It’s unlikely this will be an introduction for most Disnfonaughts but as the community grows it’s worth welcoming newcomers with a few of the basics. Trust me when I say he’ll be useful to you if you’re unaware of his work[1].
Open Culture has highlighted the arrival of the complete 1959 series of television shows which helped to make his name in the US.
If you’re familliar with his work you’ll have skipped this, prepared yourself a good fat tasty portion of Zen and already be watching the master weave some ‘classic’ spells.
Open culture writes:
The British-born interpreter and popularizer of East Asian Buddhist thought generated most of his media in the San Francisco of the 1950s and 1960s, and his televised lectures, produced for local public station KQED, must have offered many a San Franciscan their very first glimpse of Zen. Now that episodes of his series Eastern Wisdom and Modern Life have made it to YouTube (season one, season two), you can see for yourself that Watts’ then-cutting-edge delivery of this ancient wisdom remains entertaining, informative, and striking in its clarity. Begin with the introductory episode above, “Man and Nature,” in which Watts calmly lays out his observations of the ill effects of Westerners’ having grown to distrust their human instincts.
[1] Early rumours surrounding The Discordian Holy text “Principia Discordia” placed him as its author. This speaks to the clout he had in the US spiritual counter culture.
