[frank ballenger]

The late Alan Watts emphasized that individuals do not see the world as it is, but as they are, with the mind acting as a lens through which the universe is filtered.

Beliefs, memories, fears, and cultural conditioning all contribute to this lens, shaping what is emphasized or ignored.

He argued that the observer is not separate from the observed but is part of a continuous, inseparable process that creates reality through interaction. The “self” is a construct that arises from this relationship, not from a separate observer looking at a separate world.

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Sadly in real life he died as an alcoholic in 1973, unable to help himself after helping others with this many books.
He was ordained as an Episcopal priest in 1944 and was later chaplain at Northwestern University. Left that life and was known as a Beat Generation mentor and New Age spiritual author.

I saw him give a lecture a few months before he died.

[P.O.E.]

WFMU used to play recordings of Alan Watts lectures at the same time I was on my daily commute home. Great sense of humor, very insightful.