Overview of Philosophize This — Episode #253: “The Philosophy of Alan Watts - What Am I?”
This episode introduces Alan Watts’ philosophy by focusing on a central question: what do we mean when we say “I”? Stephen West explains how Watts challenges the common Western idea that the “real self” is a small inner controller in the head constantly judging, managing, and narrating experience. Instead, Watts argues that this sense of a separate ego is a learned habit shaped by culture, reinforced by bodily tension, and ultimately too narrow to capture what a human being really is.
Main Themes and Arguments
The “self” is often misunderstood
- Watts thinks people in the modern West are taught from childhood to see themselves as:
- autonomous individuals
- self-controlling moral agents
- separate from the world around them
- This creates an internal split:
- one part of you is “doing life”
- another part is constantly evaluating and supervising it
- Watts argues that this inner supervisor is not the whole self — it’s only one activity among many.
The ego is a habit, not the totality of who you are
- Watts describes the ego-like self as a familiar pattern of mental and physical tension.
- Because people repeat this mode of self-monitoring so often, it starts to feel like their true identity.
- But for Watts, the “thinker” is just another thought, and the “feeler” is just another feeling.
Attention is only a small part of consciousness
- West highlights Watts’ metaphor of attention as a radar system:
- it scans for dangers, opportunities, and changes
- it notices blips, not the whole terrain
- This is used to show that conscious attention is only a narrow slice of what is happening in a person at any moment.
- A huge amount of life is happening beneath conscious awareness:
- breathing
- digestion
- bodily regulation
- subconscious processing
Key Philosophical Ideas and Examples
The skin is not a hard boundary
Watts pushes back against the idea that the self ends at the skin.
- The body is constantly in exchange with its environment:
- air enters and leaves the lungs
- sound travels between people
- the environment affects action and perception
- The skin, in Watts’ view, is both a barrier and a bridge.
Human beings are better understood as processes
West connects Watts to process philosophy, especially thinkers like:
- Alfred North Whitehead
- John Dewey
- Bergson
- David Bohm
Important examples used in the episode:
- Whirlpool: a stable pattern made of constantly changing water
- Bee and flower: each only makes sense in relation to the other
- Buying and selling: two sides of one event, not two isolated acts
- Walking: only makes sense in relation to the ground
The point:
You are not a fixed object; you are a dynamic pattern within larger systems.
Quantum physics complicates the classical picture
Stephen West uses Bohm to show how modern physics challenges the idea of isolated, self-contained objects.
- In classical Newtonian physics, the universe looks like separate billiard balls interacting in space.
- Quantum mechanics suggests that what something “is” depends partly on the experimental setup and broader context.
- This supports Watts’ larger claim that reality is more relational and interconnected than common sense suggests.
Consciousness may not be as divided as it appears
The episode also brings in Erwin Schrödinger, who wondered whether many individual perspectives might point to a deeper unity.
- Just because there are many viewpoints doesn’t necessarily mean there are many fundamentally separate selves.
- Watts uses Vedanta to articulate this:
- Atman = deepest self
- Brahman = ultimate reality
- In Advaita Vedanta, these are ultimately the same.
Watts’ Spiritual Reframing
You are not a stranger in the universe
Watts’ Eastern-influenced view is that:
- you are not an outsider placed into reality
- you are an expression of reality itself
- the universe is “doing” you, not merely containing you
A key metaphor:
- you are like an apple growing from an apple tree
- the apple is not separate from the tree in any deep sense
- similarly, you are not separate from the whole of existence
“You are God” — with a specific meaning
Watts uses provocative language to say that in Vedantic terms:
- your deepest self is identical with ultimate reality
- that reality is divine
- therefore, at the deepest level, you are an expression of God
He contrasts this with common Western religious imagery:
- God as a ruler, lawgiver, or cosmic engineer
- humans as separate beings trying to obey from the outside
Watts thinks that framework reinforces egoic self-surveillance and separation.
Important Warning Watts Gives
Spiritual insight can become another ego trap
Watts warns that even realizing “I am one with reality” can become a new form of ego inflation.
- The ego can always relocate “up a floor”
- It can become spiritually proud:
- “I get it, and others don’t”
- So the point is not to replace one self-image with a more enlightened one
- The point is to loosen identification with the controlling ego altogether
Takeaways
- The “I” you usually identify with is only a small part of what you are.
- Much of your life is already happening outside conscious control.
- Human beings are better understood as processes, not static objects.
- The self is relational, ecological, and deeply embedded in the world.
- Watts’ philosophy aims to move people from separateness and control toward interdependence and participation.
- This episode lays the groundwork for the next parts of the series, especially Watts’ views on:
- reality
- purpose
- the true nature of self
Series Setup
This is the first installment in Stephen West’s Alan Watts series, and it serves as the foundation for the episodes that follow. The next episode will build on this one by arguing that:
- reality is not quite what we think it is
- and our purpose is not quite what we think it is
In short, this episode is Watts’ opening move: before you can understand the world, you have to rethink what “you” are.