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June 23, 2023 29 mins

Picking up from our last episode, Alan elucidates faith versus belief, and how our individual existence is connected with the totality of the universe.

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From his houseboat in Sausalito, CA, Alan Watts explores:

  • The two great myths which underly our Western sense of identity: the Judeo-Christian myth of an overly intelligent universe founded by a cosmic king; and the material myth of a universe which is mechanical, un-intelligent, and empty
  • The problem of “believing” in God, versus the real attitude of faith which is being open to whatever reality is
  • Finding out who we are beyond social institutions like time, money, value, language, and survival
  • How you as an individual implies by your existence everything else in the universe

“The problem about believing in God, incidentally, is that believing is the wrong attitude. Believing is a form of mistrust, because it’s saying, ‘I fervently wish that you exist, and if you don’t, I don’t know what to do with myself.’ The real attitude of faith is not believing, but simply being open to whatever reality is, and to say you don’t know.” – Alan Watts

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