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May 15, 2025 54 mins

Diving into the cosmic drama of reality, Alan Watts describes the world as a divine dream which is poetic, playful, and only sometimes serious.

Being in the Way 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.

On this episode of Being in the Way, Alan Watts:

  • Exploring how we get caught in the cosmic game and drama of life
  • Seeing the universe as the playful expression of divine energy
  • Questioning identity: the tension between acting and simply being.
  • Confronting the spiritual taboo of realizing the self as God—tat tvam asi.
  • Indirect awareness of the networks and systems in the physical world 
  • Music and the pure delight in complex orders of sound
  • Embracing the paradox of existence as poetic, musical, and playful, while still being serious.
  • Considering all of the senses as forms of one, larger sense of touch
  • The oneness of up and down, black and white, being and non-being 
  • Complexities of human culture that arise out of duality 

Today's podcast is sponsored by Betterhelp & Dharma Seed:

Being in the Way is brought to you by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at betterhelp.com/alan and get on your way to being your best self.

Join Krishna Das, the most well-known voice of Bhakti chanting (Kirtan) in the West, and David Nichtern - a senior Buddhist teacher, founder of Dharma Moon, guitarist in Krishna Das’ band, and producer of several of his albums - for a warm and engaging conversation about these two paths, their shared roots, and how they intersect in contemporary spiritual practice. Learn more about this FREE online gathering - THE HEART & MIND OF PRACTICE: BUDDHISM & BHAKTI

"The real taboo is 'that art thou'. You, lurking behind the mask of being an impermanent human person, are really responsible for the whole thing. If anybody claims that in our culture, we put them straight away into an asylum. That is the very hallmark of insanity. But, in India, if someone suddenly wakes up one morning and says 'My goodness, I'm God', everybody says, instead of you're crazy or blasphemous, they say 'Congratulations, at last you've found out'". – Alan Watts

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