Alan Watts: his life & philosophy
A celebration of Alan Watts: In this collection of short clips and writings you will find sections on: Who is Alan Watts, Best Quotes, Inspired Music, Best Books, Watts and Tai Chi and The Alan Watts Organisation
THE TAO OF ALAN WATTS
Alan Watts said:
“Taoist thought is for older people because they have tried everything else and found it doesn’t work.”
Many of us have tried to get to trips with the elusive nature of Taoism. We often arrive at it’s wabi-sabi gate, after having dabbled in meditation, read all there is on gurus, but they always leave us unsatisfied at our deepest level. Which is why, we need Alan Watts to explain it all for us.
Alan Watts is one of the few interpreters of Taoism that remain relevant and accessible for a 21st century reader.
who is alan watts?
For anyone new to Alan Watts, you may be saying: Alan Who? But that would be choosing the wrong interrogative.
The lectures, writings and audio recordings of Alan Watts helped deconstruct the mysteries of Taoist philosophy and present its simple wisdom to a hungry Western audience. And unlike other interpreters of the East, his tools were humour and humility. His words consequently have shaped how many of us see and experience Eastern thought.
Watch the video: Life is NOT a Journey to taste some of Watts’ wisdom.
Alan Watts : quotes
ALAN WATTS On Wisdom
Wisdom doesn’t come from above - it comes from below
ALAN WATTS On Change
The only way to make sense out of change is to plunge into it, move with it, and join the dance.
ALAN WATTS On the End OF LIFE
Try to imagine what it will be like to go to sleep and never wake up... now try to imagine what it was like to wake up having never gone to sleep.
ALAN WATTS On the Search for Security
To put is still more plainly: the desire for security and the feeling of insecurity are the same thing. To hold your breath is to lose your breath. A society based on the quest for security is nothing but a breath-retention contest in which everyone is as taut as a drum and as purple as a beet.
ALAN WATTS On Travel
Real travel requires a maximum of unscheduled wandering, for there is no other way of discovering surprises and marvels, which, as I see it, is the only good reason for not staying at home.
Alan Watts and music
“Life is like music for its own sake. We are living in an eternal now, and when we listen to music we are not listening to the past, we are not listening to the future, we are listening to an expanded present.” - Alan Watts
Jas Walton captures Watts’ voice to a jazzy backtrack in this highly recommended EP that you can get here.
The Best Music Videos: Alan Watts features several times in this best listing that traces popular culture and eastern ideology.
Pearl Viper and the mOnk: 3 Ep’s were released over a year juxtaposing some of Watts’ ideas and catch-phrases with a popular beat. Take a look at the EPs here.
Superb 4 track EP released 2015. Jas Walton (feat. Alan Watts) - Face the Facts. Available in Vinyl as well as digital
Will Cady: Not in the same league as Jas Walton, but still another example of using Watts unmistakeable voice. What Fills the Gap. See the recommended list of Music videos here
THE Alan Watts organisation
The Alan Watts Organisation is run by his son, Mark Watts. It has played an important role in ensuring that the recordings of Alan watts are available to us all.
"The Alan Watts Organisation is dedicated to preserving Alan’s legacy through archival efforts and creative partnerships. Our goal is to make his work accessible digitally as well as through traditional media, and to help spread his message to future generations."
The Alan Watts podcast appears in the list of best Podcasts
To support the foundation you can make a voluntary donation to Organisation here
BOOKS: Alan Watts
The Way of Zen is perhaps his most famous work, but there are others that he co-wrote, introduced or even appeared in that are worthy of our attention. Watts wrote the forward to Embrace Tiger (see below), and in return the author of Embrace Tiger, Al Huang, wrote the introduction to Watercourse Way. I’ve also included a link to One Last Thing in which Alan Watts appears in several time-travelling sequences and radio interviews with renowned celebrities.
Finally, I have added a fascinating audio interview with Al Huang that will delight many a follower of the Esalen Institute and Al’s approach to Taoism, his relationship with Alan Watts and his life as a teacher. Recorded in the early 1980s (thanks to Richard for the link).
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Embrace Tiger Return to Mountain
To work with Al Huang is to learn to move with wind and water... in the course of everyday life... a truly superior and gifted teacher who works upon others as the sun and rain upon plants.' Alan watts
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Become What You Are
The author of The Wisdom of Insecurity and The Way of Zen draws upon a variety of religious traditions to explore Taoism, living in the present moment, and more
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Tao: The Watercourse Way
Following Alan Watts' acclaimed book on Zen Buddhism The Way of Zen, he tackles the Chinese philosophy of Tao.
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One Last Thing
A parody on the history of the martial arts philosophy and a ride through time as one brave reporter travels through space to record and interview the greatest fighters and writers of all time.
Alan Watts AND TAI CHI
It was not just his words, but his passion for simplifying the complicated, his distaste for dogmatism and fixed positions, and his love of movement that inspired so many in their own creative efforts.
My initial foray into online teaching came about this way. I created a course inspired by his approach to learning - a Tai Chi course that would dismantle fixed structures, encourage a free-flow of ideas and moves - that would focus on stripping away all the unessential elements. It was called Complete Tai Chi and focused on how to slow down, to savour the moment and to yield to moment.
THE COMPLETE Tai Chi Course: CULTURE & MOVEMENT Inspired by the ideas of Alan Watts
The Tai Chi Course
Energy, qigong breathing, posture, structural fitness, taichi history & culture. Plus 12 ebooks & 12 songs to accompany this course inspired by a number of writers including Alan Watts.
Immortality & Learning to go Slow
Throughout the Complete Course we use music, images, video and exercises to explore the ideas of longevity and immortality in relation to Tai Chi
Movie Appearance:
The ideas of Alan Watts appear in other formats than books, music or Tai Chi courses such as this clip from the film: Her