“In Chinese the word for nature is ziran which is “that which is so of itself – the spontaneous” … Chinese have no difficulty in thinking about nature as self shaping … a Chinese child would not ask its mother “how was i made?” … it would ask its mother “how did i grow?” …” ~ excerpt from Alan Watts’ words in the video below.
Enjoy this 8:58 minute video of Alan Watts’ words of wisdom with stunning photography by Trey Ratcliff and music from Hans Zimmer.
Trey Ratcliff, the maker of the video says: “… If you listen to any Alan Watts lectures … you’ll see they just dance around an idea or concept. One nice thing he says, by the way, that the purpose of a dance is not to end up at a certain location on the dance floor. The purpose of a song is not to get to the end ….”
Here’s Alan’s words from the the second half of the video :
“… So then, let me connect this with the problem of birth and death, which puzzles people enormously of course. Because, in order to understand what the self is, you have to remember that it doesn’t need to remember anything, just like you don’t need to know how you work your thyroid gland.
So then, when you die, you’re not going to have to put up with everlasting non-existence, because that’s not an experience. A lot of people are afraid that when they die, they’re going to be locked up in a dark room forever, and sort of undergo that. But one of the most interesting things in the world is–this is a yoga, this is a way of realization–try and imagine what it will be like to go to sleep and never wake up.
Think about that. Children think about it.
It’s one of the great wonders of life. What will it be like to go to sleep and never wake up?
And if you think long enough about that, something will happen to you. That … will pose the next question to you. What was it like to wake up after having never gone to sleep? That was when you were born. You see, you can’t have an experience of nothing; nature abhors a vacuum. So after you’re dead, the only thing that can happen is the same experience, or the same sort of experience as when you were born. In other words, we all know very well that after people die, other people are born. And they’re all you, only you can only experience it one at a time.
Everybody is I, you all know you’re you, and wheresoever beings exist throughout all galaxies, it doesn’t make any difference. You are all of them. And when they come into being, that’s you coming into being.
You know that very well. Only you don’t have to remember the past in the same way you don’t have to think about how you work your thyroid gland, or whatever else it is in your organism. You don’t have to know how to shine the sun. You just do it, like you breathe. Doesn’t it really astonish you that you are this fantastically complex thing, and that you’re doing all of this and you never had any education in how to do it?”
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Trey on making this video: “I love creating strange stuff with quadcopters! Here’s footage from the past 3 years when I’ve been traveling the world. It’s kinda different, but I hope you enjoy the idea. :)”
Trey is a photographer extraordinaire – if you don’t know him, the best way to appreciate him is through his blog stuckincustoms and his social channels particularly google+.
Here’s another way to appreciate Trey: “… Your body, mind, and cameras will always change over time. Try not to think of your camera as a different thing than yourself. Be smart and savvy and gentle, of course, but use everything as an extension of your true self. For you are not your body, you are not the thoughts in your mind, and you are not your camera. You’re the awareness behind all of it.” ~ Trey’s closing paragraph in his recent article titled: How your Camera, your Mind, and your Body Survive Burning Man, published on his blog July 27, 2016.
Trey’s Burning Man photo essay was discovered courtesy of Stillness Speaks webmaster: Canton Becker. Canton is a web designer – extraordinaire.
This video is sourced from Trey Ratcliff’s YouTube Channel and is created by Trey Ratcliff with music from Hans Zimmer.
Post & Featured Image: Universe by ColdSmiling, CC0 Public Domain.
