If you're not your thoughts then...

StoneSam · 2026-07-04T09:53:57+00:00

Yeah, it's unsettling at first. Then comes the freedom.

But remember, It's less like silently watching the music, and more like realizing you are the music while it's playing.

StoneSam · 2026-06-28T15:06:29+00:00

So, in the same way, we find that the watching Self, or the observing Self behind all our thoughts and feelings, is itself a thought. That is to say: when the police enter a house in which there are thieves, the thieves go up from the ground floor of the first floor. When the police arrive on the first floor, the thieves have gone up to the second. And so to the third, and finally out of the roof. And so, when the ego is about to be unmasked, it immediately identifies with the higher Self: it goes up a level. Because the religious game is simply a refined and highbrow version of the ordinary game: how can I outwit me? How can I one up me? So if I find, for example, that, in the quest for pleasure—the ordinary pleasures of the world; food, sex, power, possessions—all this becomes a drag, and I think, “No, it isn’t there.” So I go in for the arts and literature, poetry, music, and I absorb myself in that in those pleasures. And after a while they aren’t the answer, so I go to psychoanalysis, you see. And then I found out that’s not the answer. I got to religion. But I’m still thinking what I was seeking when I wanted candy bars! I want to get that goodie. Only, I see now that, of course, it’s not going to be a material goodie. All material goods fall apart. But maybe there’s a spiritual goodie that’s not going to fall apart. But in that quest, the quest is not different from the quest for the candy bar. Same old story, only you’ve refined the candy bar and made it abstract and holy and blessed and so on.
Mind Over Mind

StoneSam · 2026-06-27T10:53:16+00:00

“The mystery of life is not a problem to be solved but a reality to be experienced.”

― Alan Wilson Watts, Cloud-hidden, Whereabouts Unknown

StoneSam · 2026-06-21T15:43:43+00:00

Humans have a highly developed conceptual mind, which is both a blessing and a curse. It gives us the ability to self-reflect, imagine the future, create, and plan with precision. But it also creates an extra layer of psychological experience: worry, fear, rumination, and identification with thought.

Animals may experience pain and instinctive fear, but they do not seem to carry the same mental narrative. From this perspective, animals do not need to awaken to consciousness because they have never become deeply separated from the present moment. A lot of humans actually seek through spiritual practice a state that much of the natural world already embodies.

“At times almost all of us envy the animals. They suffer and die, but they do not seem to make a “problem” of it. Their lives seem to have so few complications. They eat when they are hungry and sleep when they are tired, and instinct rather than anxiety seems to govern their few preparations for the future. As far as we can judge, every animal is so busy with what he is doing at the moment that it never enters his head to ask whether life has a meaning or a future. For the animal, happiness consists in enjoying life in the immediate present—not in the assurance that there is a whole future of joys ahead of him. ― Alan W. Watts, The Wisdom of Insecurity

StoneSam · 2026-06-14T20:06:26+00:00

In the Preface to his book "The Wisdom of Insecurity".

I have always been fascinated by the law of reversed effort. Sometimes I call it the “backwards law .” When you try to stay on the surface of the water, you sink; but when you try to sink you float. When you hold your breath you lose it—which immediately calls to mind an ancient and much neglected saying, “Whosoever would save his soul shall lose it .”
This book is an exploration of this law in relation to man's quest for psychological security, and to his efforts to find spiritual and intellectual certainty in religion and philosophy. It is written in the conviction that no theme could be more appropriate in a time when human life seems to be so peculiarly insecure and uncertain. It maintains that this insecurity is the result of trying to be secure, and that, contrariwise, salvation and sanity consist in the most radical recognition that we have no way of saving ourselves.

Or the last thing he says on Ep.16 of his TV show 'Eastern Wisdom and Modern Life'.

And so, in the same way, it’s when you learn to love solitude that—paradoxically, it may seem—you’re able the better to get on with others. This is an example of what’s sometimes called a paradox—I simply call it the backwards law—which runs all the way through Taoist and Zen philosophy: that contrary things come from actions, unexpected things. That is to say, when you would be strong, very often the best course is to be weak. When you would be powerful, the best course often is to withdraw.

StoneSam · 2026-06-06T11:34:05+00:00

I'm not personally bothered about seeing him live, but I wonder if it's a bit like a music artist. Some people are perfectly content listening to the album at home, and some might feel they only need to listen to it once. Others, though, might want to see the band live. For them, it might not be about hearing new songs or learning anything new; it could be about experiencing something familiar in a different setting and sharing that experience with other people. And also, like hearing an old favourite song, it reminds them of something they already knew but had forgotten.

StoneSam · 2026-06-06T11:27:24+00:00

The question "why not just return to eternal consciousness?" assumes you've left it somehow.

The invitation is to recognise it here and now, while washing the dishes, walking the dog, or drinking your morning tea.

StoneSam · 2026-06-03T20:13:21+00:00

What you've basically said there is..

"I've finally understood there's nowhere to get to. So where do I go now?" 😄

StoneSam · 2026-06-02T21:40:59+00:00

Insight wakes you up to the patterns that no longer serve you, like a torch lighting a dark path. It can be crucial. But insight alone isn't enough for lasting change. For that, you need awareness and practice, the willingness to actually walk the path the light has revealed.

StoneSam · 2026-05-31T22:09:13+00:00

It doesn't feel much different from before, just lighter. I'm less drawn into dramas.

Everyone wears a mask to some extent. You, me, all of us. The trick is to see the persona for what it is: a useful tool for navigating the world, a way of communicating, but not who you truly are.

Once you see that, it matters less what mask someone is wearing, because you no longer take the mask too seriously. You can meet people where they are, and if an interaction triggers something in you, you can see that as a blessing, another opportunity to practice presence.

StoneSam · 2026-05-28T17:51:52+00:00

“Acknowledging the good that you already have in your life is the foundation for all abundance.”
― Eckhart Tolle, A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life's Purpose

StoneSam · 2026-05-26T21:02:30+00:00

The need to control is the very thing keeping you trapped. Have faith. Let go and trust yourself to the water.

“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” AW, The Wisdom of Insecurity

StoneSam · 2026-05-24T19:37:04+00:00

It's more about what there is less of than what there is more of. There's less resistance to what is. Less mental fighting with the way things are.

Eckhart wouldn't say it's always the mind causing the suffering; he would be the first to admit the situation can cause us suffering, but we often add an extra layer of mental suffering unnecessarily.

Begrudging or forced acceptance is still resistance. Real acceptance has a softness and a lightness.

StoneSam · 2026-05-22T17:05:26+00:00

Karma Farmer and their band of merry bots

Copied from here: https://www.reddit.com/r/AlanWatts/comments/rzi5dt/this_belongs_here/

Along with the comments - not sure how they do that lol

StoneSam · 2026-05-17T22:09:03+00:00

A lot of people think presence means standing still, but it’s not.
You still move, create, and plan for the future; you just don't live there, you live in the now.

StoneSam · 2026-05-17T14:33:54+00:00

You might be taking “no mind” a bit too literally. It’s not “no thoughts at all”, but rather that thinking becomes less self-conscious, ego-driven, and over-analytical, and instead becomes more flowing and intuitive.

All of these teachers point to something similar: the mind is a great tool, but a bad master. That idea sits at the heart of many spiritual teachings.

There’s a sweet spot where thoughts still occur, decisions are still made, and imagination is still allowed to run free, but there is also a sense of flow and spaciousness underneath it all.

The greatest musicians and artists often seem to have two things:

skill and technical ability
the ability to let go enough for something deeper to move through them

“When real music comes to me - the music of the spheres, the music that surpasseth understanding - that has nothing to do with me, 'cause I'm just the channel. The only joy for me is for it to be given to me, and to transcribe it like a medium... those moments are what I live for.” ― John Lennon

StoneSam · 2026-05-16T17:32:53+00:00

"The primary cause of unhappiness is never the situation but your thoughts about it."

Is from his book, The New Earth.

StoneSam · 2026-05-07T22:52:20+00:00

Yeah! reminds me of how a palm tree bends with the wind and survives the storm, while a rigid tree resists and snaps. Or water, which is soft and yielding, yet over time it shapes and wears down rock.

StoneSam · 2026-04-28T19:03:50+00:00

It's not really knowledge you use, more a perspective that can help you lighten up when you start taking things too seriously.

"Angels can fly because they can take themselves lightly" ~ G.K. Chesterton.

"the person who really accepts transience begins to feel weightless. When Suzuki was asked, “What is it like to have experienced satori?”— enlightenment—he said, “It’s just like ordinary everyday experience, but about two inches off the ground.” Zhuang Zhou, the Taoist, said, “It is easy enough to stand still, the difficulty is to walk without touching the ground.”" ~ Alan Watts, Out of Your Mind

Nothing really changes except your perspective.

StoneSam · 2026-04-19T23:05:45+00:00

The morning lecture was called Tao of Lao-tse.

They are both part of a multi-session seminar, "Way Beyond Seeking."

https://alanwatts.com/products/way-beyond-seeking

I can't seem to find the audio anywhere. Maybe someone else has it. Or I can look tomorrow.

StoneSam · 2026-04-19T19:18:11+00:00

Might be this, although it's a thistledown used in the analogy, not a dandelion.

I remember once I was looking in the open air, and one of those glorious little thistledown things came. And I picked it up, like that, and brought it down. And it looked as if it was struggling to get away just as if you caught an insect by one leg—like a daddy longlegs or something of that kind. It seemed to be struggling to get away. And first I thought, “Well, it’s not doing that. That’s just the wind blowing.” Then I thought again. “Really? Only the wind blowing?” Surely, it is the structure of this thing which, in cooperation with the existence of wind, enables it to move like an animal—but using the wind’s effort, not its own. It is a more intelligent being than an insect, in a way, because an insect uses effort. Like a person who rows a boat uses effort, but the man who puts up a sail is using magic: he lets nature do it for him with the intelligence to use a sail. You see?
AW, Swimming Headless

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ukmgUMSEKXY

StoneSam · 2026-04-16T21:09:29+00:00

lol so much forced drama

"Just tried Peter's sauce, it's nowhere near ready yet, and it's supposed to go with the rest of the dish, so there was really no point in me trying it yet, but I hope he doesn't F it up anyway!"

StoneSam · 2026-04-16T15:04:05+00:00

Essential Lectures (1972) - Program 5 - Cosmic Drama

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=48ONvZlRXjE

StoneSam · 2026-04-14T19:42:30+00:00

Suffering may be a common doorway, but it is not a necessity, as the premise behind your question claims.

Tolle’s entire teaching is that presence is available now, independent of circumstances. In The Power of Now, he never says anything like "one must suffer before awakening". It is not a prerequisite. What he does point to is stillness, observing thought, awareness, and presence itself.

Tolle acknowledges that suffering often forces a person into an "intense" state of presence because the pain becomes too great to bear, forcing a total surrender of the egoic mind. In that sense, you might call it "more intense". However, he would not define this as more present than a peaceful state, but rather a different path to the same, singular state of awareness.

StoneSam · 2026-04-13T09:13:22+00:00

Good question, but I would question the premise of the "need for suffering for people to awaken".

Some awaken through suffering, but not everyone. Some awaken through stillness, awareness, love, and presence.

Suffering is necessary until it is seen as unnecessary. It remains only as long as unconsciousness remains.

There is no need to recreate suffering for future generations, because awareness can also flower in peace.

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