Just Go With The Flow - Alan Watts On The Universe

Summary

The script is a thought-provoking commentary on humanity's tendency to seek order and impose rigid structures on the inherently fluid and wiggly nature of our world. It criticizes our obsession with straight lines, grids, and boxes, which contradicts the curvaceous and undulating reality of the universe. The speaker argues that true freedom and pleasure lie in embracing the wiggliness of life, like waves and rivers, rather than resisting it through abstract concepts and confined spaces. By letting go of the anxiety to control and simply 'swim' with the flow, we can find harmony and elegance in our existence.

Takeaways

• 😕 Criticizes jogging as an exercise done incorrectly and lacking enjoyment.
• 🌍 Contrasts the rigid straight lines and grids humans impose on the naturally wiggly and curvaceous nature of the Earth.
• 🌊 Advocates for embracing the fluid, wavy, and undulating nature of the universe rather than resisting it with rigidity.
• 🥰 Appreciates the curvaceousness and wiggliness of women as opposed to the uninteresting straight shapes.
• 🐍 Views snakes as symbols of vitality, undulation, and waves - qualities that should be celebrated.
• 🏡 Critiques the human tendency to live in boxy homes and urban environments that suppress natural wiggliness.
• 💭 Argues that our penchant for categorization and labeling traps us in intellectual boxes that limit our thinking.
• 🌊 Encourages adapting to the fluid nature of the universe rather than seeking solidity or firm foundations.
• ⛵ Highlights activities like swimming, flying, and sailing as embracing the art of going with the flow.
• 😌 Suggests that true pleasure comes from living in the present moment without anxiety about the future.

Q & A

What is the speaker's view on jogging?

The speaker has a negative view of jogging, describing it as a 'dreadful exercise' and criticizing joggers for running in straight lines, which goes against the natural 'wiggly' nature of the Earth.

What is the speaker's perspective on straight lines and order?

The speaker sees the human passion for straight lines, order, and 'Euclidean' shapes as stemming from a 'simple mind' that fails to appreciate the 'curvaceous' and 'wiggly' nature of the world. He associates straight lines with rigidity and resistance to life's inherent 'waviness'.

How does the speaker contrast the concepts of 'wiggliness' and 'squareness'?

The speaker celebrates 'wiggliness' as a symbol of vitality, undulation, and harmony with the 'wiggly' nature of the universe. In contrast, he associates 'squareness' with rigidity, abstraction, and resistance to the 'flow element of life'.

What is the speaker's view on the human tendency to categorize and label things?

The speaker critiques the human tendency to categorize and label things as 'boxes', seeing it as a manifestation of the desire for order and classification that fails to capture the fluid and 'wiggly' nature of reality.

How does the speaker relate the concepts of fluidity and solidity to religion?

The speaker contrasts fluid and 'wiggly' religious beliefs, symbolized by a 'Paradise Garden', with rigid and 'square' religions that resist the 'flow element of life' and conceive of Heaven as an abstract 'Heavenly City'.

What is the speaker's perspective on the relationship between land and sea?

The speaker challenges the common perception of land as solid and sea as fluid, using examples like the reclaimed land sinking near his home to illustrate that land is also a 'liquid' and 'flows'.

How does the speaker view the human desire for survival and permanence?

The speaker sees the human passion for survival and permanence as an 'anxiety to go on' that ultimately ruins the pleasure of living in the present moment.

What is the speaker's advice for living a fulfilling life?

The speaker suggests that to live a fulfilling life, one must learn to 'swim' and adapt to the fluid and 'wiggly' nature of the universe, rather than clinging to rigidity or seeking a 'firm foundation'.

How does the speaker connect the concepts of 'wiggliness' and pleasure?

The speaker associates 'wiggliness' with curvaceousness, vitality, and the pleasures of life, contrasting it with the rigidity and unattractiveness of 'Euclidean' shapes.

What is the central theme or message of the speaker's discourse?

The central theme of the speaker's discourse is a celebration of the 'wiggly' and fluid nature of the universe, and a critique of the human tendency towards rigidity, order, and categorization that fails to harmonize with life's inherent 'waviness'.

Outlines

00:00

🏃‍♂️ Criticism of Jogging and Straight Lines

The paragraph criticizes the exercise of jogging, arguing that joggers run in straight lines and display a grim determination, failing to appreciate the wiggly and curvaceous nature of the Earth's surface. It contrasts the human obsession with straight lines, grids, and order against the inherent wiggliness of the world, characterized by waves, vibrations, and undulations. The author suggests that rigidity and resistance to wiggliness signify a lack of harmony with the universe's fluidity. The paragraph humorously compares the appeal of curvaceous women to the beauty of wiggly shapes, criticizing those who prefer rigid, straight, and square attitudes as lacking in the ability to 'swing' with life's rhythms.

05:00

🌊 Embracing Life's Fluidity and Learning to Swim

This paragraph continues the discussion of embracing life's fluidity, using the metaphor of learning to swim rather than attempting to stand on water. It suggests that the Earth, contrary to popular belief, is not solid but liquid, citing examples like land subsidence caused by dredging. The author argues that in religion, people seek solids and firm foundations, but true faith lies in learning to adapt to the fluid nature of the universe, much like swimming, gliding, or sailing. The paragraph encourages an elegant survival by going with the flow, rather than anxiously clinging to the desire for more. It criticizes the tendency to prioritize the future over the present, advocating for fully embracing the pleasure of the moment without anxiety about what's to come.

Keywords

💡Wiggliness

Wiggliness refers to curviness, undulation, and fluidity - the opposite of rigidity and straight lines. The script celebrates the natural 'wiggliness' of the Earth's surface and the human form, contrasting it with the human tendency to impose artificial order and straight lines. Wiggliness is associated with vitality, pleasure, and harmony with the 'wiggly universe'.

💡Ukian

Ukian is used to describe the human tendency to impose order, straight lines, and rigid shapes onto the natural world. It comes from the phrase 'euclidean', referring to the geometric principles of straight lines and right angles. The script portrays 'ukian' tendencies as stemming from a simple-minded desire for order that is out of sync with the fluid, wiggly nature of the universe.

💡Boxes

Boxes symbolize the human proclivity for classification, categorization, and conceptual compartmentalization. The script criticizes the way we put things into 'boxes' - labeling them as animal/vegetable/mineral, solid/gas, capitalist/communist, etc. Boxes represent the imposition of artificial order onto the fluid complexity of reality.

💡Fluidity

Fluidity, along with wiggliness, represents the natural state of the universe - a constant flow and undulation. The script contrasts human-made rigidity with the inherent fluidity of the Earth, oceans, and all of reality. It suggests that true harmony comes from adapting to this underlying fluidity rather than resisting it with artificial order.

💡Swimming

Swimming is used as a metaphor for the art of 'going with the flow' and trusting life's inherent fluidity, rather than trying to stand firm or cling to solidity. Just as one cannot stand on water but must learn to swim with it, the script suggests we must learn to 'swim' with the fluid, ever-changing nature of the universe.

💡Pleasure

The script emphasizes pleasure as the true aim of life, rather than merely survival or the 'anxiety to go on'. It critiques the human fixation on the future and desire for 'more', which ruins the ability to find pleasure in the present moment. Pleasure is associated with wiggliness, fluidity, and harmony with the universe's natural rhythms.

💡Rigidity

Rigidity refers to inflexibility, solidity, and the imposition of artificial order - the opposite of wiggliness and fluidity. The script portrays rigidity as a resistance to life, out of harmony with the ever-changing, undulating nature of the universe. Rigidity is associated with human tendencies towards categorization, straight lines, and an overly abstract conception of reality.

💡Waves

Waves are used to symbolize the fundamental nature of the universe as a 'system of wave vibrations'. The script contrasts the human preference for solidity and straight lines with the inescapable reality that everything, including the Earth itself, moves in waves and undulations - a 'wiggly' phenomenon that we must learn to harmonize with.

💡Garden

The Garden is presented as an ideal representation of paradise - a place of natural curvaceousness and fluidity, in contrast with the artificial 'Heavenly City' imposed by religious dogma. The script laments the substitution of the rigid, human-made 'City' for the organic, ever-changing beauty of the 'Garden'.

💡Flow

Flow refers to the natural, fluid movement and change inherent in the universe. The script advocates learning to 'go with the flow' by adapting to this underlying fluidity, rather than resisting it with rigidity and artificial order. Embracing the flow is portrayed as essential for true pleasure, harmony, and survival as a species.

Highlights

Jogging is a 'dreadful exercise' because joggers tend to run in straight lines, which is not the shortest distance on Earth since it is a 'wiggly' surface.

Humans have a 'passion for Euclidean order' and tend to think in 'uninteresting shapes' instead of 'curvaceous wiggles'.

The world is 'fundamentally a system of wave vibrations', and being 'rigid' means 'resisting life'.

People who are 'squares' and 'straits' do not 'swing' and are 'out of harmony with a wiggly universe'.

A 'square religion' is too 'abstract' and 'resists the flow element of life', conceiving Heaven as a 'city' instead of a 'Rose Garden Paradise'.

The 'box' symbolizes 'classification' and people tend to think in 'boxes' or 'labels', which limits their understanding of the world.

People associate 'freedom with the ocean' and 'seamanship', while mistakenly thinking of 'land as solid' and 'sea as fluid'.

In religion, people seek 'solids' or a 'firm foundation' instead of learning to 'swim' and 'trust' the 'fluid universe'.

Surviving 'happily' requires 'adapting to the fluid' and 'learning to swim' instead of 'taking one's stand'.

The 'passion for survival' and 'anxiety to go on' ruins the pleasure of the present moment.

People tend to value things with a 'future' over the present, which 'ruins pleasure'.

Life gets busy, so it's important to 'pause, take a deep breath, download mindset and listen to inspirational speeches to unlock your full potential'.

Humans have a tendency to 'live in boxes all made out of ticky tacky and they all look just the same'.

The 'Earth is not very solid' and 'land is liquid', contrary to common perception.

The 'art of faith' is not about 'taking one's stand' but about 'learning to swim' and 'trust the water to support you'.

Transcripts

there is a dreadful exercise being used

today called

jogging which has absolutely nothing to

recommend it because to begin with when

I watch people jogging they obviously

show they don't know how to

run and there's a certain Grim

determination about joggers they tend to

run in straight

lines which they believe to be the

shortest distance between two

points our straight line is not the

shortest distance between two points on

Earth

because Earth is

wiggly it is not a flat surface except

by courtesy of

bulldozers and occasional freaks of

nature this world as I keep repeating is

a fundamentally Wiggly

phenomenon but wherever human beings

have been around you will see they have

a passion for ukian

ISM everything is ruled out in straight

lines and put in

boxes and grid patterns of streets are

laid across the surface of the Earth and

that tells you human beings have been

there why this passion for ukian order

because Mr uid had a very very simple

mind and tended to think in these rather

uninteresting shapes instead of in

curvaceous

Wiggles now nobody would fall in love

with a ukian woman uh what we appreciate

about women is their curvaceousness

wiggliness and wiggliness offends some

people because they are not sure of

it they can't figure it

out you never know quite what it's going

to do

next that's why people often don't like

snakes because a snake is the great

symbol of Wiggly Vitality of undulation

of

waves and all this world is fun

fundamentally a system of wave

[Music]

vibrations and if you cannot wave with

it if you are rigid you will always be

resisting

life so wiggliness and going with

wiggliness in other words do you

swing is fundamental to the pleasure of

life but you see where we think that

order and getting things in order is

getting getting them squared away we're

always saying let's get it squared

away let's get it

straight and so there are certain kinds

of people who are called Straits and

squares who do not

swing and uh as a result of

that they are out of harmony with a

wiggly

universe and they

attitudes range from cookery at one end

to religion at the other because a

square

religion is one that is too

abstract that

resists the flow element of

life it wants a canal instead of a

river and it conceives Heaven as a city

rather than a Rose

Garden Paradise is a

garden and all the trouble

began when people substituted the

Heavenly

City for the Paradise

Garden when in other words popes began

to be called

Urban and unbelievers were called

Pagan because the paganus is a country

dweller a man of The Wiggles as as

distinct from a man of the streets a

liver under the sky instead of one who

lives in a

box because the Box you see is the great

symbol of classification what box are

you

[Music]

in all words are labels on intellectual

boxes is it

animal is it vegetable is it

mineral three

boxes

is it solid or is it a gas is it

Republican or is it

Democrat is it capitalist or is it

communist is it Christian or is it

Heathen is it male or is it

female all

boxes and so because we think in boxes

we live in boxes all made out of ticky

tacky and they all look just the

[Music]

same and whereas

as certain kinds of fish live in

beautiful

shells glorious spirly Wiggles on them

and lovely

colors and uh but we tend to want

everything straightened out you see and

that rigidity is always in a fight with

the

surrounding

fluidity and so we are as it were land

lobers rather than men of the

waves and the the British have always

made a great thing about this because

they've always Associated Freedom with

the

ocean who are so free as the sons of the

waves and Britain's never never never

shall be slaves because of this

seamanship now we think you see of the

sea as fluid and the land as solid

and nothing could be further from the

truth as you've all experienced recently

in Southern California the Earth is not

very solid it

[Music]

flows where I live in

sorito we have along the Waterfront a

lot of land that has been reclaimed and

not so long ago they built a marina

quite close to us where they dredged out

mud to make the marina not realizing

that land is

liquid therefore the land adjoining the

water is sinking to fill up the hole

made by Excavating for the

marina people just don't think of things

like that because they think of land as

solid and so in

religion we are seemingly looking for

solids or something upon which I can

take my

stand or a firm found foundation for the

Rock of

Ages or even poor old Paul till for the

ground of

being but we are not living in that sort

of universe we living in a fluid

Universe in which the art of faith is

not in taking one's stand but in

learning to

swim

you don't cling to you don't try to

stand on

Water by breathing and by a certain

relaxation you learn to trust the water

to support you this is even more true in

flying in the air

gliding especially or in

sailing in all those Arts there is an

adaptation to the

fluid and that that is the major thing

that we have to learn if we want to

survive as a species and survive

happily nobody wants just to go on one

wants to go on in an elegant

way and even that passion for survival

is something against pleasure because

that shows when you ask for more more

more and have the anxiety to go on that

you're not having it

now you always think it's

coming that you want jam tomorrow is

more pleasing than Jam

today if we say of something that is

useless it has no

future that's the most awful thing you

can say about it I would rather say of

something that's no good it has no

present because nothing ruins pleasure

more than the anxiety to go on having

[Music]

it when life gets

busy pause take a deep breath download

mindset and listen to your favorite

inspirational speeches to unlock your

full

potential

that