Monday, September 18, 2006

Alan Watts on "God"

"The difficulty for most of us in the modern world is that the old-fashioned idea of God has become incredible or implausible. When we look through our telescopes and microscopes, or when we just look at nature, we have a problem. Somehow the idea of God we get from the holy scriptures doesn't seem to fit the world around us, just as you wouldn't ascribe a composition by Stravinsky to Bach. The style of God venerated in the church, mosque, or synagogue seems completely different from the style of the natural universe. It's hard to conceive of the author of one as the author of the other."

-exerpt from www.alanwatts.com

Thursday, September 07, 2006

3 Models of the Universe

I once heard a recorded lecture by Alan Watts where he explained the two dominant Myths of Western culture involving the nature of the Universe. He then described a Chinese model of the Universe to contrast the other two. Here is a brief summary of each of the models...

1.) The Ceramic Model - The world as an Artifact

This is the model that has carried over from the Judeo-Christian tradition. In this model, one sees the world as constructed or made- particularly by a supreme God, be it an Intelligent designer or Yahweh himself. The Biblical Narrative in the first few chapters of Genesis describes how the world came in to being. When God made man, he formed him out of the earth and breathed life 'in' to him. This idea has left many westerners with the idea that the world was manufactured by God, and our essential being (soul, spirit, atman, etc...) was brought 'in to' the world.

2.) The Fully-Automatic Model - The world as random cause & effect, lead by dumb energy.

When science began to take precedence over religion, it became harder for people to believe in the God of the Ceramic Model. They saw no evidence of his craftsmanship, because the signs were pointing to natural selection and evolution. Intelligent design became too hard to believe. Charles Darwin, one of the key thinkers for this model of the Universe, had this to say about Intelligent design:

"I had no intention to write atheistically. But I own that I cannot see as plainly as others do, and as I should wish to do, evidence of design.... There seems to me too much misery in the world. I cannot persuade myself that a beneficent and omnipotent God would have designedly created the Ichneumonidae [parasitic wasps] with the express intention of their [larva] feeding within the living bodies of Caterpillars."(The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, 8:224)

The fully-automatic model that Darwin endorsed suggests that the evolutionary process is push along by a dumb energy, not an intelligent designer.

3.) The Organic Model - The World as an Organism

This is the view that Alan Watts pulled from a Chinese worldview. Watts usually starts his discussion on this model by saying that the Chinese don't see their lives/souls as coming 'in to' the world, but rather 'out of' the world. For example, a common question that a western child will ask her parents is, "Mommy, how was I made?" A Chinese child would not ask, "How was I made?" But, she might as her mother, "How was I grown?" This is the view that I believe Alan Watts held for a majority of his later years.

Watts would say that the same way an apple tree "apples" (as a verb), the universe "peoples". Everything we see, hear, touch and taste has come out of the world - not in to it. It is assumed that when people believe that their 'self' was cast in to a human body on this earth, they see the unsatisfactory events in life as being unfair. They didn't choose this life. Nobody asked them if they wanted to be born. But when if we believe that we are in fact a part of the world, coming forth from it, we are motivated to work with the ways of the world (what the Taoist calls establishing Wu-Wei). Realizing the interdependence of the whole Universe, we are able to see where we fit in it and how to work with it.

Wednesday, September 06, 2006

The Attitude of Faith

"Faith is a state of openness or trust. To have faith is to trust yourself to the water. When you swim you don't grab hold of the water, because if you do you will sink and drown. Instead you relax, and float. And the attitude of faith is the very opposite of clinging to belief, of holding on. In other words, a person who is fanatic in matters of religion, and clings to certain ideas about the nature of God and the universe, becomes a person who has no faith at all. Instead they are holding tight. But the attitude of faith is to let go, and become open to truth, whatever it might turn out to be."

-excerpt from http://www.alanwatts.com/essential_aw2.html

About this blog - Revised

This blog started out as a tribute to the late Alan Watts, whose lectures on Eastern Wisdom have intrigued listeners for decades. He has certainly inspired me to continue to investigate the nature of the self, existence, right & wrong, and what it means to be 'realized' or 'enlightened' or 'free'.

My course of study has led me to some new territory. Where I still partially rely on Watts to keep my intellectual and existential inquires grounded, I have also learned a great deal from other sources as well. I have decided to incorporate what I have learned from others into the format of my posts. I imagine I may also contribute some of my own unique understanding - if there is such a thing. Thank you for dropping by.

-awouldbehipster

::: Original Post :::

I began listening to lectures by Alan Watts at the start of this year. Since then I have been fascinated with the ideas that he so effortlessly conveys. He never claimed to be enlightened, nor did he claim to be a Guru that could lead a person to spiritual fulfillment. He simply taught his listeners to consider another perspective (or two... or three) in order to better understand their own perspective.

I formed this blog as a tribute to the late Alan Watts and his creative teachings. I will be posting quotes, links to audio lectures, and my own commentary on his ideas. Please feel free to comment. I would love to engage in some good dialogue about Watts and what he had to say.