Alan Watts

1915 - 1973

American Writer and Philosopher

Alan Wilson Watts was a British and American writer, speaker, and self-styled “philosophical entertainer”, known for interpreting and popularising Buddhist, Taoist, and Hindu philosophy for a Western audience

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Alan Watts Quote - 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. Free

Alan Watts

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.

Alan Watts Quote - The religious idea of God cannot do full duty for the metaphysical infinity. Free

Alan Watts

The religious idea of God cannot do full duty for the metaphysical infinity.

Alan Watts Quote - People become concerned with being more humble than other people. Free

Alan Watts

People become concerned with being more humble than other people.

Alan Watts Quote - The world is filled with love-play, from animal lust to sublime compassion. Free

Alan Watts

The world is filled with love-play, from animal lust to sublime compassion.

Alan Watts Quote - Life is like music for its own sake. We are living in an eternal now, and when we listen to music we are not listening to the past, we are not listening to the future, we are listening to an expanded present. Free

Alan Watts

Life is like music for its own sake. We are living in an eternal now, and when we listen to music we are not listening to the past, we are not listening to the future, we are listening to an expanded present.

Alan Watts Quote - Just as money is not real, consumable wealth, books are not life. To idolize scriptures is like eating paper currency. Free

Alan Watts

Just as money is not real, consumable wealth, books are not life. To idolize scriptures is like eating paper currency.

Alan Watts Quote - A priest once quoted to me the Roman saying that a religion is dead when the priests laugh at each other across the altar. I always laugh at the altar, be it Christian, Hindu, or Buddhist, because real religion is the transformation of anxiety into laughter. Free

Alan Watts

A priest once quoted to me the Roman saying that a religion is dead when the priests laugh at each other across the altar. I always laugh at the altar, be it Christian, Hindu, or Buddhist, because real religion is the transformation of anxiety into laughter.

Alan Watts Quote - You and I are all as much continuous with the physical universe as a wave is continuous with the ocean. Free

Alan Watts

You and I are all as much continuous with the physical universe as a wave is continuous with the ocean.

Alan Watts Quote - I have no other self than the totality of things of which I am aware. Free

Alan Watts

I have no other self than the totality of things of which I am aware.

Alan Watts Quote - We do not “come into” this world; we come out of it, as leaves from a tree. As the ocean “waves,” the universe “peoples.” Every individual is an expression of the whole realm of nature, a unique action of the total universe. Free

Alan Watts

We do not “come into” this world; we come out of it, as leaves from a tree. As the ocean “waves,” the universe “peoples.” Every individual is an expression of the whole realm of nature, a unique action of the total universe.

Alan Watts Quote - When we attempt to exercise power or control over someone else, we cannot avoid giving that person the very same power or control over us. Free

Alan Watts

When we attempt to exercise power or control over someone else, we cannot avoid giving that person the very same power or control over us.

Alan Watts Quote - We know that from time to time, there arise among human beings, people who seem to exude love as naturally as the sun gives out heat. Free

Alan Watts

We know that from time to time, there arise among human beings, people who seem to exude love as naturally as the sun gives out heat.

Alan Watts Quote - Hurrying and delaying are alike ways of trying to resist the present. Free

Alan Watts

Hurrying and delaying are alike ways of trying to resist the present.

Alan Watts Quote - 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. Free

Alan Watts

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.

Alan Watts Quote - To have faith is to trust yourself to the water. When you swim you don’t grab hold of the water, because if you do you will sink and drown. Instead you relax, and float. Free

Alan Watts

To have faith is to trust yourself to the water. When you swim you don’t grab hold of the water, because if you do you will sink and drown. Instead you relax, and float.

Alan Watts Quote - Real travel requires a maximum of unscheduled wandering, for there is no other way of discovering surprises and marvels, which, as I see it, is the only good reason for not staying at home. Free

Alan Watts

Real travel requires a maximum of unscheduled wandering, for there is no other way of discovering surprises and marvels, which, as I see it, is the only good reason for not staying at home.

Alan Watts Quote - The mystery of life is not a problem to be solved but a reality to be experienced. Free

Alan Watts

The mystery of life is not a problem to be solved but a reality to be experienced.

About Alan Watts

Alan Wilson Watts was a British and American writer, speaker, and self-styled “philosophical entertainer”, known for interpreting and popularising Buddhist, Taoist, and Hindu philosophy for a Western audience

Notable Works

Alan Watts was a British-American philosopher, writer, and speaker who is widely recognized for popularizing Eastern philosophy for a Western audience during the mid-20th century. He was a foundational figure in the 1960s counterculture movement, using his characteristic wit, humor, and deep insights to translate complex concepts from Zen Buddhism, Taoism, and Hinduism into accessible, everyday language. Through his numerous audio lectures and seminal books, most notably The Way of Zen (1957) and The Book: On the Taboo Against Knowing Who You Are (1966), Watts challenged Western ideas of identity and ego, encouraging people to view themselves as interconnected with the entire universe rather than isolated individuals.

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