MYTH AND RELIGION WAS ONE OF THE ORIGINAL ESSENTIAL LECTURE ALBUMS COMPILED IN 1972. It WAS INITIALLY TITLED THE PSYCHOLOGY OF RELIGION; WHILE REMASTERING THE TALKS IN THE MID-NINETIES THE ALBUM WAS RENAMED MYTH AND RELIGION IN A NOD TO ALAN’S PRODUCTIVE DIALOGUES WITH JOSEPH CAMPBELL. Campbell SAW MYTHOLOGY AS A WINDOW INTO ALL RELIGIOUS PERSPECTIVES AND A WAY OF FINDING A WELL-ROUNDED VIEW OF HUMANITIES’ DEEPLY HELD BELIEFS.
Art of Meditation
[knocking mokugyo] 00:34 A person who thinks all the time has nothing to think about except thoughts. So he loses touch with reality and lives in a world of illusions. By “thoughts” I...
Birth, Death, and the Unborn
All the patterns we see around us in the world are projections of our minds. There is no way things should be, there is no way things shouldn’t be. But if humans can adopt a mental discipline in which they remain able to project patterns without becoming hung up on them, life for everyone will transform into a beautiful artwork.
Buddhism as Dialogue
How does a person get out of a predicament they’ve talked themselves into?
Clarity of Mind
Delivered at the University of California, Los Angeles.
Cosmic Network
Alan takes us from the very small to the very large, explaining the interrelatedness of all things in the universe as a vast network which weaves us into a united yet unnamable divinity.
Democracy in the Kingdom of Heaven
Does God really rule over humans like a monarch, or might the concept of divinity express itself as a drama through all of us?
Diamond Way
An introductory look at the ideas of Pure Land Buddhism.
Do You Do It Or Does It Do You?
Alan explores the meaning of personal free will in the context of core tenets in Eastern mythology: how is it possible to control anything when preexisting conditions outside of our influence determine our present situation? It is a realization of the hidden unity behind our apparent diversity and a relinquishing of obsessive control that enables us to unlock a pathway leading out of the conundrum and towards a celebration and reverence of life.
Eco Zen
00:00 I suppose most of you have heard of Zen. But before going on to explain any details about it I want to make one thing absolutely clear: I am not a Zen Buddhist, I am not advocating Zen...
Ecological Awareness
When Alan Watts talked about the ‘mystical experience’ among scientific circles, he preferred to call it ‘ecological awareness’—referring to a state of mind in which a person ceases to feel separate from the environment in which he or she exists.
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