Alan Watts explores the inseparable dance between structure and formlessness, revealing why the universe can never be fully captured by words alone.
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This time on Being in the Way, Alan Watts outlines:
- Two distinct schools of thought: those who focus on structure, and those who focus on what Watts calls ‘goo’
- How fixating on practicality is like knowing all the words to a song without ever truly hearing the music
- The difference between a scientific perspective and a spiritual perspective
- Why structure and formlessness are inseparable aspects of the same cosmic process
- Understanding that the universe cannot be explained with words alone
“What is it? What is this universe? What is an atom? What is energy? The only answer that would really please me wouldn’t be an ordinary answer, because it wouldn’t be in words.” –Alan Watts
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.
Photo by Kundoy
Listen to more Alan Watts talks:
Being in the Way Ep. 1: Alan shares a dharma talk on Taoism, the interdependence of nature, and dropping out of karma
Alan Watt’s son, Mark, shares background on Alan’s early life, before introducing two of his father’s specially curated dharma talks focused on karma, in Being in the Way Ep. 2
Therapy, religion, mystical experiences, & Jesus: Being in the Way Ep. 6
The connections between Taoism and relativity, technology and human evolution, culture and separation: Being in the Way Ep. 3