Alan Watts Being in the Way

Latest Episodes:

Ep. 21 – Joyous Cosmology Mar 13, 2023

Show notes

Offering us the possibility of waking up, Alan Watts contemplates the joyous cosmology that we are God playing the roles of ordinary people.

Today's podcast is sponsored by BetterHelp. Click to receive 10% off your first month with your own licensed professional therapist: betterhelp.com/alan

In this episode, Alan Watts explores:

If there could be a theory of the world that justifies and makes worthwhile the difficulties and suffering that we undergo
The contemplation that an infinite omnipotent being would eventually get bored with being everything, so would begin to shield itself from this knowledge, and pretend to play the role of separate beings so it could experience the full thrill of waking up to itself
The idea of reality as God playing a game of hide and seek with itself for it’s own excitement and cosmic joke
The difference or potential complete non-difference between the experience and the experiencer
That what you think of as outside yourself is actually just a hidden you

“We have within us a higher self who is pretending to be the ordinary everyday person that we are, who’s acting it. In other words, our everyday life is a dream from which we have the possibility of waking up.” – Alan Watts

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Ep. 20 – Man is a Hoax Jan 30, 2023

Show notes

Sifting down behind the cultural myth of man as separate, Alan explores how we are all actually Earth, the Universe, and the Big Bang.

In this episode of Being in the Way, Alan takes us on a journey from childhood to adulthood, highlighting how we are trained into separation from a young age, and forced to focus on the never-arriving “future,” rather than being present in the moment. Through this lens, he further spelunks the “hoax of man” and offers insight into how this sense of ego identity creates tension and frustration.

Today's podcast is sponsored by BetterHelp. Click to receive 10% off your first month with your own licensed professional therapist: betterhelp.com/alan

In this episode Alan discusses:

How from childhood onward we are constantly preparing for something in the future, rather than being present for life
The culture’s division of work and play, and the confused idea that money can buy you pleasure
Growing up in society, identity, defining a person, and being a “genuine fake”
How the sense of ego creates tension, separation, alienation, and frustration
The inseparable connection of the polarity of self and other
The dawn of creation and how we are not actually separate from the Big Bang
The 19th-century myth that man is a fluke in an unintelligent, automatic universe

“Your actual self—what is finally and fundamentally you—is not a separate and lonely part of the world, but the real you is the world itself, everything that there is, expressing itself as this particular organism here and now.” – Alan Watts

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.

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Ep. 19 – Improbable and Magical: A Tribute To G.K. Chesterton Dec 26, 2022

Show notes

In this unique episode of Being in the Way, Alan Watts offers tribute to the life, humor, magic and ‘nonsense wisdom’ of writer, G. K. Chesterton.

Today's podcast is sponsored by BetterHelp. Click to receive 10% off your first month with your own licensed professional therapist: betterhelp.com/alan

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.

“I read G.K. Chesterton’s works very carefully, and I have, by osmosis, imbibed an enormous amount of wisdom from him. Funny thing is, not so much in terms of specific ideas, as in basic attitude to life. This is a man, who above all virtues, has what I think is one of the greatest virtues which we don’t usually find catalogued—he had a sense of wonder.” – Alan Watts

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Ep. 18 – The Unpreachable Religion Nov 14, 2022

Show notes

Exploring modern culture as actually anti-materialistic, Alan tackles matters of sedentariness, sensuousness, isolation, work, play, God, and sexuality.

Host, Mark Watts, returns to introduce another thought-provoking talk from his father, Alan Watts. In this powerful lecture—one of his earlier field recordings, entitled ‘The Unpreachable Religion,’—Alan turns our common idea of modern materialism on its head.

Today's podcast is sponsored by BetterHelp. Click to receive 10% off your first month with your own licensed professional therapist: betterhelp.com/alan

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.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Ep. 17 – Learning the Human Game Oct 17, 2022

Show notes

Alan Watts pulls back the veil of ‘the human game,’ digging into language, ethics, finding balance, and the art of the controlled accident.

Today's podcast is sponsored by BetterHelp. Click to receive 10% off your first month with your own licensed professional therapist: betterhelp.com/alan

In this episode, Mark Watts introduces Alan Watts in ‘Learning the Human Game’ – originally recorded at a seminar at the University of Michigan. In this lecture, Alan explores the connection between language and ethics, helping us understand why the perfect balance between randomness and order is the optimal middle-ground for experiencing life.

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.

“Mental health is a good game—and a good game is what keeps a certain balance between randomness and order. And a healthy society, therefore, is one which keeps a proper balance between law and whimsy.” – Alan Watts

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Ep. 16 – A Coincidence of Opposites Aug 11, 2022

Show notes

Contemplating the coincidence of opposites within the 'human game,' Alan ponders the simple yet thought-provoking question: is existence serious?

Today's podcast is sponsored by BetterHelp. Click to receive 10% off your first month with your own licensed professional therapist: betterhelp.com/alan

In this episode of Being in the Way, Mark introduces a lecture from his father Alan Watts called 'Coincidence of Opposites' – the first talk in a seminar called 'Learning the Human Game,' given in 1965 at the University of Michigan to a small group of psychology and philosophy grad students.

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.

"One has to get used fundamentally to the notion that different things can be inseparable—that what is explicitly two, can at the same time be implicitly one." – Alan Watts

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Ep. 15 – Changes: The Houseboat Summit with Alan Watts, Timothy Leary, Allen Ginsberg, Gary Synder, & Allen Cohen Jul 11, 2022

Show notes

Timothy Leary, Allen Ginsberg, Gary Snyder, & Allen Cohen join Alan Watts on his houseboat to discuss change, the evolution of society, and the practicality of 'dropping out.'

Today's podcast is sponsored by BetterHelp. Click to receive 10% off your first month with your own licensed professional therapist: betterhelp.com/alan

In this episode of Being in the Way, Mark Watts introduces a truly legendary discussion featuring his father Alan Watts, Timothy Leary, Allen Ginsberg, Gary Snyder, and Allen Cohen. Beaming in from the summer of 1967 on Alan's infamous houseboat in Sausalito, CA, this stacked lineup of free-thinkers, beatniks, poets, environmentalists, psychedelicists, and spiritualists dive into heady and practical conversation around "dropping out" into a freer, more natural, tribe-focused society.

This series is made in partnership with the Alan Watts Organization. Discover the official Alan Watts archive at alanwatts.org

"What we need to realize is there can be a movement, a stirring among people, which can be organically designed instead of politically designed." – Alan Watts

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Ep. 14 – Aesthetics and Mystical Vision Jun 15, 2022

Show notes

In this recording from 1972, Alan Watts lectures on mystical vision via art, aesthetics, and Buddhist and Daoist philosophy.

Today's podcast is sponsored by BetterHelp. Click to receive 10% off your first month with your own licensed professional therapist: betterhelp.com/alan

This series is made in partnership with the Alan Watts Organization. Discover the official Alan Watts archive at alanwatts.org

“You and I have all conspired with ourselves to pretend that we are not really God, but of course we are. That is perfectly obvious. We are all apertures through which the universe is looking at itself. Only it is so arranged that we don’t know that in exactly the same way as we don't look at our own eyes.” – Alan Watts

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Ep. 13 – Psychology of Mystical Experience May 18, 2022

Show notes

Binding contrast into paradox, Alan takes us on a journey through the psychology of mystical experience in relation to life and death, followed by a jaunt through the power of nothingness.

In this episode of Being in the Way, Mark Watts opens the door to the vault, introducing two rare recordings from his father, Alan Watts. The first lecture, entitled Psychology of Mystical Experience, stems from March 5th, 1972 at San Jose State exploring the paradox of life and death. Recorded on Alan's infamous houseboat in Sausalito, the second talk, Nothingness, highlights the inseparable oneness of contrasts, like form and formlessness.

Today's podcast is sponsored by BetterHelp. Click to receive 10% off your first month with your own licensed professional therapist: betterhelp.com/alan

This series is made in partnership with the Alan Watts Organization. Discover the official Alan Watts archive at alanwatts.org

"Nothing is what brings something into focus." – Alan Watts

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Ep. 12 – Cosmic Drama Apr 06, 2022

Show notes

This time on the Being in the Way podcast, Alan Watts explores the concepts of identity and consciousness, looking at the role we play in the greater 'Cosmic Drama'. Before the talk from Alan, we invite you to listen to an insightful conversation between Mark Watts and his guest, Cory Allen, about getting in touch with the core ideas of Alan Watts’ teachings.

Today's podcast is sponsored by BetterHelp. Click to receive 10% off your first month with your own licensed professional therapist: betterhelp.com/alan

This series is made in partnership with the Alan Watts Organization. Discover the official Alan Watts archive at alanwatts.org

Cory Allen is an author, mindfulness teacher, and music producer. He uses his podcast The Astral Hustle to ask leading experts in mindfulness, neuroscience, music, and philosophy to share their wisdom. Check out his book titled Now Is the Way and his online meditation course called Release into Now.

“All sentient beings are God in disguise.” - Alan Watts

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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