A paradox is only a truth standing on its head to attract attention. Alan Watts More Quotes by Alan Watts More Quotes From Alan Watts LSD is simply an exploratory instrument like a microscope or telescope, except this one is inside of you instead of outside of you. Alan Watts lsd telescopes microscopes Lack of awareness of the basic unity of organism and environment is a serious and dangerous hallucination. Alan Watts hallucinations unity serious In other words, a person who is fanatic in matters of religion, and clings to certain ideas about the nature of God and the universe, becomes a person who has no faith at all. Alan Watts certain matter ideas To the Taoist mentality, the aimless, empty life does not suggest anything depressing. On the contrary, it suggests the freedom of clouds and mountain streams, wandering nowhere, of flowers in impenetrable canyons, beautiful for no one to see, and of the ocean surf forever washing the sand, to no end. Alan Watts depressing ocean beautiful If my happiness at this moment consists largely in reviewing happy memories and expectations, I am but dimly aware of this present. I shall still be dimly aware of the present when the good things that I have been expecting come to pass. For I shall have formed a habit of looking behind and ahead, making it difficult for me to attend to the here and now. If, then , my awareness of the past and future makes me less aware of the present, I must begin to wonder whether I am actually living in the real world. Alan Watts buddhist real memories No one is more dangerously insane than one who is sane all the time: he is like a steel bridge without flexibility, and the order of his life is rigid and brittle. Alan Watts insane bridges order In a certain sense, Zen is feeling life instead of feeling something about life. Alan Watts certain feelings We think that the world is limited and explained by its past. We tend to think that what happened in the past determines what is going to happen next, and we do not see that it is exactly the other way around! What is always the source of the world is the present; the past doesn't explain a thing. The past trails behind the present like the wake of a ship and eventually disappears. Alan Watts past world thinking Nothing satisfies an individual incapable of enjoyment. Alan Watts enjoyment individual motivational The clash between science and religion has not shown that religion is false and science is true. It has shown that all systems of definition are relative to various purposes, and that none of them actually “grasp” reality. Alan Watts definitions purpose reality Of course, you can’t force your mind to be silent. That would be like trying to smooth ripples in water with a flatiron. Water becomes clear and calm only when left alone. Alan Watts mind trying water Our view of reality is like a chart of the sea - the truer it is, the less likely we will become lost. Alan Watts views sea reality Altough we all realize that monotony is boring, almost every form of industrial work- banking, accounting, mass-producing, service- is monotonous, and most people are paid for simply putting up with monotony Alan Watts banking realizing people The soul is something which contains the body. The body doesn't contain the soul. The soul, if we put it into modern language, is the entire complex of relationships in whose context this organism exists. Alan Watts language body soul What we have forgotten is that thoughts and words are conventions, and that it is fatal to take conventions too seriously. A convention is a social convenience, as, for example, money ... but it is absurd to take money too seriously, to confuse it with real wealth ... In somewhat the same way, thoughts, ideas and words are "coins" for real things. Alan Watts real example ideas 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. Alan Watts forests inspiring quiet Zen is a way of liberation, concerned not with discovering what is good or bad or advantageous, but what is. Alan Watts discovering liberation way Lack of love for the vegetative, subtle, cthonic, pagan, and sexy aspect of the world means death. Alan Watts sexy mean death There's an interdependence between flowers and bees. Where there are no flowers there are no bees, and where there are no bees, there are no flowers. They are really one organism. And so in the same way, everything in nature depends on everything else. Alan Watts flower bees way Black implies white self implies other Alan Watts black self white
