This time on the Being within the Method podcast, Alan Watts explores the ideas of id and consciousness, trying on the function we play within the higher ‘Cosmic Drama’.
Earlier than the discuss from Alan, we invite you to take heed to an insightful dialog between Mark Watts and his visitor, Cory Allen, about getting in contact with the core concepts of Alan Watts’ teachings.
Cory Allen is an writer, mindfulness instructor, and music producer. He makes use of his podcast The Astral Hustle to ask main consultants in mindfulness, neuroscience, music, and philosophy to share their knowledge. Try his e-book titled Now Is the Method and his on-line meditation course referred to as Launch into Now.
The Apple Tree
Mark begins by discussing how folks usually resonated with Alan Watts’ messages by means of metaphor. Mark says that his father steadily talked in regards to the self. Folks don’t see their whole selves, they usually solely view one model. He shares this metaphor from Alan:
“We didn’t come into this world, we grew out of it. In the identical manner an apple tree apples, the earth peoples.” – Mark Watts paraphrasing Alan Watts
We all know one apple doesn’t symbolize the entire of the tree. What piece of your id are you over-identifying with?
For extra on id take a look at Ep. 93 of Coronary heart Knowledge: Mindfulness, Id, and Incarnation
Sinking into the Soil of the Self (8:58)
Cory and Mark talk about how meditation helps us sink into the soil of ourselves. They speak about sensory experiences versus consciousness. Once we odor an orange, our senses ship messages to the mind to inform us it’s an orange. With consciousness, nonetheless, the message comes from inside quite than exterior of us. It may be laborious to distinguish what’s factual after we attempt to perceive the messages from our consciousness since we nonetheless have subjectiveness, issues that affect our ideas, and so forth. Meditation may help us with this as a result of we are able to observe our ideas with out turning into hooked up to them and making them our id. In reference to meditation Alan used to say:
“Meditation pauses the story in your thoughts lengthy sufficient so that you can keep in mind that your thoughts is telling you a narrative.” – Cory Allen
To listen to extra from Cory Allen take heed to Ep. 104 of The Indie Spiritualist: Trendy Mindfulness w/ Cory Allen
Going with the Circulate (24:31)
Some folks consider that being within the non secular world is superior to the fabric. Mark discusses how Alan Watts believed simply the alternative. The world and materials itself may be your best instructor. Once you glide and expertise the physicality of on a regular basis life by means of issues like crusing a ship or woodworking, you might be having a dialog with the universe. We’re college students of the universe, and this contains the fabric world.
The Phantasm of the Cosmic Drama (40:03)
After the interview, we hear a recording of Alan Watts. He discusses vacancy, God, and the way people are one with the universe. Alan says that within the west we view the world as an artifact or machine created by God–an incredible engineer. Within the east, nonetheless, the world is considered as a beautiful, cosmic drama. Alan tells us that the essence of drama is that we all know it’s an phantasm. If folks understood being alive as a drama we (together with God) get to play in, life would really feel extra free, stuffed with prospects, and far much less critical.
“All sentient beings are God in disguise.” – Alan Watts