Ep. 1 - Following the Taoist Way

Alan Watts Being in the Way

#Religion #Self-Improvement #Kelly Rego #Be Here Now Network / Love Serve Remember Foundation #Taoism #Eastern Philosophy #Zen #DAO #Alan Watts #Tao #Buddhism #Philosophy #Society #Podcasting Education #Spiritual Beings #Way

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4 years ago 1:00:57

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Being in the Way is a podcast series that explores the Alan Watts Archive’s 100-hour tape collection. Hosted by Alan's son, Mark Watts, Being in the Way features curated talks from Alan Watts and conversations with guests who continue to be inspired by Watts' work today.

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

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

36 episodes

Ep. 1 - Following the Taoist Way

Alan Watts Being in the Way

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published 4 years ago

MP3•Episode home

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

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

36 episodes

All episodes

Alan Watts Being in the Way

1
Ep. 35 – Dreaming the World 54:16

13 days ago54:16

54:16

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

Alan Watts Being in the Way

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Ep. 34 – Confucianism vs. Taoism 59:59

17 weeks ago59:59

59:59

Breaking free from cause-and-effect and the formal ideas of Confucianism, Alan Watts describes mutual arising as the key idea of the Tao. 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 describes: Chinese philosophies of Taoism and Confucianism Our roles in social life and Confucianism as the way for people involved in the world Taoism as the way for those who do not prescribe to formal patterns How the Taoist goes with nature rather than against nature Ideologies of God as a ruler or a lord versus the Taoist perspective Experiences in terms of their polar experience (loud vs. soft) Mutual arising as they key idea of the Tao Man as being within nature rather than dominating it How Taoism gets rid of karma without challenging it The Chinese philosophy of time Sensing the flow of the present and flow of the Tao 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 .…

Alan Watts Being in the Way

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Ep. 33 – Zen Reconsidered 51:27

27 weeks ago51:27

51:27

Re-familiarizing us with Zen traditions, Alan Watts inspires listeners to move beyond going through the motions of practice. 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 of Being in the Way, Alan Watts explains: Our lack of awareness of the basic structure of the world The world itself as meaningless (non-symbolic) Realizing fundamental energy and Zen as the religion of no religion The metaphysical in terms of the everyday The composition of Zen practice How westerners are bothered by ritual and splendor How Buddhism has degenerated over the years A re-familiarization with Buddhism for modernity 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. “There is this tremendous problem, unless the Buddhist tradition is to go down the drain completely, of re-familiarizing the Japanese with what it’s all about. Over the years it has degenerated into going through the motions and into being something which is just a kind of magic.” – Alan Watts See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .…

Alan Watts Being in the Way

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Ep. 32 – Zen and the Art of the Controlled Accident 42:28

31 weeks ago42:28

42:28

Focusing on cosmic balance, Alan Watts outlines the fundamentals of Taoism and how to skillfully interfere with our environment. Find the full Zen and the Art of the Controlled Accident series of talks at play.alanwatts.org . 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 shares a lecture on: The philosophy of Taoism Taoism as the flow of things / the course of nature The pervasive illusion of separateness and seeing it within our language How we only experience the world bit-by-bit A transformation of our everyday consciousness into oneness How we are all indestructible beyond the ego Life as a game of yin and yang, crests and troughs The fundamental idea of mutual arising How everything we do interferes with our environment Learning how to interfere skillfully 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. “We are not ordinarily aware of how we’re aware, and as a result of that, we don’t understand our connection with the world, and we don’t understand what our real self is. We get anxious; we’re afraid that death may be the end of us. This is, of course, the purest superstition, because everybody is indestructible.” – Alan Watts See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .…

Alan Watts Being in the Way

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Ep. 31 – Religion of No Religion 53:34

43 weeks ago53:34

53:34

Explaining the delicate balance of religiousness, Alan Watts lectures on the principle of leaving no trace. “Religion of No Religion” is part of the Japan Tour 1965 series of talks that you can listen to in full over at the Alan Watts Streaming Channel 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 explains: How the highest kind of a Buddha is like an ordinary person Imitation and how all religious comments about life become cliches The way of the enlightened man as the track of a bird in the sky Zen Buddhism and the dance between metaphysical and ordinary Balance and compatibility between universality and the particulars The problem with being too spiritual or too worldly The connection of all events in the universe, past, present, and future How everything in the universe depends upon each 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. “All religion, all religious comments about life, eventually become cliches. That’s why religion always is falling apart and becoming a certain kind of going through the motions, a kind of imitation of attitudes . ” – Alan Watts See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .…

Alan Watts Being in the Way

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Ep. 30 – Flow: Symbolic Reality vs. Real Reality 42:15

1 year ago42:15

42:15

In a lecture on symbolic reality versus real reality, Alan Watts explains the importance of total sensory awareness and looking at our motivations. "Symbolic Reality vs. Real Reality" is part of Flow , a three-part session in the TAO for NOW series of talks that you can listen to in full over at the Alan Watts Streaming Channel 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 discusses: Being aware of all sensory inputs while meditating Allowing oneself ‘to be’ in a non-conceptual way Confusing the world of symbols for reality The limits to what we can enjoy in a material sense The uselessness of guilt Money, tithes, and western religion versus gurus Why our motivation and intention matters Experiencing life naked and directly The Taoist approach to letting go of your body-mind Using all five of our senses to witness our surroundings 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. “The point is to be wide, wide awake and aware of your total sensory input without confusing it with the symbolic world of words and concepts so that you experience life naked and directly. Experience YOU naked and directly, without having in your head the concept of who you are a a role player, as a personality, as an ego . ” – Alan Watts See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .…

Alan Watts Being in the Way

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Ep. 29 – Philosophy of the Tao 46:27

1 year ago46:27

46:27

Join us on a journey of contemplation and enlightenment in this captivating introduction to Taoism. Discover the profound wisdom of Taoist philosophy with Alan Watts as he invites us to embrace the course of nature. Through insightful exploration, he delves into the timeless significance of Yin and Yang, illustrating their inseparable connection and guiding us toward a deeper understanding of harmony and balance in existence. 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 speaks about: Ancient Chinese philosophies How social institutions are mistaken for the real world The self, Confucianism, and the roles we play in life Taoism and the basic energy of the universe Tao as the force of nature How space and solid are two facets of one reality Yang and Yin, positive and negative, male and female Conscious dying and preparing to let go Acting in accordance with nature 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. “It is the inner connection, or rather the inseparability of Yang and Yin, which is what is meant by Tao. That’s why Tao cannot be explained. The reason again if I may put it in another way is that all thinking is classification. It’s asking ‘is you is or is you aint’. Is it this or is it that. After all, if you want to say something is inside it requires an outside. You can’t have an inside without an outside or an outside without an inside.” – Alan Watts See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .…

Alan Watts Being in the Way

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Ep. 28 – Limits of Language 53:58

1 year ago53:58

53:58

Taking a trip through the constructs of form and labeling, Alan Watts philosophizes about the limits of language. This series is brought to you by the Alan Watts Organization and Ram Dass’ Love Serve Remember Foundation. Visit play.alanwatts.org for full talks from Alan Watts. 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 time on Being in the Way, Alan Watts philosophizes about: Unexamined systems of belief underneath language Ideas that are built into our common sense The substance of form, pattern, and organization The profound mystery of matter Limitations in trying to use language to define the ineffable ‘Matter’ as a root word for many things Chinese views of nature Why verbs do not necessarily need subjects Being at peace with ourselves in a world of form Recognizing the universe as a process “ When we divide the world into operations and agents, doers and doings, then we ask such silly questions as ‘who knows, who does it, what does it?’ When the what that is supposed to do it is the same as the doing. You could very easily see that the whole process of the universe may be understood as process, nobody is doing it.” – Alan Watts See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .…

Alan Watts Being in the Way

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Ep. 27 – Love Of Waters 23:05

1 year ago23:05

23:05

In celebration of the waters that bring life to all things, Alan Watts reflects on the separation between human civilization and the natural world. This series is brought to you by the Alan Watts Organization and Ram Dass’ Love Serve Remember Foundation. Visit play.alanwatts.org for full talks from Alan Watts. 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 unique and experimental recording, Alan Watts discusses: The beauty of life on the waters in Sausalito, California The rhythms of nature Time and timelessness The transformation of one form into another The separation of man from the natural world Objecting and Objectifying the world Identity and being able to know knowing The spacious environment of the ocean “Although the rhythm of the waves beats a kind of time, it’s not clock or calendar time, it has no urgency. It’s timeless time, because I know I am listening to a rhythm which has been just the same for millions of years.” – Alan Watts See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .…

Alan Watts Being in the Way

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Ep. 26 – Relevance of Eastern Philosophy 1:01:38

2 years ago1:01:38

1:01:38

Using wisdom from Eastern philosophies, Alan Watts explains why Westerners should let go of any preconceived notions of God. 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. This Alan Watts lecture features a discussion on: Comparative studies on religion The absurdity of Christian imperialism Superiority and lack of faith The difference between faith and belief Blasphemy and those who claim to be God The political image of God in the west The ceramic model of the universe (material and form) Hindu mythology and drama Self-discovery of supreme reality The meaning of Maya Punitive reasons why people say that God is dead Fixed notions of God as idolatry Contemplative prayer and letting go of our ideas of God Existence as relationship Buddhist vows versus western obedience Looking beyond the skin-encapsulated ego “It must be understood that the crux of the Hindu and Buddhist disciplines is an experience, not a theory, not a belief.” – Alan Watts See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .…

Alan Watts Being in the Way

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Ep. 25 – Religion and Sexuality 28:30

2 years ago28:30

28:30

Bringing awareness to ecstatic grace, Alan Watts enlightens us on the sexual archetypes formed by religion. Two cultural icons. Two unique perspectives... One understanding of the presence of the way. Ram Dass' Love Serve Remember Foundation and the Alan Watts Organization invite you to open your mind, open your heart, and tap into the living truth of Alan Watts and Ram Dass. Learn more about this special 4-week Virtual Course: " The Presence of the Way: The Dharma of Alan Watts and Ram Dass" 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 recording, Alan Watts lectures on: Baptism, confirmation, and religious initiation Masturbation and other supposedly sinful behaviors Defiance and wickedness The material world and sexuality The Semitic vs. Greek perspective on sex Sexual energy for reproduction rather than pleasure The fall in the Garden of Eden The institution of marriage Women throughout western literature Love and the illogical promises we make Prudism and extreme monogamy Subtle eroticism in the Victorian era How repression may lead to being overcame Libido as a fundamental reality Sexuality in religious iconography The function of sexual play beyond utilitarianism Sex as a sacramental expression of love Seeing the divine aspect in a lover 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. “The function of sexual play is not merely the survival and utilitarian function of reproducing the species as it is among animals to a very large extent. What peculiarly distinguishes human sexuality is that it brings the partners closer and closer to each other in an intense state of united feeling. In other words, it is a sacrament, the outward invisible sign of an inward and spiritual grace, bringing about love.” – Alan Watts See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .…

Alan Watts Being in the Way

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Ep. 24 – Myth of Myself 43:52

2 years ago43:52

43:52

This time on the Being in the Way Podcast, Alan Watts delves into questions of identity, purpose and buying into the ‘Myth of Myself’. 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: The question of our own identity and our place in the world Myths of the self handed down through history Viewing ourselves and the world with a “floodlight consciousness” – rather than the narrow “spotlight consciousness” we are taught to see the world through How we are not born into this world, but grow out of it – “In the same way an apple tree apples, the Earth peoples.” “The most fascinating problem in the world is who am I? What do you feel when you say the word I? I myself? This problem has fascinated me for many years. Most Western people locate their ego inside their heads. This is the ordinary average conception of what is oneself.” – Alan Watts This series is brought to you by the Alan Watts Organization and Ram Dass’ Love Serve Remember Foundation. Visit https://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 .…

Alan Watts Being in the Way

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Ep. 23 – Out of the Trap Pt. 2 29:34

2 years ago29:34

29:34

Picking up from our last episode, Alan elucidates faith versus belief, and how our individual existence is connected with the totality of the universe. Today's podcast is sponsored by BetterHelp. Click to receive 10% off your first month with your own licensed professional therapist: betterhelp.com/ alan From his houseboat in Sausalito, CA, Alan Watts explores: The two great myths which underly our Western sense of identity: the Judeo-Christian myth of an overly intelligent universe founded by a cosmic king; and the material myth of a universe which is mechanical, un-intelligent, and empty The problem of “believing” in God, versus the real attitude of faith which is being open to whatever reality is Finding out who we are beyond social institutions like time, money, value, language, and survival How you as an individual implies by your existence everything else in the universe “The problem about believing in God, incidentally, is that believing is the wrong attitude. Believing is a form of mistrust, because it’s saying, ‘I fervently wish that you exist, and if you don’t, I don’t know what to do with myself.’ The real attitude of faith is not believing, but simply being open to whatever reality is, and to say you don’t know.” – Alan Watts See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .…

Alan Watts Being in the Way

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Ep. 22 - Out of the Trap Pt. 1 31:50

2 years ago31:50

31:50

Delving into the historically complicated human relationship to divinity, Alan Watts describes the trap of separateness. 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: The sensation of our own existence Jewish Christian mythology Identifying with the tribe Universal law and the roots of justice Freud and the energies of the psyche Man as a product of nature versus the supernatural The idea that we were all subjects of a divine king you might say was a political model based on the organization of the great city-states of the ancient near east. That image, you see, has absolutely haunted Western man throughout his whole development because he has felt that he is in the universe on probation and sufferance. He doesn't quite belong here." – Alan Watts See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .…

Alan Watts Being in the Way

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Ep. 21 – Joyous Cosmology 1:09:34

2 years ago1:09:34