Alan Watts unpacks the imperative not to hold on to things, but to adopt a kind of psychological poverty—or simplicity— in which the mind is clear and unfettered in a way that allows it the space for true spontaneity.
Alan Watts delves into one of his favorite and recurring subjects – the way in which we over-identify with the parts we play.
Alan Watts often said that in order to come to your senses, you have to get out of your mind. Watts was emphatic about self-realization and breaking through cultural and psychic barriers in order to live as a fully-fledged, fearless human being.
Among Alan Watts’ most compelling qualities was his fascination with different systems of faith and his ability to draw comparisons and lines of equivocation between them in a way that they would further illuminate each other. He stressed the importance of looking at the experience of religion rather than the schema of a doctrine, writing in his… Continue reading Brahman, God, Allah and the Tao – Alan Watts
Our favorite rogue Zen philosopher, Alan Watts had a gift for contextualizing the principles of Zen and translating them in a way that non-Buddhist people would be able to comprehend. In this excerpt from his short book, ‘Beat Zen Square Zen and Zen‘, he talks about the importance of understanding our own culture thoroughly so… Continue reading Alan Watts on Beat Zen and Square Zen
Alan Watts was one of the foremost interpreters of Eastern philosophy in Europe and the United States in the mid 20th century. This extract from his book, ‘The Wisdom of Insecurity’ talks about our tendency to reject pain in the service of pleasure, and how in doing so we are ultimately shying from the full… Continue reading Alan Watts’ Pain and Time
The Dewdrop is a digital journal with a passion for reading, writing, and being. Since 2018.
BY MARY DOWNES
How Nikos Kazantzakis’ “The Last Temptation of Christ” changed my understanding of Christianity – at 24, Jesus of Nazareth became personal.
After a glioblastoma diagnosis, Tallu Schuyler Quinn wrote about what dying meant to her body, mind and heart in this series of moving essays.
