Alan Watts Academy
Alan Watts
Practical Non-Duality
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São Luis (PT) ~ The Hague (NL) ~ Florence (IT) ~ London (UK) ~ Munich (DE) ~ Ibiza (SP)
Ego Awakening without Spirituality
Many sciences agree with Eastern wisdom traditions that the perception of self – the ego – is most likely an illusory thought-pattern that can lead to various problems.
What they don't agree about is how to get past this illusion (if even possible) and solve those problems.
The most common approach is the yin or feminine one: meditations, yoga, mindfulness, mantras, devotion, etc.
While this certainly works for some, many practitioners (unknowingly) get stuck in a routine that doesn't suit their inclination to use the mind.
We approach ego awakening in a practical, masculine way – we use the mind to get past the mind. Like Alan Watts.
Alan Watts Academy Programs
Each of our programs contains 3 returning elements that are offered with great variation.
Blind spots ~ receiving direct feedback
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For each dialogue, we select fragments & quotes from the work of Alan Watts (& Friends). We then engage in dialogues with the sole purpose of discovering and overcoming blind spots through Socratic questioning.
Discomfort ~ consistently following intuition
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Ego Awakening implies a surrender to intuition, because when there's no (belief in) ego left, intuition is the only drive that remains. That doesn't mean you can't follow your intuition pre-awakening. The challenge is just that it's sometimes difficult to recognize what is ego and what is intuition. And, even if you do recognize it, it can be uncomfortable. That's why some easy, fun (and innocent) discomfort practices are part of our live programs.
Mindset change ~ perceiving like Alan Watts
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Some actors prepare for movies by getting into the skin of their character. They study the lens through which the character perceives the world. This lead to some of the most praised performances in movie history, but it often came at the expense of the actor struggling to let go of the character's lens – it works too well for mindset change. We assist people in perceiving life in a similar way as Alan Watts.
“Practices like yoga, meditation, Zen, prayer, or psychedelic ceremonies, all have something to recommend them. But, when practiced in order to get some kind of spiritual illumination or awakening, they strengthen the fallacy that the ego can toss itself away.
Trying to get rid of the ego-sensation reinforces the false belief it’s real.”
~ Alan Watts
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Free Introduction Workshops
In our free introduction workshop, we'll explain:
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The basics of non-duality
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How ego awakening links to happiness and decision-making
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The different (non-)methods to achieve ego awakening
We'll also get practical with the 3 pillars of our Alan Watts programs.
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Using conceptual thinking to get past conceptual thinking
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Becoming better at following your intuition
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Utilizing visualization to briefly perceive through the ego awake lens
Free introduction: Alan Watts Workshop
Free
Full Workshop Schedule
Workshop schedule
Designed for Ego Awakening
Very few tools help you regain the egoless perspective on a frequent basis ~ with personal feedback ~ without interrupting every-day life ~ while being affordable ~ with fun. We do.
Focus the Mind on Mind
Rather than trying to silence your mind, we focus your conceptual thinking mind exclusively on itself until your perception of this conceptual self shifts.
Down-to-Earth
We refrain from spiritual dogma and semantic bypassing games of conflating the absolute and relative perspective. Just radically honest, playful blind spotting.
Frequent repetition
Regain the non-egoic perspective several times a week with personal feedback instead of long stretches between costly, holiday-requiring retreats.
Small groups
Ask many questions in a small setting (12p.) and receive personal feedback instead of having to compete for attention and add a challenge of large audiences watching you.
We host guru-free ego awakening programs based on the work of Alan Watts & Friends. Using the mind to get past the identification with mind. And humor. Like Watts.
Explainers
What is Non-Duality?
Video 1: "How the brain creates an ego"
Video 2: "How to make up your mind about non-duality"
The Evidence
Is there any hard evidence that the thinker in our head – the ego – isn't real?
Well, is there any evidence that the you you think you are is real?
The answer to either question is: No.
If you live by the principles of science, you wouldn't just assume the ego is real, only because it feels like it.
You'd investigate it. Especially since your position on this matter greatly affects your decisions, ranging from those about self-development to some of the most ordinary every-day decisions.
Ego Awakening
If the ego is indeed a distorted lens of your (self)perception - one with short term benefits but long term problems – than you might want to get rid of it.
This is usually called 'ego awakening'. It has nothing to do with abilities to explore higher dimensions or other supernatural skills.
Ego awakening is just a waking up from a hypnotic thought-pattern that is making it more difficult to follow your intuition – the path of who you're naturally inclined to be.
Video 3: "Undoing the ego habit – thinking more vs less"
“The feeling that we call “I” is an illusion.
Taking oneself to be the thinker of one’s thought is a delusion that produces nearly every kind of human conflict and unhappiness.”
~ Sam Harris, neuroscientist
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Video 4: "The Awakening roadmap"
How to.. use the mind for Ego Awakening?
Ego awakening can be achieved in many ways. While paths can be enhanced with all sorts of practices or substances, the main distinction is: Silencing the mind vs Using the mind.
As the ego is a product of excessive conceptual thinking, depriving the mind from conceptual stimulus – by long meditations – can break the egoic thought pattern.
Instead, for those individuals in which the tendency to think is too strong to go back to it's origin, the only way out is by turning conceptual thinking against itself.
Which path is best for you, depends on your personality and the culture – the conditioning – you grew up in.
The Awakening Process
“After awakening, you soon discover that you are able to continue with ordinary activities — to work and make decisions as ever, though somehow this is less of a drag. …
In the words of a Chinese Zen master: nothing is left at this moment but to have a good laugh.”
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~ Alan Watts
The 1.5 hr Alan Watts Workshop
Our specialty is in stimulating the mind in such a consistent direction that it arrives at the logical conclusions where the ego thought-pattern breaks.
Since 2017, we've been using the work of Alan Watts and many of his philosophical 'friends', such as Ram Dass, Eckhart Tolle, Sam Harris, Osho and Jed McKenna in private and small scale retreats.
We now offer the same content and personalized support in a workshop format that allows for continuous practice integrated in your normal life.
Video 5: "Alan Watts Workshops"
Watts' philosophy in 8 Quotes
“You are an aperture through which the universe is looking at itself”
Workshop schedule
Workshop schedule
Other Options
Book: Considering Non-Duality
There are various arguments for and against non-duality to be found throughout books about this topic. Throughout the years, we've collected several from fields such as neuroscience, quantum physics, psychology and etymology. In 2022, these were published in the book "Making up your mind about waking up your mind". In 2024, a shorter and simplified version was published as "Considering Non-Duality".
Workshop: Introduction to Non-Duality
Once a month, we host a workshop that's different from the Alan Watts Workshop, for those who like to learn about the basics of non-duality, in order to decide if it's for them or not. After this workshop, you'll: know what non-duality is, the arguments for/against, what it could be relevant for and have a brief taste (optional) of various methods that are known to be effective for ego awakening. We look at non-duality from the angles of neuroscience, psychology, quantum physics, biology, etymology and we do some simple experiments for direct experience. The workshop takes 4 hours and there's plenty of rooms for questions and discussion.
Private consults & retreats
At various stages of the ego awakening process, especially towards the initial awakening, it can be helpful to have a private session in which the entire dialogue is tailored around your blind spots.
The benefit of private sessions is that we can refer back to previous sessions and workshops – point out your inconsistencies on a meta level – which can't be done in our group workshops.
If you're visiting from outside the area, we recommend to get in touch with us as we can reserve your workshop spots as well as guarantee availability of private sessions during your stay. We don't offer accommodation, but we can make suggestions for any budget, making it a tailored private retreat.
“Without effort you will never reach it, with effort nobody has ever reached it. You will need great effort, and only then there comes a moment when effort becomes futile.
If you can surrender, surrender; do not ask how. If you ask how then you are not meant to surrender yet. You are asking for a method, so then follow method. Either you will succeed or you will fail: both are good. Through both you will reach.”
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~ Osho
“If you got the message,
hang up the phone.”
~ Alan Watts
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