What was it like to wake up after having never gone to sleep? That was when you were born. Alan Watts More Quotes by Alan Watts More Quotes From Alan Watts For when you see that the universe cannot be distinguished from how you act upon it, there is neither fate nor free will, self nor other. There is simply one all-inclusive Happening, in which your personal sensation of being alive occurs in just the same way as the river flowing and the stars shining far out in space. There is no question of submitting or accepting or going with it, for what happens in and as you is no different from what happens as it. Alan Watts fate stars self You can't make love without art. Alan Watts making-love art There is no coming toward it or going away from it; it is, and you are it. Alan Watts going-away I can only think seriously of trying to live up to an ideal, to improve myself, if I am split in two pieces. There must be a good “I” who is going to improve the bad “me.” “I,” who has the best intentions, will go to work on wayward “me,” and the tussle between the two will very much stress the difference between them. Consequently “I” will feel more separate than ever, and so merely increase the lonely and cut-off feelings which make “me” behave so badly. Alan Watts cutting stress lonely Your soul isn't in your body; your body is in your soul! Alan Watts your-soul body soul Nirvana is where you are, provided you don't object to it. Alan Watts where-you-are objects There is a deep, peaceful calm in the dawning of a new day. Alan Watts calm peaceful new-day Meditation is the discovery that the point of life is always arrived at in the immediate moment. Alan Watts yoga inspiring life Life and love generate effort, but effort will not generate them. Faith-in life, in other people, and in oneself-is the attitude of allowing the spontaneous to be spontaneous, in its own way and in its own time. Alan Watts life-and-love inspiring attitude 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 real home way Do you see yourself as a victim of the world, or do you see yourself as the world? Alan Watts define-yourself victim world I have realized that the past and future are real illusions, that they exist in the present, which is what there is and all there is. Alan Watts love relationship life Basically, there is simply nothing to worry about, because you yourself are the eternal energy of the universe. Alan Watts eternal energy worry 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 life-is-like listening past Conscious attention is a designed function of the brain Alan Watts anxiety brain attention To be silent is not to lose your tongue. On the contrary, it is only through silence that one can discover something new to talk about. One who talked incessantly, without stopping to look and listen, would repeat himself ad nauseam. Alan Watts stopping silence looks No one imagines that a symphony is supposed to improve as it goes along, or that the whole object of playing is to reach the finale. The point of music is discovered in every moment of playing and listening to it. It is the same, I feel, with the greater part of our lives, and if we are unduly absorbed in improving them we may forget altogether to live them. Alan Watts symphony music life If to enjoy even an enjoyable present we must have the assurance of a happy future, we are “crying for the moon.” We have no such assurance. The best predictions are still matters of probability rather than certainty, and to the best of our knowledge every one of us is going to suffer and die. If, then, we cannot live happily without an assured future, we are certainly not adapted to living in a finite world where, despite the best plans, accidents will happen, and where death comes at the end. Alan Watts moon suffering world I am amazed that Congressmen can pass a bill imposing severe penalties on anyone who burns the American flag, whereas they are responsible for burning that for which the flag stands: the United States as a territory, as a people, and as a biological manifestation. That is an example of our perennial confusion of symbols with realities. Alan Watts confusion reality people The world is a marvelous system of wiggles. Alan Watts marvelous world
