Ep. 36 – Seeing through The Net

In this new, technological age, Alan Watts explains how seeing reality via only one perspective can lead to a fragmented view of the world; instead, he encourages listeners to adopt both the analytical and the organic. 

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.

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In this episode, Alan Watts dives into:

• Living in an age of technology in a culture obsessed with rational control 
• How someone can easily be obstructed by their own cautiousness
• The problem of human ecology and how one should best relate to their environment
• Considering what our idea of heaven is and what desires we truly want 
• The western model of the universe (intellectual, architectural, mechanical) 
• Reductive thinking: seeing  the world through a net and making everything into a comprehensible, geometrical unit
• The fundamental difference between a mechanism and an organism 
• How understanding the world through only conscious attention can lead to seeing everything as parts rather than the whole picture
• Combining the academic, analytical mind with the organic, ‘gooey’ mind 

“Go to the science of medicine. You get a specialist who really understands the function of the gall bladder. He studied gall bladders ad infinitum, and he really thinks he knows all about it. But, whenever he looks at a human being, he sees them in terms of the gall bladder.” – Alan Watts

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