Eastern Wisdom, Modern Life Quotes

“But dispelling this dread isn’t a matter of trying to forget about washing dishes, it is realizing that in actual fact you only have one dish to wash, ever: this one; only one step to take, ever: this one. And that is Zen.”
― Alan W. Watts, Eastern Wisdom, Modern Life

“Look at the stars. They are not arranged; instead they seem to be scattered through the heavens like sea spray. Yet you could never criticize stars for displaying poor taste, any more than you could criticize mountain ranges for having awkward proportions. These designs are spontaneous, and yet they demonstrate the wiggly patterns of nature that are quite different from anything you would call a mess. We can’t quite put our finger on what the difference is between the two, but we certainly can see the difference between a tide pool and an ashtray full of garbage. We may not be able to define the difference, but we know they are different.”
― Alan W. Watts, Eastern Wisdom, Modern Life

“We know that human love is genuine only when it is felt in the depth of the heart. And we know that this is true whether it be love for another human or love of God. And, of course, we are always looking to receive genuine love. We don’t want others to love us because they are forced to. We want them to love us because they really do love us in their hearts.”
― Alan W. Watts, Eastern Wisdom, Modern Life

“One of the greatest ideas that has ever been produced is the Hindu idea that the world is a drama in which the central and supreme self behind all existence has gotten lost and has come to believe that it is not the one supreme self, but all the creatures that there are. It has come to believe in its own artistry. And the more involved, the more anxious, the more finite, the more limited the infinite manages to feel itself to be, the greater that artistry, the greater the depth of the illusion that it has created.”
― Alan W. Watts, Eastern Wisdom, Modern Life

“The next aspect of the mystical feeling is even more difficult to assimilate into our ordinary practical intelligence. It is the overwhelming sense that everything that happens — everything that I or anybody else has ever done — is part of a harmonious design and that there is no error at all.”
― Alan W. Watts, Eastern Wisdom, Modern Life

“Most of us in our thinking are wandering from this to that to the other thing, and are constantly distracted. And Zen is the opposite of that. It’s being completely here, fully in the present. And you know when you’re completely concentrated, you’re not really aware of your own existence. It’s rather the same as the sense of sight. If you see your eyes, that is to say if you see spots in front of your eyes, or something on the lens of the eye, then you’re not seeing properly. To the degree to which you’re seeing properly, you’re unaware of your eyes. In the same way, if your clothes fit well, you’re unaware of them on your body. And if you’re completely concentrated on what you’re doing, you’re unaware of yourself.”
― Alan W. Watts, Eastern Wisdom, Modern Life

“One of the cardinal features of the Buddha’s teaching is that all life, however solid it may seem to be, and all things, however separate they may seem to be, are in a state of flux. That is to say that the world we live in doesn’t consist so much of things or entities as it consists of process. Everything is in a constant state of flowing pattern. By way of illustration you might say that it’s something like the flowing pattern you see when you look at smoke: a dancing, constantly changing arabesque of pattern; flowing, flowing, all the time. Or that the substance of life is something like water, which I can hold in my hand so long as I cup it gently, but if I clutch at the water, I immediately lose it.”
― Alan W. Watts, Eastern Wisdom, Modern Life

“ფონის გარჩევას თუ ისწავლით, იგივეს აღმოაჩენთ, რასაც - მუსიკაში. ბგერებს შორის ინტერვალების გამოა, მელოდია რომ გვესმის. ინტერვალებს რომ ვერ აღვიქვამდეთ, რიტმი გამოგრჩებოდათ და ნოტები ერთი და იმავე ხმის ვარიაციებად იქცეოდნენ. მელოდია რომ მოისმინოთ, ნოტებს შორის ინტერვალი უნდა გესმოდეთ. მსგავსად ამისა, უნდა შეძლოთ ადამიანებს შორის არსებული ინტერვალი დაინახოთ - ის, რაც არ გამოითქმის და რაც შინაგანია. მაშინ დაიწყებთ ერთმანეთთან შეკავშირებას.”
― Alan W. Watts, Eastern Wisdom, Modern Life: Collected Talks 1960-1969

“When we are in control of everything and we have great panels of push buttons whereby the slightest touch fulfills every wish, what will we want then? We will eventually want to arrange to have a special, red button marked “surprise” built into the panel. Touch that button and what happens? We will suddenly disappear from our normal consciousness and find ourselves in a situation very much like the one we are now in, where we feel ourselves to be a little bit out of control, subject to surprises, and subject to the whims of an unpredictable universe.”
― Alan W. Watts, Eastern Wisdom, Modern Life

“Everybody loves to play this game — the game of hide-and-seek, the game of scaring oneself with uncertainty. It is human. It is why we go to the theater or movies and why we read novels. And our so-called real life, seen from the position of the mystic, is a version of the same thing. The mystic is the person who has realized that the game is a game. It is hide-and-seek, and everything associated with the “hide” side of it is connected to those places within us where we as individuals feel lonely, impotent, put down, and so on — the negative side of existence.”
― Alan W. Watts, Eastern Wisdom, Modern Life

“We do not feel that ordinarily, do we? What we feel, instead, is an identification of ourselves with our ideas of ourselves — I would rather say, with our image of ourselves. That is the person, or the ego. You play a role; you identify with that role. I play a role called Alan Watts. And I know very well that it is a big act. I can play some other roles besides Alan Watts if necessary, but I find this one is best for making a living. But I assure you that is a mask and I do not take it seriously. The idea of my being a kind of guru, or savior of the world just breaks me up, because I know me. Besides, it is very difficult to be holy, in the ordinary sense.”
― Alan W. Watts, Eastern Wisdom, Modern Life

“But if we were to realize that we are, as it were, all action, all deed — the doer vanishes, and with it vanishes this sense of man as something separate, something cut off, walled away from the rest of the world by his skin. When that realization comes about; when, in other words, our own separateness disappears, we have what the Buddha called nirvana”
― Alan W. Watts, Eastern Wisdom, Modern Life

“Void, not because there’s nothing there, but because our mind has no idea of it.”
― Alan W. Watts, Eastern Wisdom, Modern Life

“wanted to dream when you went to sleep at night. For at least a month you would live out all your wishes in your dreams. You would have banquets and music and everything that you ever thought you wanted. But then, after a few weeks of this, you would say, “Well, this is getting a little dull. Let’s have an adventure. Let’s get into trouble.” It is all right to get into trouble because you know you are going to wake up at the end of it. So you could fight dragons and rescue princesses, and all that sort of thing.”
― Alan W. Watts, Eastern Wisdom, Modern Life

“The whole problem is that it would be very bad indeed if God were the author of evil, and we were his victims. That is to say, if we keep the model of the king of the universe in which the creatures are all subjects of the king, then a God who is responsible for evil is being very unkind to the people. But in the Hindu theory, God is not another person. There are no victims of God. He is never anything but His own victim. You are responsible. If you want to stay in the state of illusion, stay in it. But you can always wake up.”
― Alan W. Watts, Eastern Wisdom, Modern Life

“He has a funny look in his eyes as if to say, “Come off it, Shiva, I know what you are up to, I know what you are doing.” And you say, “What, me?” So he looks at you in this funny way until finally you get the feeling that he sees all the way through you; and that all your selfishness and evil, nasty thoughts are transparent to his gaze. Then you have to try and alter them. He suggests that you practice the control of the mind, that you become interiorly silent, and that you give up selfish desires of the skin-encapsulated self. Then you may have some success in quieting your mind and in concentrating. But after that, he will throw a curve at you, which is: Are you not still desiring not to desire? Why are you trying to be unselfish? Well, the answer is, “I want to be on the side of the big battalions. I think it is going to pay off better to be unselfish than to be selfish.”
― Alan W. Watts, Eastern Wisdom, Modern Life

“Harry Emerson Fosdick could write a book called On Being a Real Person, which translated literally is, “How to be a genuine fake,” because in the old sense, the person is the role, the part played by the actor. But if you forget that you are the actor, and think you are the person, you have been taken in by your own role. You are “en-rolled,” or bewitched, spellbound, enchanted.”
― Alan W. Watts, Eastern Wisdom, Modern Life

“I want to contrast this ceramic image of the world with the distinctly different dramatic image that is the presiding image of the Hindus. Their idea is that God did not make the world, but acted it. That is to say, every person and every thing is a role or part that the Godhead is playing.”
― Alan W. Watts, Eastern Wisdom, Modern Life

“The idea that there are no wrong feelings is immensely threatening to people who are afraid to feel. This is one of the peculiar problems of Western culture: We are terrified of our feelings, because they take off on their own. We think that if we give them any scope, if we don’t immediately beat them down, they will lead us into all kinds of chaotic and destructive actions.”
― Alan W. Watts, Eastern Wisdom, Modern Life

“obstreperous.”
― Alan W. Watts, Eastern Wisdom, Modern Life

“Instant coffee is a punishment for people who are in too much of a hurry.”
― Alan W. Watts, Eastern Wisdom, Modern Life

“დასავლელი ადამიანის პრობლემა სხვა ადამიანთან ბრძოლა ან ბუნებრივი რესურსებისთვის ბრძოლა კი არა, საკუთარ გრძნობებთან ჭიდილია - იმაზე დარდია, რის ნებას მისცემს ან რას აუკრძალავს საკუთარ თავს...ასეთი რეპრესიების შედეგად, ის ჭკუიდან იშლება. სინამდვილეში სწორედ მაშინ ვერ ვაკონტროლებთ თავს, როდესაც არ ვიღებთ საკუთარ გრძნობებს, როცა ვთვალთმაქცობთ, თითქოს ჩვენი შინაგანი ცხოვრება განსხვავდებოდეს იმისგან, რაც სინამდვილეშია.
ყველაზე მეტად შვებისმომგვრელი შეიძლება ის იყოს, რომ გრძნობები არასოდეს გვატყუებენ. რა თქმა უნდა შესაძლოა, მათ არასწორ ქმედებებამდეც მიგვიყვანონ...საკუთარ თავთან დაბრუნებული ადამიანი არ უარყოფს გრძნობებს. ეს მათი კონტროლის ერთადერთი გზაა.
მეზღვაური ყოველთვის ენდობა ქარს. სულერთია, მისი მიმართულებით სურს ცურვა ტუ მის საწინააღმდეგოდ. ის ყოველთვის იყენებს ქარს. მეზღვაური არასდროს უარყოფს ქარს.
ადამიანმა არ უნდა გაწყვიტოს კავშირი საკუთარ გრძნობებთან, განურჩევლად იმისა, მათ შესაბამისად მოქმედებს, თუ საპირისპიროდ. ადამიანი, რომელიც საკუთარ გრძნობებს ივიწყებს, კარგავს თავის თავს და ცარიელ ნიღაბს ემსგავსება, რომლის მიღმაც არაფერია. მისი პირით სიყვარულისა და კეთილშობილების ქადაგება კი სიყალბედ იქცევა.”
― Alan W. Watts, Eastern Wisdom, Modern Life: Collected Talks 1960-1969