09/21/2025
In a world where wellness, wisdom, mysticism or philosophy is still stuffed in a box of palitable social standards, i appreciate the authenticity of Alan W. Watts!!!
๐๐ผ๐ ๐๐ผ๐๐น๐ฑ ๐ฎ ๐ ๐๐๐๐ถ๐ฐ ๐ฆ๐บ๐ผ๐ธ๐ฒ ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ ๐๐๐๐?โ
๐ ๐ฅ๐ฎ๐๐ฐ๐ฎ๐นโ๐ ๐ฅ๐ฒ๐ฝ๐น๐
"My vocation in life is to wonder about at the nature of the universe. This leads me into philosophy, psychology, religion, and mysticism, not only as subjects to be discussed but also as things to be experienced, and thus I make an at least tacit claim to be a philosopher and a mystic. Some people, therefore, expect me to be their guru or messiah or exemplar, and are extremely disconcerted when they discover my โwayward spiritโ or element of irreducible rascality, and say to their friends, โHow could he possibly be a genuine mystic and be so addicted to ni****ne and alcohol?โ Or have occasional shudders of anxiety? Or be sexually interested in women? Or lack enthusiasm for physical exercise? Or have any need for money? Such people have in mind an idealized vision of the mystic as a person wholly free from fear and attachment, who sees within and without, and on all sides, only the translucent forms of a single divine energy which is everlasting love and delight, as which and from which he effortlessly radiates peace, charity, and joy. What an enviable situation! We, too, would like to be one of those, but as we start to meditate and look into ourselves we find mostly a quaking and palpitating mess of anxiety which lusts and loathes, needs love and attention, and lives in terror of death putting an end to its misery. So we despise that mess, and look for ways of controlling it and putting โhow the true mystic feelsโ in its place, not realizing that this ambition is simply one of the lusts of the quaking mess, and that this, in turn, is a natural form of the universe like rain and frost, slugs and snails, flies and disease. When the โtrue mysticโ sees flies and disease as translucent forms of the divine, that does not abolish them. Iโmaking no hard-and-fast distinction between inner and outer experienceโsee my quaking mess as a form of the divine, and that doesnโt abolish it either. But at least I can live with it."
- Alan W. Watts, 'In My Own Way: An Autobiography'
