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Alan Watts

68 quotesTheologian · Born Jan 6, 1915 · Died Nov 16, 1973 · British And American · Male

Alan Wilson Watts (6 January 1915 – 16 November 1973) was a British philosopher, writer, and speaker, best known as an interpreter and populariser of Eastern philosophy for a Western audience. Born in Chislehurst, England, he moved to the United States in 1938 and began Zen training in New York. Pursuing a career, he attended Seabury-Western Theological Seminary, where he received a master's degree in theology. Watts became an Episcopal priest in 1945, then left the ministry in 1950 and moved to California, where he joined the faculty of the American Academy of Asian Studies. Watts gained a large following in the San Francisco Bay Area while working as a volunteer programmer at KPFA, a Pacifica Radio station in Berkeley. Watts wrote more than 25 books and articles on subjects important to Eastern and Western religion, introducing the then-burgeoning youth culture to The Way of Zen (1957), one of the first bestselling books on Buddhism. In Psychotherapy East and West (1961), Watts proposed that Buddhism could be thought of as a form of psychotherapy and not a religion. He considered Nature, Man and Woman (1958) to be, "from a literary point of view — the best book I have ever written." He also explored human consciousness, in the essay "The New Alchemy" (1958), and in the book The Joyous Cosmology (1962). Towards the end of his life, he divided his time between a houseboat in Sausalito and a cabin on Mount Tamalpais. Many of his books are now available in digital format and many of his recorded talks and lectures are available on the Interne

All Life (16)Philosophy (14)Psychology (13)The Art of Awareness (11)How To Think (11)Reality (5)Identity (5)Perception (5)Religion (4)humanity (4)Meaning (4)Fear (4)Living (4)Personality (3)Faith (3)

From “The Way of Zen”

But I'll tell you what hermits realize. If you go off into a far, far forest and get very quiet, you'll come to understand that you're connected with everything.

Zen does not confuse spirituality with thinking about God while one is peeling potatoes. Zen spirituality is just to peel the potatoes.

How To Think The Art of Awareness Psychology Philosophy

Things are as they are. Looking out into the universe at night, we make no comparisons between right and wrong stars, nor between well and badly arranged constellations.

How To Think The Art of Awareness Psychology Philosophy

You are a function of what the whole universe is doing in the same way that a wave is a function of what the whole ocean is doing.

How To Think The Art of Awareness Psychology Philosophy

You are an aperture through which the universe is looking at and exploring itself.

Universe Deep Profound humanity humans

From “Become What You Are”

Man suffers only because he takes seriously what the gods made for fun.

Suffering Life Is A Comedy

A man does not really begin to be alive until he has lost himself, until he has released the anxious grasp which he normally holds upon his life, his property, his reputation and position.

humanity Understanding Anxiety Reputation Identity

We must abandon completely the notion of blaming the past for any kind of situation we're in and reverse our thinking and see that the past always flows back form the present. That now is the creative point of life. So you see its like the idea of forgiving somebody, you change the meaning of the…

The Past The Present forgiveness Change Meaning

Problems that remain persistently insoluble should always be suspected as questions asked in the wrong way.

How To Think The Art of Awareness Psychology Philosophy

From “The Wisdom of Insecurity: A Message for an Age of Anxiety”

The question 'what shall we do about it' is only asked by those who do not understand the problem. If a problem can be solved at all, to understand it and to know what to do about it are the same thing. On the other hand, doing something about a problem which you do not understand is like trying to…

Lightness and Darkness Problem Solving confusing

Your body does not eliminate poisons by knowing their names. To try to control fear or depression or boredom by calling them names is to resort to superstition of trust in curses and invocations. It is so easy to see why this does not work. Obviously, we try to know, name, and define fear in order…

Depression Naming Things How To Overcome The Pain

Running away from fear is fear; fighting pain is pain; trying to be brave is being scared. If the mind is in pain, the mind is pain. The thinker has no other form than his thought.

Fear Running From Fear Pain Fighting Pain Courage

We suffer from the delusion that the entire universe is held in order by the categories of human thought, fearing that if we do not hold to them with the utmost tenacity, everything will vanish into chaos.

Culture order Chaos

Through our eyes, the universe is perceiving itself. Through our ears, the universe is listening to its harmonies. We are the witnesses through which the universe becomes conscious of its glory, of its magnificence.

You are a function of what the whole universe is doing in the same way that a wave is a function of what the whole ocean is doing.

From “The Wisdom of Insecurity”

God is unknown to those who know him, and is known to those who do not know him at all.

Religion God Spirituality

If the universe is meaningless, so is the statement that it is so. If this world is a vicious trap, so is its accuser, and the pot is calling the kettle black.

Universe Life Meaning Nihilism The Meaning Of Life

You cannot understand life and its mysteries as long as you try to grasp it. Indeed, you cannot grasp it, just as you cannot walk off with a river in a bucket. If you try to capture running water in a bucket, it is clear that you do not understand it and that you will always be disappointed, for in…

Life Mystery Let It Be Letting Go

This, then, is the human problem: there is a price to be paid for every increase in consciousness. We cannot be more sensitive to pleasure without being more sensitive to pain. By remembering the past we can plan for the future. But the ability to plan for the future is offset by the "ability" to…

Emotion Pain Pleasure The future The Past

Your body does not eliminate poisons by knowing their names. To try to control fear or depression or boredom by calling them names is to resort to superstition of trust in curses and invocations.

Fear Depression Boredom Labels

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