Tag: Philosophy

Alan Watts muses on the difference between the world of nature and the world of man. The following are some quotes from the video:

• There seems to be a complete difference of style between the things that human beings do and the things that nature does, even though human beings are themselves part of nature
• There is an interdependence of flowers and bees. Where there are no flowers there are no bees, and where there are no bees there are no flowers. They’re really one organism. And so in the same way, everything in nature depends on everything else. So it’s interconnected! And so the many many patterns of interconnections lock it in together into a unity, which is, however, much too complicated for us to think about
• Each one of us, not only human beings but every leaf, every weed, exists in the way it does only because everything around it does
• Everything we’re doing to try to improve the world was a success in the short run, made amazing initial improvements, but in the long run we seem to be destroying the planet by our very efforts to control it and improve it
• When the wrong man uses the right means, the right means work in the wrong way. In other words there’s something wrong with the way we think. And while that is there, everything we do will be a mess