There is a peculiar contradiction in trying to be a member of a republic while believing that the universe is a monarchy. Alan Watts More Quotes by Alan Watts More Quotes From Alan Watts Don't hurry anything. Don't worry about the future. Don't worry about what progress you're making. Just be entirely content to be aware of what is. Alan Watts future progress worry Buddha's doctrine: Man suffers because of his craving to possess and keep forever things which are essentially impermanent...this frustration of the desire to possess is the immediate cause of suffering. Alan Watts frustration acceptance men Never pretend to a love which you do not actually feel, for love is not ours to command. Alan Watts good-morning sexy love Real religion is the transformation of anxiety into laughter. Alan Watts anxiety laughter real You have seen that the universe is at root a magical illusion and a fabulous game, and that there is no separate "you" to get something out of it, as if life were a bank to be robbed. The only real "you" is the one that comes and goes, manifests and withdraws itself eternally in and as every conscious being. For "you" is the universe looking at itself from billions of points of view, points that come and go so that the vision is forever new. Alan Watts real wisdom spiritual The real you is not a puppet that life pushes around, the real deep down you is the whole universe. Alan Watts puppets real whole 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 human-nature exercise giving If you say that getting the money is the most important thing, you'll spend your life completely wasting your time. You'll be doing things you don't like doing in order to go on living, that is to go on doing thing you don't like doing, which is stupid. Alan Watts important stupid order 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 ocean wisdom spiritual There is only this now. It does not come from anywhere; it is not going anywhere. It is not permanent, but it is not impermanent. Though moving, it is always still. When we try to catch it, it seems to run away, and yet it is always here and there is no escape from it. And when we turn around to find the self which knows this moment, we find that it has vanished like the past. Alan Watts running past moving The meaning of life is just to be alive. It is so plain and so obvious and so simple. Alan Watts simple inspirational life Enlightenment or awakening is not the creation of a new state of affairs but the recognition of what already is. Alan Watts enlightenment recognition awakening When a man no longer confuses himself with the definition of himself that others have given him, he is at once universal and unique. He is universal by virtue of the inseparability of his organism from the cosmos. He is unique in that he is just this organism and not any stereotype of role, class, or identity assumed for the convenience of social communication. Alan Watts communication unique men The difference between a baby and adult is that a baby believes in everything while the adult doubts everything. Babies also only tell the truth until they learn what a lie is. Alan Watts baby believe lying We get such a kick out of looking forward to pleasures and rushing ahead to meet them that we can’t slow down enough to enjoy them when they come. Alan Watts rushing looking-forward enough The Art of Being: A state of wholeness in which the mind functions freely and easily, without the sensation of a second mind or ego standing over it with a club. Alan Watts ego mind art Since opposed principles, or ideologies, are irreconcilable, wars fought over principle will be wars of mutual annihilation. But wars fought for simple greed will be far less destructive, because the aggressor will be careful not to destroy what he is fighting to capture. Reasonable - that is, human - men will always be capable of compromise, but men who have dehumanized themselves by becoming the blind worshipers of an idea or an ideal are fanatics whose devotion to abstractions makes them the enemies of life. Alan Watts fighting simple war What keeps us from happiness is our inability to fully inhabit the present Alan Watts inability Stay in the center, and you will be ready to move in any direction. Alan Watts ready moving What you do is what the whole universe is doing at the place you call "here and now," and you are something the whole universe is doing in the same way that a wave is something that the whole ocean is doing... The real you is not a puppet which life pushes around. The real deep-down you is the whole universe. Alan Watts puppets ocean real