Back to The Essential Lectures of Alan Watts
Season 1
12 Episodes1972
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.
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Episodes (12)
Ep 1
Nothing
1972-12-31•342m
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.
Ep 2
Ego
1972-12-31•342m
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?
Ep 3
Meditation
1972-12-31•342m
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.
Ep 4
God
1972-12-31•342m
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.
Ep 5
Cosmic Drama
1972-12-31•342m
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!
Ep 6
Time
1972-12-31•342m
Here Alan Watts points out that our insistence that the past determines the present is nonsensical.
Ep 7
Work & Play
1972-12-31•342m
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.
Ep 8
Death
1972-12-31•342m
Alan Watts comments on the circle of life and our response to the surprising event of being born in the first place.
Ep 9
The More It Changes
1972-12-31•342m
Alan Watts speaks on our fascination with reproduction through media, and on the far out notion that human beings may just be one star's way of becoming another star!
Ep 10
Clothing
1972-12-31•342m
After talking about growing up near London, Alan Watts demonstrates a variety of cultural garb and points out how each influences the way we live and feel. His choices of attire include a western business suit and a kimono.
Ep 11
Do You Smell?
1972-12-31•342m
Alan Watts speaks about our most repressed sense. Here he introduces viewers to the intricacies of incense in front of a small Buddhist altar, while commenting on the types of incense used in Church rituals and all across Asia.
Ep 12
Conversation with Myself
1971-12-31•342m
While walking in a field above Muir Woods, Alan Watts points to humankind's attempts to straighten out a wiggly world as the root of our ecological crisis.