Alan Watts: enlightened philosopher, writer, speaker

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Alan Wilson Watts (January 6, 1915 – November 16, 1973) was a philosopher, writer, speaker, and expert in comparative religion. He was best known as an interpreter and popularizer of Asian philosophies for a Western audience.

He wrote more than twenty-five books and numerous articles on subjects such as personal identity, the true nature of reality, higher consciousness, and the pursuit of happiness, relating his experience to scientific knowledge and to the teachings of Eastern and Western religions or philosophies (Zen Buddhism, Taoism, Christianity, Hinduism, etc.).

"To be angry about trifles is mean and childish; to rage and be furious is brutish; and to maintain perpetual wrath is akin to the practice and temper of devils; but to prevent and suppress rising resentment is wise and glorious, is manly and divine."

"Undernearth the superficial self, which pays attention to this and that, there is another self more really us than I. And the more you become aware of the unknown self, if you become aware of it, the more you realize that it is inseparably connected with everything else that is."

Dedroidify pages
http://www.dedroidify.com/iam
http://www.dedroidify.com/kaliyuga.htm
http://www.dedroidify.com/view.htm
http://www.dedroidify.com/wake
http://www.dedroidify.com/vids (more alan watts + every other video imaginable)

Myth of Myself 1/2

Myth of Myself 2/2

Who Guards The Guards?

Out of Control

Man And Nature

Wholeness

Is It Serious?

Prickles & Goo: Alan Watts Trey Parker Matt Stone South Park

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b-b-b-b-bump!

[xxxLinda]

Thank you for this thread, I knew nothing. 


Turns out he died when I was 5 and I read all of his books when I found them in the library when I was 11, still thinking (and I still am), that's he's very much alive...





xxxxx

I'm so extremely glad that his writings shaped me.  Love the utube vids.  This is all new to me. 

thankyou muchly.

"To be angry about trifles is mean and childish; to rage and be furious is brutish; and to maintain perpetual wrath is akin to the practice and temper of devils; but to prevent and suppress rising resentment is wise and glorious, is manly and divine."

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You are most welcome. 

I am amazed at how you happened to find the works of Alan Watts at such a young age! My my, that is just the sort of stuff one should be learning in school, rather than the annual rainfall in brazil, or complex algebraic equations. You've surely been gifted by circumstance.

20 years later, here you are once again to enjoy the truly timeless wisdom of a teacher who is indeed still alive in the hearts and minds of many. He exists now in us all, as he always has. 

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What enlightenment in combination with such humor, truely a remarkable being.

If we taught a sprituality class in schools with Alan Watts, Jack Kornfield, and Eckhart Tolle; first hand information from truely enlightened beings rather than teaching religion perverted to ideology, the world surely would be a better place.

Couldn't be any truer.

[xxxLinda]

Couldn't be any truer.

I've lived a bless-ed life, (thankyou, thankyou, thanks so much for the UTube vids!!!


My trouble was, after I read his books (prior to which I'd only read everything I could find, which mainly consisted of baby fiction and Biblical theory & dodgey DH Lawrence),


I was amazed by Mr Watt's sense of humour and the ridiculous; and his complete understanding & then I didn't know where to go from there.

So I went on to spend most of my teenage years either reading all the Religious crap (& Catcher in the Rye and all the fiction I could find) >>>or doing mind altering drugs and dancing on the beach.


Did me good, I reckon, but they should've had a reading list when I was 11, either that or I shouldn't have been allowed to read it at that age.  Obviously I've been back and re-read it all at 20 and again at 30 and I need to read all his books again.  I've traveled with his books.  I brought them home with me, from NY to London, I have collected it all in first-edition hardcover.  Wish I'd met him and had had him sign them for me...


Or I would've taken and shooken his hand and then kissed his cheek or his hand.


...Next I'll look up J Kornfield & E Tolle, if needs be?  Are they disciples of his, should I go there?

[wavelength]

...Next I'll look up J Kornfield & E Tolle, if needs be?  Are they disciples of his, should I go there?

IMO, all spiritual teachers, in the end, teach the same. It's just a matter of what a person needs to wake up. Unfortunally most of us wake up a little and then go to sleep again. The mind then tells us, that's boring, we already know that, lets go on to the next lecture 

That aside, I like Kornfield for his very simple approach to eastern spirituality. He is also a great teacher of different kinds of meditation. Tolles teachings are even simpler and very easy to relate to. Some people however need fierce teachings, in this case I can recommend the books of Carlos Castanedas.

The bible can be an eye-opener too, of course 

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I've lived a bless-ed life, (thankyou, thankyou, thanks so much for the UTube vids!!!


My trouble was, after I read his books (prior to which I'd only read everything I could find, which mainly consisted of baby fiction and Biblical theory & dodgey DH Lawrence),


I was amazed by Mr Watt's sense of humour and the ridiculous; and his complete understanding & then I didn't know where to go from there.

So I went on to spend most of my teenage years either reading all the Religious crap (& Catcher in the Rye and all the fiction I could find) >>>or doing mind altering drugs and dancing on the beach.


Did me good, I reckon, but they should've had a reading list when I was 11, either that or I shouldn't have been allowed to read it at that age.  Obviously I've been back and re-read it all at 20 and again at 30 and I need to read all his books again.  I've traveled with his books.  I brought them home with me, from NY to London, I have collected it all in first-edition hardcover.  Wish I'd met him and had had him sign them for me...


Or I would've taken and shooken his hand and then kissed his cheek or his hand.


...Next I'll look up J Kornfield & E Tolle, if needs be?  Are they disciples of his, should I go there?

I'm glad your time on Earth has been so pleasant.  It's good that you kept your interest in Alan Watts and philosophy over the years. Like wavelength said, 
it can be easy to fall back into the "ego", so it's essential to revisit these ideas and never forget.

I don't know Kornfield and Tolle (but I'll learn!) but I do suggest two other philosophers who can even add to Watts' ideas to expand your mind. Those two are Robert Anton Wilson and Terrence Mckenna.

Take this link: http://www.dedroidify.com/vids/

This website is run by a buddy of mine and it is at this moment the most complete library of consciousness expanding material on the net. It may be overwhelming at first, so my advice is to begin with Robert Anton Wilson and Terrence McKenna. Explore everything. Believe nothing.

Wiki-run down:

Robert Anton Wilson or RAW (born Robert Edward Wilson, January 18, 1932 – January 11, 2007) was a prolific American novelist, essayist, philosopher, psychologist, futurologist, libertarian, and conspiracy theory researcher.

He described his writing as an "attempt to break down conditioned associations—to look at the world in a new way, with many models recognized as models (maps) and no one model elevated to the Truth."[1] And: "My goal is to try to get people into a state of generalized agnosticism, not agnosticism about God alone, but agnosticism about everything."

"Any grid we use to organize our experience of the world is a model of the world and should not be confused with the world itself."

Terence Kemp McKenna (November 16, 1946 – April 3, 2000) was a writer, philosopher, and ethnobotanist. He is noted for his many speculations on the use of psychedelic, plant-based hallucinogens, and subjects ranging from shamanism, the development of human consciousness, and the novelty theory.


“Ego is a structure that is erected by a neurotic individual who is a member of a neurotic culture against the facts of the matter. And culture, which we put on like an overcoat, is the collectivized consensus about what sort of neurotic behaviors are acceptable.”

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Take this link: http://www.dedroidify.com/vids/

Great link, thanks for posting!
So funny to see Bob Dylan, Alan Watts, Sex Pistols, Carlos Castanedas, Chris Rock, Eckhart Tolle, Smashing Pumpkins, Osho, and Ice Cube all on the same web page 

[xxxLinda]

waaaaaaaaaa thank you, I'm so glad I dared sway from the Girly Board and find this thread...



xxxxx

[xxxLinda]

IMO, teach the same. It's just a matter of what a person needs to wake up. Unfortunally most of us wake up a little and then go to sleep again. The mind then tells us, that's boring, we already know that, lets go on to the next lecture 

 in this case I can recommend the books of Carlos Castanedas.

The bible can be an eye-opener too, of course 

Brilliantly put.  I even read horoscopes nowadays.  It's all gone fucky.  All the spirituality people have time for nowadays is a little hit of the back pages, just before the sports and after the city and real estate section.  Recycle that.



You've of course reminded me (which I'd forgotten, but I now have memories of in technicolour) that I read everything by Castenada or whatever his name was, on home grown mushrooms up north watching Aurora Borealis when i was 17.


What did I read when I was 20?  I remember Ayn Rand and Kahlil Gibran.  I was all over the place.

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You've of course reminded me (which I'd forgotten, but I now have memories of in technicolour) that I read everything by Castenada or whatever his name was, on home grown mushrooms up north watching Aurora Borealis when i was 17.

So funny! Have you read all of his books, because the shroom stuff really is just the beginning, when he still had no idea what he was talking about. In his case, I think one should really take the time and read all of it, to get the whole picture. Every book kind of completely falsifies the previous one. I can also recommend books of his companions Taisha Abelar and Florinda Donner-Grau, to get the female perspective of it all

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Images of Man

The whole collection of Alan Watts clips animated by Trey Parker & Matt Stone of South Park.

http://www.freshminds.com/animation/...s_theater.html

[xxxLinda]

Thank you.


xxx