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thoreau_infinite's review
5.0
Watts presents many interesting concepts and ideas from philosophies all around the world, focusing on eastern philosophy especially. This was the very first time I really let myself dive deeper into philosophical ideas and their philosophers, and to be able to see the world and the universe in so many perspectives is fascinating. So to try and climb up the tips of the furry hairs of a rabbit that came out of the universe's top hat is exhilarating. And if what makes us humans humans is our capability of creating collective narratives and our mental/intellectual properties, philosophy (back then including many other categories such as sociology etc.) and science (that was heavily influenced by philosophy) are our greatest achievements and worth further development, for an end is not in sight anytime soon.
jm5004's review
2.0
This collection of Alan Watts' lectures failed to spark much joy or, really, anything else in me. Instead, I found it about half somewhat interesting philosophy 101 discussions of impermanence and various Eastern wisdom concepts, and the other half diatribes against conformism and lazy structuralist religious history. That sounds much more dismissive than my actual experience reading this book was, though. Watts' is an engaging speaker-writer and the essays went down easy. It just made me realize when I was finished how primed I already was for Watts' allegedly counter-cultural way of thinking.
A lot of how Watts' describes existence coheres well with process philosophy and theology. Life can not be broken down into separate things and entities, rather it is one long process of experiencing thingness. If someone asked me how to get into Whitehead, I honestly think this would be a good companion text for a newbie to theory. And for that, it is worth at least a couple of stars. But when he careens in interreligious engagement, he generalizes so much between Buddhism, Hinduism, and Taoism as to make them all the same thing. They all become wisdom traditions repackaged as more intellectually savvy self-help.
That's not entirely fair. Watts' discussion of Zen Buddhism has some nuance that is noticeably lacking in other chapters. But, it shows it's age. If you had never heard of these religions before Watts, his approach to their theology would be appropriate. Yet, we receive this book in a post-Orientalism age where static comparisons between East and West have to be treated more critically. It's not the Watts exoticizes and Otherizes these traditions but that he speaks of them as being composed entirely of their doctrine. Rarely does he go into the actual cultural practices and historical moments that shaped the development of these movements. At one point he tries to explain Hinduism as a kind of cultural Buddhism when a more straightforward acknowledgement that these traditions share a corps of sacred texts would be more appropriate. These little popularizing gestures don't make this a bad book, but they do give an incorrect idea of how people experience these religions. And, I suppose that's not really Watts' goal, so I don't fault him. But as a student of theology and chaplain-in-training, there's enough comparative religion flubs that it's worth docking some points simply for the author's carelessness.
A lot of how Watts' describes existence coheres well with process philosophy and theology. Life can not be broken down into separate things and entities, rather it is one long process of experiencing thingness. If someone asked me how to get into Whitehead, I honestly think this would be a good companion text for a newbie to theory. And for that, it is worth at least a couple of stars. But when he careens in interreligious engagement, he generalizes so much between Buddhism, Hinduism, and Taoism as to make them all the same thing. They all become wisdom traditions repackaged as more intellectually savvy self-help.
That's not entirely fair. Watts' discussion of Zen Buddhism has some nuance that is noticeably lacking in other chapters. But, it shows it's age. If you had never heard of these religions before Watts, his approach to their theology would be appropriate. Yet, we receive this book in a post-Orientalism age where static comparisons between East and West have to be treated more critically. It's not the Watts exoticizes and Otherizes these traditions but that he speaks of them as being composed entirely of their doctrine. Rarely does he go into the actual cultural practices and historical moments that shaped the development of these movements. At one point he tries to explain Hinduism as a kind of cultural Buddhism when a more straightforward acknowledgement that these traditions share a corps of sacred texts would be more appropriate. These little popularizing gestures don't make this a bad book, but they do give an incorrect idea of how people experience these religions. And, I suppose that's not really Watts' goal, so I don't fault him. But as a student of theology and chaplain-in-training, there's enough comparative religion flubs that it's worth docking some points simply for the author's carelessness.
hellified's review
2.0
A mix of Zen Buddhism, western psychology, and the hippie movement, delivered by a man who tickles himself to death. If you nod along with him you're hip and with it, if not, man, you're just a square.
effcaa's review
4.0
Some of my favourite quotes:
„The moment you cease to identify with the ego and become aware that you are the whole organism, you realize how harmonious it all is. Your organism is a miracle of harmony. All these things functioning together—even miniscule creatures fighting each other in your bloodstream and eating each other up. If they weren’t doing that, you wouldn’t be healthy. What appears to be discord on one level is harmony at a higher level. All the discord in your life and in the lives of others—at a higher level of the universe, all of that is healthy and harmonious. Everything you are and do at that higher level is magnificent and free of blemish, just like patterns in waves, markings in marble, or the rippling movements of a cat. The world is really okay, and it couldn’t be anything else. Otherwise, it couldn’t exist.“
„Confusion largely results from not following feelings or ideas into their depths. People say they want to live forever, or they want this or that new car, or a certain amount of money to make them happy, and so on, but follow that line of thinking to its end. What would it be like to have those desires fulfilled?“
„A free and easy society loves outsiders. It knows that the outsider is doing for us what we haven’t got the guts to do for ourselves. The outsider lives up there in the mountains at the highest peak of human evolution—their consciousness is one with the divine, and that’s just great. It makes you feel a little better to have somebody like that around. That person is realized—they know what it’s all about. So we need those people, even if they aren’t playing our game, because it reminds the government in no uncertain terms that there’s something more important going on.“
„The moment you cease to identify with the ego and become aware that you are the whole organism, you realize how harmonious it all is. Your organism is a miracle of harmony. All these things functioning together—even miniscule creatures fighting each other in your bloodstream and eating each other up. If they weren’t doing that, you wouldn’t be healthy. What appears to be discord on one level is harmony at a higher level. All the discord in your life and in the lives of others—at a higher level of the universe, all of that is healthy and harmonious. Everything you are and do at that higher level is magnificent and free of blemish, just like patterns in waves, markings in marble, or the rippling movements of a cat. The world is really okay, and it couldn’t be anything else. Otherwise, it couldn’t exist.“
„Confusion largely results from not following feelings or ideas into their depths. People say they want to live forever, or they want this or that new car, or a certain amount of money to make them happy, and so on, but follow that line of thinking to its end. What would it be like to have those desires fulfilled?“
„A free and easy society loves outsiders. It knows that the outsider is doing for us what we haven’t got the guts to do for ourselves. The outsider lives up there in the mountains at the highest peak of human evolution—their consciousness is one with the divine, and that’s just great. It makes you feel a little better to have somebody like that around. That person is realized—they know what it’s all about. So we need those people, even if they aren’t playing our game, because it reminds the government in no uncertain terms that there’s something more important going on.“
unionmack's review
5.0
I could listen to this guy talk all day. Even if I don't agree with everything he says, he's the sort of thinker that undoubtedly expands your own worldview and increases your appreciation for life, the universe, and everything. Great overviews of Hindu, Vedantic, and Buddhist thought in here, all told with as much levity as depth.