I have been listening a lot to Alan Watts over the past couple of months. It started because, for some reason, I ended up there on YouTube.
I liked what “he” was saying, and during a period of poorer sleep—when I sometimes wake up in the middle of the night—it became a way of centering myself. Strangely enough, without fully realizing it, most of what I was listening to was AI-generated content, so there was no actual “him” I was listening to. And even stranger, it worked anyway. The content was at times brilliant. But after a while it became mechanical—and it was also odd when the AI would occasionally refer to “endless scrolling” and other anachronisms—even if the substance itself was actually accurate.
Now I have found my way to authentic material overseen by the Alan Watts Organization, which is run by Alan’s son, Mark Watts. On Spotify there is a full podcast with Mark called Alan Watts: Being in the Way, which at the time of writing consists of 36 episodes ranging from 45 minutes to just over an hour in length. (The podcast is a collaboration between the Alan Watts Organization and Ram Dass’ Be Here Now Network.)
Alan Watts is, from what little I have understood, a rather remarkable character. Apparently, he began lecturing as early as the age of sixteen, and within Zen circles people were already raising their eyebrows at his near-masterful insights. He was born in England in 1915 but moved to the United States in 1938, where he trained and was ordained as a Christian priest (though he later left the profession) and eventually settled in California. In the U.S., he lectured extensively, for example at universities. He died in 1973, only 58 years old, perhaps partly as a result of his alcohol consumption. He is extraordinary to listen to—knowledgeable in philosophy, religious studies, and science. He speaks an elegant and beautiful English with a British accent that is nevertheless effective and easy to understand. He is incredibly sharp and quick, self-aware, and entertaining, with a humor that often makes the whole audience (and me) laugh and step out of the idea that this is something solemn or heavy. And at the same time, it is about life itself.
It struck me this morning that Alan’s lectures—or entertainment, as he himself calls it—are so filled with “explosive material” that it is enough to listen for ten minutes at a time, because they trigger insights that need time to settle. And since lately I have been longing to write again, I will make an attempt here. I want to write in order to reflect, simply to write, and to share—if anyone wants to read it. Writing publicly forces me to think more carefully about what and how I express things, and it helps me process what arose while listening.
I notice that I do not like the word “blog”—it seems to carry an inner image of wanting to be seen, and that is not what I am after.
So I write.
This text has been translated by ChatGPT based on the original Swedish text, which I personally write. The Swedish version is reviewed with AI assistance to check spelling, grammar, and certain factual claims, but all original writing and final editing are done by me. Links in the Swedish text are not necessarily included in the English translation.