Alan Watts, a philosopher and interpreter of Eastern philosophy, delves into the profound wisdom of Taoist philosophy, discussing Yin and Yang, Tao as the force of nature, acting in accordance with nature, and the inseparability of Yang and Yin. He explores how social institutions are mistaken for the real world, the self and roles in life, preparations for conscious dying, and embracing opposites like prickles and goo.

Alan Watts illuminates the connections between Taoism and relativity, technology and human evolution, culture and separation, Saints and rascals, you and not-you, as well as difference and unity.Today's podcast is sponsored by BetterHelp. Click to receive 10% off your first month with your own licensed professional therapist: betterhelp.com/alanFurthering outlining his father's storied life and works, Mark shares his perspective on Alan's early literary successes, radio work, and ensuing lecture tours. Highlighting how Alan's lively and expressive style of sharing dharma on the public stage quickly captivated audiences hungry for insight into the mystery, Mark introduces part one of the talk that is the namesake of this podcast: Being in the Way.This series is made in partnership with the Alan Watts Organization. Discover the official Alan Watts archive at alanwatts.org"The principle of relativity is absolutely fundamental to an understanding of Taoist philosophy. That is to say, that wherever you are, whoever you are, and whatever you are: you're in the middle." – Alan WattsSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Alan Watts pulls back the veil of ‘the human game,’ digging into language, ethics, finding balance, and the art of the controlled accident. Today's podcast is sponsored by BetterHelp. Click to receive 10% off your first month with your own licensed professional therapist: betterhelp.com/alanIn this episode, Mark Watts introduces Alan Watts in ‘Learning the Human Game’ – originally recorded at a seminar at the University of Michigan. In this lecture, Alan explores the connection between language and ethics, helping us understand why the perfect balance between randomness and order is the optimal middle-ground for experiencing life.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.“Mental health is a good game—and a good game is what keeps a certain balance between randomness and order. And a healthy society, therefore, is one which keeps a proper balance between law and whimsy.” – Alan WattsSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Uncovering how we arise mutually with all things, Alan Watts examines our place in the universe and how very natural it is to be human.Today's podcast is sponsored by BetterHelp. Click to receive 10% off your first month with your own licensed professional therapist: betterhelp.com/alanContinuing the last episode's dharma talk on Taoism, relativity, and the connections between you and not-you; Mark introduces part two of his father's classic talk, Being in the Way – a fundamental lecture by Alan explaining mutual arising within the context of a human-populated, yet ever-changing universe.This series is made in partnership with the Alan Watts Organization. Discover the official Alan Watts archive at alanwatts.org"You can be untaught. In other words, your mind can be wiped clean, and you can experience yourself as a whirlpool of energy in a stream which is the Tao, which is the total course of nature, the energy field of the whole cosmos." – Alan WattsSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this intimate session, Alan Watts shares distinctive philosophical vantage points outlining humankind's relationship to nature.Today's podcast is sponsored by BetterHelp. Click to receive 10% off your first month with your own licensed professional therapist: betterhelp.com/alanWelcoming listeners into a seminar session from SMU in 1965, Mark introduces the pivotal Alan Watts lecture, 'Man and Nature,' which he describes as one of his father's most engaging talks, positively focused on ecology and our relationship with the natural world and ecosphere.This series is made in partnership with the Alan Watts Organization. Discover the official Alan Watts archive at alanwatts.orgToday's talk comes from the Tao of Philosophy from Mark's specially curated Alan Watts Essential Lectures CollectionSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Illuminating the truth of the relationship between awareness and self, Alan Watts naturally opens us to the inevitable ecstasy of surrender.Today's podcast is sponsored by BetterHelp. Click to receive 10% off your first month with your own licensed professional therapist: betterhelp.com/alanThis series is made in partnership with the Alan Watts Organization. Discover the official Alan Watts archive at alanwatts.org"There are states of consciousness in which you can listen to sound and realize that is the whole point of being alive, just to go with this particular energy manifestation that is happening right at this moment—to be it. The whole world is the energy playing, doing all this, like a kaleidoscope jazzing." – Alan WattsSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Sifting down behind the cultural myth of man as separate, Alan explores how we are all actually Earth, the Universe, and the Big Bang.In this episode of Being in the Way, Alan takes us on a journey from childhood to adulthood, highlighting how we are trained into separation from a young age, and forced to focus on the never-arriving “future,” rather than being present in the moment. Through this lens, he further spelunks the “hoax of man” and offers insight into how this sense of ego identity creates tension and frustration.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 discusses:How from childhood onward we are constantly preparing for something in the future, rather than being present for lifeThe culture’s division of work and play, and the confused idea that money can buy you pleasureGrowing up in society, identity, defining a person, and being a “genuine fake”How the sense of ego creates tension, separation, alienation, and frustrationThe inseparable connection of the polarity of self and otherThe dawn of creation and how we are not actually separate from the Big BangThe 19th-century myth that man is a fluke in an unintelligent, automatic universe“Your actual self—what is finally and fundamentally you—is not a separate and lonely part of the world, but the real you is the world itself, everything that there is, expressing itself as this particular organism here and now.” – Alan WattsThis 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, a renowned philosopher known for bridging Eastern and Western thought, discusses the nuanced concept of a 'Religion of No Religion.' He delves into how true enlightenment resembles ordinary existence and critiques the clichés that often plague organized religion. Watts illustrates how Zen Buddhism balances the metaphysical with the mundane, emphasizing our interconnectedness through the metaphor of Indra's net. He invites listeners to explore spirituality beyond dogma, celebrating simplicity over rituals and advocating for a personal connection with the universe.

Contemplating the coincidence of opposites within the 'human game,' Alan ponders the simple yet thought-provoking question: is existence serious?Today's podcast is sponsored by BetterHelp. Click to receive 10% off your first month with your own licensed professional therapist: betterhelp.com/alanIn this episode of Being in the Way, Mark introduces a lecture from his father Alan Watts called 'Coincidence of Opposites' – the first talk in a seminar called 'Learning the Human Game,' given in 1965 at the University of Michigan to a small group of psychology and philosophy grad students.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."One has to get used fundamentally to the notion that different things can be inseparable—that what is explicitly two, can at the same time be implicitly one." – Alan WattsSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Alan Watts explores the 'veil of thoughts' in money, civilization & progress; before shifting gears to the 'divine madness' of marriage & falling in love.Today's podcast is sponsored by BetterHelp. Click to receive 10% off your first month with your own licensed professional therapist: betterhelp.com/alanThis series is made in partnership with the Alan Watts Organization. Discover the official Alan Watts archive at alanwatts.org“If you say that getting the money is the most important thing, you will spend your life completely wasting your time. You’ll be doing things you don’t like doing in order to go on living; that is, to go on doing things you don’t like doing—which is stupid. Better to have a short life that is full of what you like doing, than a long life spent in a miserable way.” – Alan WattsSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.