Uncover the Profound Insight of Alan Watts' The Wisdom of Insecurity

Alessandro Silva: Comprei pra treinar o inglês e gostei da leitura. O autor tentar passar a visao holistica que tudo e todos estam interligados. E atraves tanto da ciencia como da religiao estamos dissecados em varias partes para melhor entender a nós mesmos, porem quando fazemos isso deixamos de fora muitas outras partes que nao foram analisadas ou omitidas durante o estudo de nós mesmos. Visao bem interessante. Uma boa crítica a ciencia e a religiao. Pode ler!

Brazil on Jan 19, 2024

Katzenberger Jens: Time to awake & to stop creating pain and misery.

Germany on Jan 06, 2024

Brett: Read front to back in one take. Interesting read. I like the view that is taken on the present and how one perceives and acts in it.

United States on Nov 30, 2023

Elaine: Bought as a gift, so not reading it myself and can't comment on the content. It's as described and I believe the recipient will be happy.

United Kingdom on Nov 26, 2023

Jonathan Campbell: 👻👽🦴💀🫶

This is what I got from the book decipher it for yourselves LOL.

I needed to write six more words to submit this

United States on Oct 28, 2023

Alexander: Muy buen libro, con la peculiaridad única de ese autor, mucho aprendizaje si estás abierto a su forma diferente de escribir

Mexico on Jul 04, 2023

Nathaniel WrightNathaniel Wright: The book came brand new. Very clean. It was delivered delicately.
I love this book. Im glad I added it to my collection. It's a book that can be reread multiple times. It's definitely a mind blower. The perspective of Alan is very intense for someone who isn't used to seeing things differently than what we've been taught, especially in the Western Culture.
I would recommend this book if you are open minded.

Canada on Jun 08, 2022

Rasmus Nilsson: Watts certainly has insight; this book is full of Buddhist-inspired wisdom on the human predicament and what to do with it. It is not a practical book as much as a philosophical book, however. You'll find no guides to meditation or advice on changes to make in life or actions to take here. Rather, what you'll find is a sort of theory of existence that suggests that it is by ceasing to wish for escape and by embracing suffering and insecurity that we heal and become more whole as people. Watts himself might have balked at the thought, but it takes a lot of theory to arrive at his rejection of theory in favor of fully inhabiting the present moment. That is not a problem in itself.

Though his ideas are not presented in a very orderly manner and can be hard to follow (indeed, sometimes he himself doesn't follow up on some thread he started). And though his reasoning is sometimes slightly tangled and muddy, the book is a treasury of worthwhile thoughts, especially for an open-minded and intelligent person who has not explored Eastern thought very deeply. Don't let this be your only source on Buddhist thinking, but do sample it to get a feel for the tradition...

United States on Mar 05, 2021

Patrick F: Alan Watts writes with simple, lucid logic that is nearly impossible for me to summarize. His argument holds together like a long string of connected puzzle pieces and to take any out is to lose the impact of his philosophy. I would thoroughly recommend reading Watts’ work, but would recommend against trusting me to accurately convey his system of thought aside from this one major point: live in the present.

Watts begins right at the heart of the matter by emphasizing why it is illogical to live for the future or to dwell on the past. He writes, “If happiness always depends on something expected in the future, we are chasing a will-o’-the-wisp that ever eludes our grasp, until the future, and ourselves, vanish into the abyss of death” (15). He takes time to explore how the modern western mind is plagued by anxiety and hope for the future while forgetting that the future is an eternally moving goalpost. While some of his ideas certainly buck the prevailing mindset--especially that held by wide swaths of Christians--Watts proceeds graciously and with respect to the difficulty some will have with digesting the idea that we ought not be fixated on...

United States on Mar 22, 2020

T. Burket: In 1951, Alan Watts wrote about the increasing pace of life and the challenges to maintain one's moorings in turbulent times. If only he were around today to see what has happened recent years and to comment accordingly! Perhaps he would give similar advice, as his principles should not be subject to the current events or fashion.

His two main themes from my perspective, at least in the first half that I found much more enlightening, were that humans do not need traditional religion and that humans should not fight anxiety. In the first case, his analysis is not that science has solved everything, a topic lively today and likely to continue as a perpetual debate. It is more that the human soul can find nourishment and understanding in other ways, and does not need the tenets of religion to make life whole. He does, however, concede that belief has been undermined by the ceaseless march of human intelligence, while claiming that the coldly intellectual angle often leaves the human soul unsatisfied. Mystery helps feed the mind and spirit.

Mr. Watts' insights on anxiety as the necessary complement to freedom and pleasure were particularly succinct and...

United States on Dec 09, 2007