British-American popularizer of Eastern philosophy; Tamir cites his lecture on the court jester about taking life sincerely rather than seriously.
Where it appears 8
how fear disguises as logicBritish-American philosopher. Tamir reads Watts's passage on wonder from The Book: On the Taboo Against Knowing Who You Are and offers wonder as the antidote to fear-driven analytical loops.
portal to the unknownBritish philosopher and popularizer of Eastern thought. The episode's cold open is an archival clip of Watts on how Carl Jung accepted his own dark side and his 'irreducible rascality'.
the elixir of authenticityBritish philosopher who brought Eastern teachings to the West from California. Tamir admires that he never proselytized: he stated things as they are, charismatically, without trying to convert anyone, which Tamir calls 'the pinnacle of influence'. His distinction between taking life seriously and taking it sincerely becomes a key idea of the episode.
merchant of masksHis voice is heard in the cold-open clip on discovering you are a 'phony': the persona was the theatre mask that the sound passed through, and seeing yourself as a game wakes you up to ask who the player is.
ghosts of griefCompared to Alex O'Connor: never trying to convert you to Buddhism or Taoism, just beautifully showing what their arguments were.
how to win at pinball & lifeTamir paraphrases a Watts story about the devil: when you announce you're quitting a bad habit, the resistance comes because the devil is also you. Ian later picks up the idea of 'becoming friends with the devil'.
don't pretend you aren't confusedTamir cites two Watts ideas: the thought experiment of dreaming any dream you want until you tire of control and choose the uncertain life you have now, and his lecture on the court jester who reminds the king of his mortality.
Connections
Mentioned alongside
- Alan Watts: the devil is also you
Tamir's paraphrase of Watts: you privately declare 90 days free of a bad habit to keep the devil away, then wonder why resistance peaks the next day. Who do you think the devil is? You are…
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Words spoken
An integrated person is not a person who simply eliminated the sense of guilt or the sense of anxiety from his life. He's a person who feels all these things but has no recrimination against himself for feeling them.
The pretentious nonsense which passes for the serious business of the world would dissolve in laughter.
To discover that you are a phony through and through and through is to discover that you're a big act, that you're a game. And when you discover that, then you wake up to find out who's the player.
Nevertheless, wonder is not a disease.