The Dream Of Life - Alan Watts

An inspirational and profound speech from the late philosopher Alan Watts.
Original Audio sourced from: “Alan Watts - 'Nature of Consciousness' from Human Consciousness”

Produced and Edited by T&H Inspiration

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Goldmund - Threnody

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T&H Inspiration is on a mission to share inspiring wisdom. The goal is to have you pause, think, and reflect. Many of our videos revolve around the extraordinary teachings of Alan Watts that we produce with permission from the Alan Watts Electronic University.

T&H also films and releases original interviews with iconic people who have experienced successes, while also persevering through life's highs and lows. We look forward to sharing more of these perspectives and insights.

Our hope with these videos is to push your thinking. As Alan Watts said “No one is more dangerously insane than one who is sane all the time: he is like a steel bridge without flexibility, and the order of his life is rigid and brittle.” – Alan Watts.

[static]

"The mark of an educated mind is to be able to entertain an idea without necessarily accepting it."

[USAisNoLongerFree]

I could listen to this guy talk for days on end

[BeyondResist]

“Don’t walk behind me; I may not lead. Don’t walk in front of me; I may not follow. Just walk beside me and be my friend.”
– Albert Camus

[ava.carson]

and for 3 minutes and 38 seconds, everything was ok

[jetto]

Anyone else going through a stage of finally waking up and realising life is being completely wasted by doing the same things everyday?

But why is it so terrifying to think of doing anything else but this?

I'm starting myself on a slow transition of change eventually and hopefully leading to travelling the world!

What do you want to do?

[DonaldCarltonPhotography]

His voice and concepts make it really difficult to consider listening to any other philosopher.

[joniread]

We played this at my son's funeral. I still come back here from time to time; to help me remember and to also try to understand. It never stops hurting, but it does become more manageable. I love you Ethan, sleep tight. 😢❤

[skippingrhyme]

"Only you're pretending you're not" Damn.

[Funnywargamesman]

as someone who struggles at night with the question of why I am here and what I should do with my short life I say this. Thank you.

[darkcell]

10 years ago, I listened to this. One of my best friends told me to look up Alan Watts when I was going through a terrible time in my life and this was the first video that popped up. A decade before that i hadn’t shed a tear. I’ve came back to this speech every single year for the last 10 years to ground myself. I can confidently say this one simple video change my life, and I don’t care who believes it.

[jayforcelle]

"Finally you would dream where you are now..."

[Chalchiuitlyollotl]

"I searched for God and found only myself. I searched for myself and found only God."

[shrekogreton]

This is how ideas of god should be. Not religious assertions, filled with dogma and deluded certainty, but a possibility, not absolute, to be played with and explored.

[fizz.zzz]

2020 quarantine got me here and this video makes so much sense now...

[davidhutchinson]

Self implies other, death implies life. And here we all are. Listening to the Professor almost 50 years after he has left us.

[milaanouska]

i always cry watching these and I dunno why

[MariaDiazskn]

If you awaken from this illusion and you understand that black implies white, self implies other, life implies death (or shall I say death implies life?), you can feel yourself – not as a stranger in the world, not as something here unprobational, not as something that has arrived here by fluke - but you can begin to feel your own existence as absolutely fundamental.

I am not trying to sell you on this idea in the sense of converting you to it, I want you to play with it. I want you to think of its possibilities, I am not trying to prove it. I am just putting it forward as a possibility of life to think about. So then, let’s suppose that you were able every night to dream any dream you wanted to dream, and that you could for example have the power within one night to dream 75 years of time, or any length of time you wanted to have.
And you would, naturally, as you began on this adventure of dreams, you would fulfill all your wishes. You would have every kind of pleasure during your sleep. And after several nights of 75 years of total pleasure each you would say “Well that was pretty great”. But now let’s have a surprise, let’s have a dream which isn’t under control, where something is gonna happen to me that I don’t know what it's gonna be.

And you would dig that and would come out of that and you would say “Wow that was a close shave, wasn’t it?”. Then you would get more and more adventurous and you would make further- and further-out gambles what you would dream. And finally, you would dream where you are now. You would dream the dream of living the life that you are actually living today.

That would be within the infinite multiplicity of choices you would have. Of playing that you weren't god, because the whole nature of the godhead, according to this idea, is to play that he is not. So in this idea then, everybody is fundamentally the ultimate reality, not god in a politically kingly sense, but god in the sense of being the self, the deep-down basic whatever there is. And you are all that, only you are pretending you are not.

[TendoTheDude]

I sent this to my grandmother shortly before her death. She helped raise me form a child and was a pragmatic but spiritual women....I like to think that she is here with me as I listen to it again as I drift off to sleep. Thank you.

[maxb]

I see only peace and love in this comment section. I like to think of death as a soul returning from the distant shores of the universe and experiencing it in all its infinite glory. Whether we go back to the void, an afterlife, or another chance at life, I think there is eternal comfort in knowing that we at least got the chance to feel our own existence.

If you're reading this, I hope you find the solace, happiness, answers, or whatever it may be that you're looking for. Every time I look at the stars I will send good energy your way. RIP Alan Watts.

[AdelleRamcharan]

I love this video and the people who comment here.