Sunday, April 12, 2020
I thought I would start off by mentioning a lecture by Alan Watts on the "nature of God":
YouTube link
Despite the title, what he really is referring to is "the Void", "space", the background or foundation that supports the reality that we experience. It's entertaining, and he is very well-spoken -- certainly underestimated by his critics. But what he says is not that surprising to me, having thought about these things before. What I mainly get from Watts is:
* Interesting literary and historical references, for example to ancient Greek philosophy or Eastern religions; and,
* A beautiful, almost poetic way of describing the ideas presented in this lecture, and others of his that were recorded (many by one of his sons).
Where I am mainly a little hesitatnt to buy into his worldview concerns his focus -- over and over again -- on dichotomies. Night and day, masculine and feminine, existence and non-existence, and so on. For many of these, the transition from one pole (e.g. darkest midnight) to the another (the brightest of days) is not so abrupt, and there is often a borderland between categories. Rather than hard dichotomies, I mostly see smooth transitions.
Another area of possible disagreement concerns Platonic notions like "nondual" (or "Brahman"). Here, he means it in the sense of the ultimate, ineffable reality behind all existence; beyond categories and categorization; not-this-not-that ("neti-neti"). We can tell stories about such things, but I am skeptical we could ever say much about how it really is, or even if it exists at all.
I consider these minor issues, though. I still agree with him much more than I disagree with him.
....
If you enjoyed that video above, you might also enjoy this short interview with his son, Mark Watts (commissioned by Volvo, strangely enough):
YouTube link