Ep. 37 – Reality, Art and Illusion
Alan Watts Being in the Way
Be Here Now Network / Love Serve Remember Foundation
4.9 • 748 Ratings
🗓️ 25 February 2026
⏱️ 50 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Inviting listeners to question the nature of reality, consciousness, and perception, Alan Watts explores the limits of what the mind can truly know.
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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This time on Being in the Way, Alan Watts explains:
- Solipsism and how it subtly shapes modern human consciousness
- The philosophical case for idealism and the nature of reality as mind-dependent
- Relativity and how things exist for the purpose of other things
- The mind as a mirror and the illusion of an objective, external viewpoint
- Considering how the spiritual world affects the material world
- The enduring philosophical question: What exists when no one is observing?
- The Four Buddhist Inconceivables and the limits of conceptual thought
"Being is always being for something; it is, in other words, relational. The sun is light for eyes. Eyes are organs of vision for a mind. If there are no eyes, the sun gives forth no light. If there are no nerve ends it gives forth no heat. If there are no muscles, nothing is heavy.” –Alan Watts
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | What we now call mindfulness is rooted in a convergence of ancient disciplines, |
| 0:06.0 | traditions refined and practiced for centuries before reaching modern Western audiences. |
| 0:12.0 | On Tuesday, March 3rd, joined Krishna Das, one of the most recognized voices of Bhakti chanting in the West, |
| 0:19.0 | and Buddhist teacher David Nichtern for a free |
| 0:22.7 | online conversation about these spiritual paths, their shared roots, and how they intersect in |
| 0:29.1 | contemporary spiritual practice. We'll also discuss the upcoming Dharma Moon Mindfulness Meditation |
| 0:35.5 | Teacher Training Program, offering an overview of the training, |
| 0:39.6 | a chance to meet the teachers, |
| 0:41.5 | ask questions, and see if it might be the right fit for you. |
| 0:46.3 | Visit Dharmamoon.com backslash heart for more info, |
| 0:49.8 | and to reserve your spot for the free online event |
| 0:53.4 | with David Nichtern and Krishnadas. |
| 0:57.0 | Welcome to Being in the Way, the Alan Watts podcast. I'm your host Mark Watts. And today |
| 1:18.1 | we're going to be listening to some unique recordings drawn from the Alan Watts archives. |
| 1:23.7 | This is a session from reality, art, and illusion, |
| 1:29.9 | a theme that is very interesting these days with everything that's going on with reproduction |
| 1:32.2 | and artificial intelligence. |
| 1:35.3 | He touched on some themes long ago |
| 1:37.5 | that are very relevant in today's conversation. |
| 1:40.7 | This is Alan Watts in Reality, Art and Illusion. |
| 1:48.0 | Well, now you know that one of the great problems that has arisen out of the Western study of Indian philosophy, as well as out of the tradition of Western philosophy, in relation to the whole problem of illusion, is the question of what is called in the technical jargon of Western philosophy, subjective idealism. |
| 2:16.6 | This is the theory that all reality is mental |
... |
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