c/alan-watts
The largest collection of talks by Alan Watts — the British-American philosopher who made Eastern wisdom accessible through witty and profound teachings.
…I am an entertainer. That is to say in the same sense that when you go to a concert and you listen to someone play Mozart, he has nothing to sell except the sound of the music. He doesn't want to convert you to anything. He doesn't want you to join…
…entertainment is frivolous. You do pay entertainment's tax. When you go to a concert by a pianist who's going to play Mozart and Beethoven Sonatas, you could hardly call that frivolous. And so there can be philosophical entertainment in the same spirit yes,…
…total play, the highest music that both west and east have produced has no meaning beyond itself. That is to say, Mozart Sonatas do not imitate the sound of charging horses, tinkling tinkling brooks, or or screeching factories. They convey no social…
…is a huge system of extremely complex vibrations which is playing, and that's what it's all about. Just you don't ask what does Mozart Mean you just listen to Mozart It's great. So you don't ask what the universe means. Well now in a way, this…
…complex vibrations which is playing, and that's what it's all about. Just you don't ask what does Mozart Mean you just listen to Mozart It's great. So you don't ask what the universe means. Well now in a way, this meditation method of just letting your…
…rollings of military drums and the sound of the waves etc. Just imitation. Now great music as composed by bach or Mozart, or the Hindu Music or some of the great contemporary composers, doesn't mean anything except itself. It isn't going anywhere, otherwise…
…through his painting. And the language of the physics of sound is rather clumsy when you're trying to explain the intentions of Mozart. And from some points of view also the language of biochemistry is clumsy when you're attempting to discuss the nature of…
…theme, but he makes many variations on it or more subtle still, he keeps within it a consistent style. So you know that it's Mozart all the way along because it sounds like Mozart but there isn't, as it were, a constant noise going all the way through…
…subtle still, he keeps within it a consistent style. So you know that it's Mozart all the way along because it sounds like Mozart but there isn't, as it were, a constant noise going all the way through to tell you it's continuous although in Hindu Music…
…Now this is philosophy. But I think philosophy is like music. You go to a concert and you listen to somebody play bach or Mozart or Beethoven, and what's all that about? You know it isn't about anything except you know that's what it's about. And so in…
…whereby in our schools we could produce from the music department, every graduation ceremony, three musicians of the stature of bach or Mozart? Now if we knew how to do that, that knowledge would prevent us from being surprised by the work of these…
…en boutique makes noises like bells tolling from under the water. But our very great musicians of the west bach, Scarlatti, Mozart and so on they don't do anything with the music except create elaborate patterns of sound. Bach is very mathematical and…
…the artist teaches us whether he does it visually, with painting or on sculpture, tactually or above all in music. So a man like Mozart, who could well claim to be the greatest man in European History, was a kind of a gay happy go lucky fellow, with…
…with problems, money, illness, et Cetera. But what a songbird what a nightingale. And so then to this day, listening to Mozart in England the glyndebourne opera. This is about the farthest out fashionable, aristocratic thing you can do: to go to this…
…This is about the farthest out fashionable, aristocratic thing you can do: to go to this lovely country house in Sussex and hear the Mozart Operas. It's as much a matter of status as going to church, almost more so. You should read if you can get hold…
…and total play. The highest music that both west and east have produced has no meaning beyond itself. That is to say, Mozart Sonatas do not imitate the sound of charging horses, tinkling brooks or screeching birds almost mathematical. And you see, music is…
…entertainment is frivolous, you do pay entertainment's tax. When you go to a concert by a pianist who's going to play Mozart and Beethoven Sonatas, you could hardly call that frivolous. And so there can be philosophical entertainment in the same spirit yes,…
…Its significance for human beings is not like that of, say the second law of thermodynamics, but like that of the Mozart Sonatas or the arabesques on a Persian Rug. The significance of useful knowledge like the second law of thermodynamics is precisely…
…sell. I'm an entertainer. That is to say in the same sense that when you go to a concert and you listen to someone play Mozart, he has nothing to sell except the sound of the music. He doesn't want to convert you to anything. He doesn't want you to…