I've read about him before and heard a bit of him before but never much, until now. He was active back in the 60s and 70s, and he introduced zen and buddhism to the West, among other eastern philosophies, and some of his own ideas.
Sometimes he's a bit dated and sharply anti-christian or anti-marriage and there's a bit of a 60s groovy vibe sometimes.
He's got a bit of an edge to him. But overall, wow, just what a voice I could listen to this guy for hours.
He talks in circles sometimes, and then out of nowhere just a pearl of something so profound will come out.
Anyhow, here's a couple good ones, youtube is full of his lectures:
Alan Watts - Give it away and it will come back
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CXq_mVU8nyc
From the 6 minute snippet:
Why don't you really know what you want?
Two reasons. Number one, you have it. Number two, you don't know yourself, because you never can. The godhead is not an object of its own knowledge.
Really quite brilliant, first two minutes building up to -- boom -- a perfect explanation of zen buddhism, "Number one, you have it." You don't know what you want, because you already have it -- in other words, everyone is already complete and there is no need to be craving and desiring in the first place.
This "I don't know," uttered in the infinite interior of the spirit, this "I don't know," is the same thing as "I love," "I let go," "I don't try to force or control." It's the same thing as humility.
If you know that you do not understand, then you truly understand.
That's quite nice. I've been all through buddhism and zen years ago and I'm not into it anymore, but they're nice principles and I return to it in troubled times. For doomers and worrier types, it is helpful to understand the impermanence of everything, and how to accept things.
Alan Watts~ Love & Marriage
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zhdj1Z5TUG8
(I would disagree with some of what he says there, the long term pair bond is genetic and a product of evolution. Along with a certain percentage of folks who cannot stick with one partner, and that is a part of evolution too, lol. Both are advantageous strategies for continuing ones line of genes.
So I view it from a evolutionary and biological perspective, whereas he makes an historical argument that society is what artificially put contractual marriage into place, but really he's wrong it's just genetic and two types of people and that evolved in our species.
The latter part of that lecture is nice, though, about love in general.)
