanks Alan
+Xan Mann me too!
That's wonderful...
I'm a dude too (LOL) and I burst into tears when I first heard one of his lectures too. There's nothing like hearing someone articulate what you may have always known or suspected but could never explain while being freed from thinking that you're looney for seeing light refract from a prism in a certain manner that others pay little attention to!! - That's probably one of the factors that made you cry, along with the fact that suddenly you felt connected to everything!! LOL
The relationship he drew between the ego to conscious attention to the concept of a radar is spot on.
And so are you my friend. Keep chasing your dreams.
This talk produces an amazing effect in my whole body, and from here my reaction vibrates with so much love & acceptance to the world around me... it makes me want to scream I LOVE YOU ALL!
Greatest speech of all time.
Wow! this left me sitting in my chair speechless . Thank you for this video , it all makes so much sense to me now . . now let me go and cry happy tears now.
does anyone else whole body tingle insanely and shivers down your back!!!
UGH I LOVE THIS ONE! gets me every time!
Alan Watts brings an extremely skillful way of transferring the genuine enlightenment. Thank you so very much.
Same here...I second that, and I'm 28 too.
I randomly discovered Alan Watts in December 2008 (while looking for a documentary on Hinduism, I came across a clip of this reading passages of the Bhagavad Gita), and he's changed my life a lot too.
Every time I watch this I cry. I don't think it's just the music, Alan's words are like music, so beautiful.
He's such an underrated philosopher. I think he ranks along with the greats. If not the greatest ever in my opinion. No one has spoken with such awesome understanding and clarity before.
We really need to get over our fear of death and accept suffering and pain...only by dealing with it and understanding it one is able to ignore it.
Simply the most a youtube video has ever touched me.
Years of meditation without success and this video put it together for me within the first three minutes. I broke down in a mix of hysterical laughter and tears. THANK YOU!!(although you are really me and vice versa ;)
I was an atheist until i took hallucinogens and listened to Terence Mckenna and Alan Watts
John Holt I cant speak for the first part, though I have, but Alan and Terence definitely convinced me of the essential sacredness of nature. This very much feels familiar.
Same here
Everything comes to life on lsd. I really felt like everything from the trees to the sky were all connected and alive. A beautiful experience.
see the patterns they are not random nor are they illusion they are just a part of the movement in the observed and unobserved reality that fractaly manifest to a condition of whole we perceive as reality, each one of us being just a fractal of the all
Same here.
Alan Watts has this amazing ability to captivate both my spirit and my mind.
I am all I and you are all you - stop thinking - you don't have to know how - are you astonished about how you are beating your heart and how you are breathing - I am my foot and I am the sun -- the ego is a joke - the ego is a radar on the ship - is there anything in the way - noting any trouble in the way - the ego is in perpetual anxiety -- just imagine that! -- you are harmony you are god you are healthy and harmonious - you are on that level of magnificent you are all of that -- just imagine that -- you are okay and it can't be anything other than that -- but okay. loving it -- loving Alan Watts --
My mind has been blown away.. the best speech ever!
I get so emotional when i hear this.. Im a dude, 32 years old, and this made me burst into tears.. Just so beautiful..
so beautiful, so true. love walking in the park. love trees. you can feel how alive and content they are. :)
i know what you mean. Energy starts to develop in you're chest and then tears. i love it!
Allan watts what a magnificent philosipher a radiant being of light
thank you for make this film, we are not alone, love to you all.
Yes. I view others as reflections of myself; ultimately we are One essence. I am you, and you are me. When I typed that, I was in a state of Love for all that is; it was something like Bliss (if you want to name it) and I could really feel that everything, every single thing was me, was One, that I was part of that One and that every single human was that essence too.
I love all of you, which means I love me, which means I love the universe. I love.
"The markings of marble" is used as an analogy..It is an expression of being, as fractal geometry. During the "King Biscuit Flower Hour" on Sunday morning radio was the first time I heard Alan Watts...45 years ago.
This gives, me goosebumps. I LOVE it . It makes me feel soo good! This really makes me think about my life in a whole different way. It's, a real eye opener. Thank you for this video and GOD BLESS!
everyone like this we need people to see this for world peace and all other evils.
Alan Watts' books were my first step in questioning myself and my own young world view. Well, him and Bruce Lee too lol. nuff said, thanks for this post.
Imagine they taught this in schools and everybody understood it. Not many things could change the whole world, but that could
I'm greateful to be capable of understanding this at age 20. Thanks Alan.
Fantastic! Thank you for posting and thank you, Alan. We greatly miss you.
Wow. That just blew my mind, about the "discord" and "harmony" thing. The collisions and entropy of tiny atoms and molecules give our cells the necessary components of life, and the war between cells and viruses/bacteria keep our body healthy. In essence, the discord of our level maintains the harmony of a higher level, beyond our conscious ability to know.
JUST WOW... this thoroughly addresses my "fear of eternity"
I know I love it :D.. one of his quotes "One should welcome death in the same way the welcome sleep"
Yes, that's right... He does say that. Thanks for replying and reminding me of that part.
The universal phenomenon of "I"... Amazing. I love to meditate on that! I AM ME! I EXIST! HERE, NOW, I AM! (be still)
alan watts was such a wonderful person.
amazing visualizer for this talk, thank you
Holy crap. That last sentence. Mind blown.
This vid cracked me up. THe way you put this together is golden. Love alan watts.
Ours is an intelligent universe. This intelligence crystallizes in human brains. But the whole works, from planets to stars to galaxies, literally the whole works, is highly intelligent. And we are all that.
Braveheart music to Alan Watts, beautiful.
IM a devote catholic, but i hear these words and myfaith becomes even stronger
this is why im at peace when it comes to death, unlike my friend who is terrified of it,,, i always understood you cant experience death and mr watts just confirms this
Not only does this brief section of Alan Watts' insights sum up humanity's question re: 'the meaning of life' but your eloquence at describing his work and your personal response to it. Most edifying. (Also, I don't know if it was synchronicitous, but the climax of the music at 6:00-6:14 underscores his commentary brilliantly). Thank you very much for posting this Mugikuyu.
This excerpt is filled with profundity simplified; one of which is "the pattern in waves." ebb and flow, waves washing onto shore have no beginning, receding into the ocean, they have no end. Water particles possibly travel thousands of miles, a moshpit of chaos. What do we know? Variables: temperature, weather, rotation of the earth, the moon's pull, sealife movement, etc. Etc. Etc.
I was moved, Thank You.
This guy just blew my mind.
I want this played at my funeral..
I find this as good an explanation of Love as I have heard in 35 years, Dude!
when i listen to this and it took some time, but then in the day it hits that we are all just parts of the whole, and it is happening now, pretty moving and so differnet then thinking in terms of seperation and focusing primarily on ego
this is exactly what i realized! those were the exact words i would of explained it in. in the now of consciousness, im just looking at all of the it at once in this certain way, and you can trace the it back through the mess
ray lewis and eric the hip hop preacher. there's loads more but welcome to the group of people that make a success of themselves in life :)
Good stuff. Alan Watts hits the spot yet again.
Sweet visuals to go along with the wonderful voice.
WOW. Fantastic graphics. Nicely done and a nice visual compliment to the talk.
very inspirational
@JamesRTJ My friend, you can never "give up" conciousness. That is what you are! YOU are it! You may have to give up this image of you down the road. But that by no means is the end of you.
Thank you so much for this upload.
Yea exactly, it isn't something you can force. One recommendation I may suggest would be to go for a walk by yourself, thru a park, with a smile on your face, and just begin to go thru how harmonious everything is with itself, piece by piece, all the while, smiling and almost nodding to the animals and trees, etc as if to say hello old friend, how do you do :)
Im going to begin to meditate in order to find myself and finally come to peace with my inner being. I read patricia coris book and that inspired to take this path. Has anyone else read books by her?
You are the experiences that you experienced.
Death isn't a 'thing', it is known only as an abstraction, it's either seen as an afterlife or complete void, when really it is a great mystery.
Now i'm not saying that the fear of uncertainty, death and loneliness can be completely banished (these anxieties are actually built in us via thousands of years of human cultural evolution and millions of years of animal organism evolution) But with practice, knowledge and acceptance we can channel and learn not to be controlled by our fears.
ah cheers. Sorry to hear of your loss.
Yeah, particularly if you combine a number of Alan's philosophies then things make a lot more sense.
Especially to do with time. The whole problem with purpose can be solved by looking at when we live for.. Because purpose seems to suggest that we're living for some future event (not that I believe in linear time, of course). But the reality is the point is always now. And it is the most beautiful, perfect way it could be!
My answer to who I am is simple: I am who I am.
It's inspirational if nothing else.
RIP ZYZZ
Went to sleep never woke up.
Love the Braveheart song
Amazing!
Alan Watts was the man...
Great wisdom, thank you
man is a succession of lives. it is impossible to lern everything in just one stage of life. the spirit needs a physical body in order to manifest itself, but that can happen in na other place, doesn't have to be here on Earth. one thing is for sure, you are imortal, eternal, you will always exist.
Me too, it's beautifully articulate.
There needs to be MANY more than 2,830 views on this video!
Beautiful thank you
Ahahahaha WHHHOOO baby!!! Yesyesyes!! I managed to remind myself who I was by using a past life!! This is amazing, I gotta make sure I do this again next round :P
Cool video! Keep killing it!!
I love all of you.
hugs for everyone!
Thank you, that was so inspirational and uplifting revelation
Alan is awesome
The entire Universe is just one big beautiful dance
I fell in love with this soundtrack years ago after i first saw braveheart. I've often thought this would be the track i would like to have playing as my brain is flooding with DMT, and I return to the substrate of the universe. So to hear this along with the beautiful words of AW on the topic of death is too perfect. and umm yeah, i'm a 32 year old dude and i tear up as well.
Aaaah, Braveheart soundtrack. Nice!
Thanks for uploading this. Really inspiring.
Well Done Bravo!!
Amazing
I'd be lying if I said I always felt that way. I'm human, and I'm not capable of feeling love ALL the time (we all have moments where we are just not tapped into that) but yes, when I wrote that, it was true. :)
Superb!!
I think I am my awareness, my awareness is me. The one experiencing is the awareness that is produced by my mental faculties. So im not saying i am the brain but what my brain produces. Thats my view of it.
28 too... maybe it's an AGE thing! I think mid life crises are a thing of the past... All you can do is get your philosophies straight and although you might feel like you're going against the grain you meet people on your level.... and to be a tried and true wattsian, i haven't met those people yet so i'm using this platform to tell you that to help myself!!!!
if i am my foot I am the sun, powerful alan watts
I just remembered that i forgot that yesterday when i watched this it was really today and then i woke up.... ;p
I want to hangout with you guys! I feel more connected to life itself!
this world can exist as a healthy one!!!!!!
Love this video