About
The Essential Lectures of Alan Watts video series was recorded in 1971 above Muir Woods, California, and in 1972 aboard the ferryboat the SS Vallejo in Sausalito. Produced by his son Mark and directed by long-time archivist Henry Jacobs, the series explores core philosophical themes that spawned over Watts' career.
Cast
Alan Watts
as Alan Watts
Episodes
Season 1
Nothing
Basing his ideas on sensory perception and physical experience, Alan Watts makes a compelling argument that everything actually depends upon nothing for its very existence.
Ego
Alan Watts was concerned with the way we trap ourselves in words. He considered it unfortunate that we separate the "I" from reality and think of "I" in terms of how others see us or the image that we want to project. What is the answer?
Meditation
As Alan Watts explains, "A person who thinks all the time has nothing to think about except thoughts and loses touch with reality." He covers basic mediation techniques, including listening without naming and mantras or sonic meditations.
God
To many of us the image of God as a gray-bearded omnipotent and omnipresent supreme being has become implausible, yet the common sense notions of divine authority surrounding that image persist.
Cosmic Drama
Alan Watts further explores the Hindu dramatic view of the universe, in which God plays all of the parts - all the while pretending not to know who he/she/it is!
Time
Here Alan Watts points out that our insistence that the past determines the present is nonsensical.
Work & Play
Alan Watts swirls an orange on a string and shoots an arrow high into the air before explaining why the art of living is being paid to play - and to the extent that we feel compelled to work and survive, life becomes a drag.
Death
Alan Watts comments on the circle of life and our response to the surprising event of being born in the first place.
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