A difficult book to be understood and not underrated, for it develops a reflection on the meaning of "I" and "me" which criticizes many roots of Western thought. A very useful read. ( )

Este libro significa una inversión radical del pensamiento ordinario sobre la búsqueda de la seguridad. El autor plantea la pregunta: ¿cómo vivir en un mundo de inseguridad, en un mundo privado del consuelo de las tradicionales creencias religiosas? Y la respuesta la encuentra en la ley de la retrocesión: los seres humanos sufren y perecen debido a los esfuerzos mismos que hacen por no sufrir y por no perecer.

I reread this January 2021. It is a must read for anyone drawn to religion, politics, or philosophy. It is a book I should try to revisit, at least in part, every year. ( )

I like listening to some of the talks Alan Watts gave during his life. He talks in a gentle and humourous way about religion and philosophy in a way that is really easy to understand. I listened to this as an audiobook hoping for more of the same. Unfortunately this is much more scholarly and dense than his talks tended to be. As a result I found it to be quite impenetrable and hard to get along with. I will continue to watch and listen to his talks but I won't be rushing out to listen to anymore of his books. ( )

I'm a fan of Alan W. Watts's speeches and monologues. There are many audio-recordings available on YouTube and other platforms. Some of the ones I like:

Live in the Now
Life and Music
Why Money Rules Your Life
The Dream of Life

and many more, some as long as one or more hour(s).

But one isn't always connected to the internet - that's one of the contemporary diseases, always online, never letting your mind and body come to rest -, so it can then be useful to have, for example, a book by the man. One that instantly grabbed my attention several years ago, was this one here, 'The Wisdom of Insecurity'. The summary at the back is quite clear:

We live in an age of unprecedented anxiety. Spending all our time trying to anticipate and plan for the future and to lamenting the past, we forget to embrace the here and now. We are so concerned with tomorrow that we forget to enjoy today. Drawing from Eastern philosophy and religion, Alan Watts shows that it is only by acknowledging what we do not—and cannot—know that we can learn anything truly worth knowing. In The Wisdom of Insecurity, he shows us how, in order to lead a fulfilling life, we must embrace the present—and live fully in the now. Featuring an Introduction by Deepak Chopra.

The book consists of nine chapters, all fairly quick to read, but it's recommended to be focused, even re-read phrases to understand what Watts is saying/has written. Ok, sometimes a comma is missing so that also requires you to re-read certain phrases. The material presented here is profound, makes you rethink your life, your behaviour, your outlook on life. It's also the kind of book that you have to re-read now and then, which is the case for me. Let it sink in, go on with your life, come back, repeat and see how it affects your behaviour when you apply a change of mind.

A recommended, quick, but not so light read.

Watts's "teachings" remind(ed) me in a way of, for example, Jiddu Krishnamurti's little book, 'The First and last Freedom', of which I read the Dutch translation a few years ago, as you can read here (in Dutch). In addition, I hope to read - in bits and pieces, as it's one gigantic encyclopaedia - [b:De verbeelding van het denken: Geschiedenis van de westerse en oosterse filosofie|24179358|De verbeelding van het denken Geschiedenis van de westerse en oosterse filosofie|Jan Bor|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1423871839s/24179358.jpg|13558406] (translatable as 'The Imagination of Thinking: the History of western and eastern philosophy) by Jan Bor and Errit Petersma. ( )