Alan Watts - Who Guards the Guards?

This is my personal tribute to the man I believe to be the world's greatest philosopher, Alan Watts. The late Dr Watts was one of last century's most widely read philosophers, introducing Eastern philosophy to a Western audience in the 1960s. Nevertheless Watts' wisdom is timeless and often seems more relevant today than it was 40 years ago.

Watts was instrumental in achieving a major shift in Western thought, which up to that time had very little understanding of Relativity as it had been revealed by quantum physics. His interpretation of Dharmic philosophy was often the first time Westerners were introduced to the notion that all perceptions were merely a function of mind.

Nonetheless, it is important to understand that Alan Watts was not about replacing our Western religions with those of Asia; as this would only be replacing one form of grasping with another and in Eastern philosophy grasping is the cause of suffering.

Dr Watts' goal was to simply introduce his audience to their deeply entrenched beliefs, by contrasting these often-unquestioned assertions against those of another culture. This process can be very liberating; since this is often the first time that one becomes aware of the possibilities that lay beyond our unrecognised, well-indoctrinated social paradigms.

In this lecture Alan Watts warns his audience of the dangers of micromanagement. This is frequently seen in our society as excessive security and unnecessarily obstructive bureaucracy. Watts explains that this has evolved from the common belief that Nature, including that of human nature, cannot be trusted.

These notions find their roots in Western culture that has often portrayed Nature as something to be mastered. The highly religious amongst us put their faith in an autocratic God, while the rest of us put our faith in autocratic governance.

In stark contrast to this, the Eastern philosophies don't see Nature as something requiring a boss. Nature and the nature of humanity are seen as something only to be admired and respected.

If Nature seems to go against humanity, it is simply because we are working against Nature rather than with it. Therefore it is our expectations of what is achievable that must be revised; it is no fault of Nature. For Nature never acts, but rather cycles from one extreme to another as it has done for an eternity to preserve the quintessential harmony.

If you would like to know more about Alan Watts, Lao Tzu or the Taoist philosophy, please visit my YouTube channel: http://www.youtube.com/TaoFAQ

Category:

Education

Tags:

• Taoism
• Tao
• Eastern
• Dharmic
• Philosophy
• Micromanagement
• Fascism
• Orwellian
• Human
• Nature
• Lao
• Tzu
• 1984
• Big
• Brother

[TheBranmanification]

where can i get a copy of that picture?? ive seen it many times and its amazing.

[yinyangnature]

@TheBranmanification All my pictures are from Google Images. Good luck searching.

[bobbygnosis]

3:26 - 4:12 is all about what wrong with Ayn Rand's "Objectivism."

[yinyangnature]

@bobbygnosis Indeed. I recommend a 3 part BBC documentary available on Google videos called "The Trap" by Adam Curtis.

[diogeneslaertius666]

@yinyangnature all of adams work is nice, i really like the argument about negative liberty - but i feel like curtis doesnt really understand the grand chessboard as well as say pilger or jones

[yinyangnature]

@diogeneslaertius666 Nevertheless, in isolation any one of these broadcasters can be easily dismissed as conspiracy theorists. It's only by communicating an independent yet common message, can these people get us all to see through the 'glass onion'.

[yinyangnature]

@Gettinghitonattheban The Venus Project isnt economically plausible, but thats the point. What makes us think anything about economics is plausible? After all money is created out of thin air from debt and has absolutely no reality in Nature.

Therefore we now have a world that refuses to do anything about climate change in the fear it will negatively impact on the totally artificially contrived monetary system - that only serves to perpetuate war, artificial scarcity and rampant corruption.

[yinyangnature]

@NDW21x Thank you. If we could only get the whole world to listen.....

[diogeneslaertius666]

@yinyangnature that is a great statement

only by breathing life into such a network ourselves, by growing the substratum of mind can we begin to draw closer to the way

[585788]

im looking for Alan watts - American culture, this was a VERY good video that i had in my favorites and apparently there are three claims of fragments on their content...anyone know how i can get this video??

[ambardarlane]

This is all Vedic philosophy.

[TwoPointsUp]

@bobbygnosis Yep, most likely.. She was just a materalist/conservative bitch, who no one takes seriously anymore..Alan was a true philosopher, who brought real eastern thought to our western conciousness..Many owe him for his philosophical insight, but strangley don't want to admit it..

[NDW21x]

ALAN WATTS TERENCE MCKENNA MARSHALL MCLUHAN CARLOS CASTANEDA ALDOUS HUXLEY JACQUES FRESCO ROBERT ANTON WILSON JIDDU KRISHNAMURTI PAUL STAMETS GABOR MATE are some ballers

[bobbygnosis]

@grimmspottir I have read Ayn Rand. I have listened to many followers of her. I have seen her ideas applied in real life (Greenspan being the most obvious). At no point have I found her work or ideas to be anything other than a combination of paranoid, narcassistic and juvanile. The phrase 'ungrounded assertion' comes to mind readily when thinking on her 'philosophies.'

Yes, that's a negative - and harsh - rendering on my part. If you disagree that's fine.

[grimmspottir]

@bobbygnosis

I disagree, unless of course you're referring to Rand's subjugation of the environment, all Rand's protagonists are characters who truly enjoy their work, and do it for no other reason besides the fact that they love doing it, while others try to bury them in every way they can. In fact the very first sentence of The Fountainhead is a man simply laughing at the joy of nature. Rand can be very zen when she wants to be :)

[youfallhard]

4:00 now that is a nifty lookin pebble