Alan Watts - We have to live in boxes

[trainofaaron]

Loving the green lion eating the sun picture, makes a perfect addition to this video. All of these documented recordings of Alan comes at me like an epiphany and leaves me in total awe with the ways to comprehend what I thought i knew but never had a grasp on. Understanding one moment at a time.

[thegreenlionV]

@trainofaaron when the pupil is ready, the teacher appears

[truetdhman]

When i die; i don't want any box... i want to be buried just deep enough that people wont be bothered by the smell of my decaying shell and animals won't dig me up. Somewhere down by a river side would be nice. Hopefully on some land that i will soon claim utilizing some dirty paper that will still have some value by mutual agreement. Enough that i may lay claim to some of the BEAUTIFUL Land iN California. i Say claim because, as the Indians said, No one can truly own the land.

[kichohana]

How about living in the round box?

[ShadeToSun]

If a plane full of Americans crashes directly on the boarder of the US and Canada, on which side do you bury the survivors?

[TheBesuited]

I think partly when people talk about "not all houses are rectangular" etc are missing the point about regularity in form, not specifically boxes.

[ghana25]

The Aneristic illusion...

[Dionysos37]

Thanks for this----This speaks to a famous Native American statement to the colonizers: "We do not want to live in boxes!"

[ani451]

Hexagons are actually more practical. Squares/rectangles are just lazy.

[me25422]

cool drawing



[hglazmv2]

@ideasabovestation

Yes, we primarily build out of efficiency, but laying down a grid pattern on a hilly landscape is not the most efficient for that locale. So he does make a point there.

[SmilingDemon22]

Thank you for your video.

[SilentDarkness2332]

im staring at a box right now..

[thegreenlionV]

@SilentDarkness2332 lol

[branson2301]

monty python had better answers

[moofushu]

When I die, I hope they pick out a nice box for me.

[thegreenlionV]

@moofushu lolz

[perfectparadox888]

I hope they pick out a nice conch shell for me. :-)

[IdeasAboveStation]

ridiculous way to argue that we are therefore obsessed with 'straight lines'.

Furthermore;

"Before one studies Zen, mountains are mountains and waters are waters;

after a first glimpse into the truth of Zen, mountains are no longer mountains

and waters are no longer waters; after enlightenment,

mountains are once again mountains and waters once again waters."

Worrying about living in a box is rather besides the point. This is our situation, come to terms with it and let it go. That is all.

[thegreenlionV]

@IdeasAboveStation you missed the point.he's saying we put everything in a box. a box is just a word. like you just put your thoughts on his speech in a box.  it;s not a box in the sense of a "b o x"...it's a metaphor for our ego's intention.

[IdeasAboveStation]

designs. Tooth paste doesn't come in a box, because that would be inconvenient. It doesn't take much to tear this line of argument down. That a line is the most direct route between 2 points is simple math. That it is an over generalisation, such that it is a straw man presented as argumentem ad absurdum. To pick on our discomfort when our expectations and desires for things to be 'rigid' or 'clean' is fair game. But that we craft our buildings in an efficient and convenient manner is a...

[IdeasAboveStation]

This is one of the rare occasions I think he's not actually making any valid points. The shell of a sea creature is shaped by evolution. Our houses are shaped to for convenience and efficiency to accomadate appliances, etc. And those have been crafted and shaped from experience of what works best - an evolution of ideas and design. It wasn't always that we lived in rectangular homes. The celts used to live in circular/round huts. Even now we find modern buildings with unique and interesting...

[thegreenlionV]

@IdeasAboveStation one who knows does not say, one who says does not know

[maxwellpassion]

@thegreenlionV So knowing is more of this kind of 'winning' thing which makes everything revolve around the need to be socially high in status JUST to insure that you are to have sex with a woman. Disgusting truth, it is.

[Tyton]

@thegreenlionV =]

[ChannelTonto]

@IdeasAboveStation His point isn't about architecture as much as it is about the tendency to "straighten things out" and impose order on a "wiggly world". Taoist philosophy is to flow with the natural way of things, whereas in the west we tend to categorise everything and impose arbitrary systems that give us a sense of order. This excerpt is just the analogy part of a bigger point...

[ZenBarracuda]

@IdeasAboveStation Our beliefs are shaped for convenience and efficiency to accomodate appliances, etc. And those have been crafted and shaped from experience of what works best - an evolution of ideas and design. It wasn't always that we lived in our beliefs.

[Scottymcfly21]

Wish people would start to live outside the box

[punchdrunkatheist]

Thank you for uploading these.