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orgnzekrnge 's review for:
The Book
by Alan Watts
This is simultaneously the best and worst book I’ve ever read; Taoists who beat the drum of duality should be proud.
Without ever outright saying so, it is clear that Alan Watts believes Western culture’s natural progression has perverted our ability to truly acknowledge our humanity; our ego, ever inflated by human nature, has inhibited our ability to FEEL our human nature.
Watts, self-admittedly in vain, attempts to explain the metaphysics of being with the physical, invoking weakly defined references to science and mathematics to strengthen the philosophical arguments he makes. But he’s like a shitty Bill Nye when he does this. These rambling passages oscillate between being oh so fucking boring to woefully unconvincing due to how closely they seem to neighbor pseudo-science.
Even still, this is Alan Watts, and ya boy still has some philosophical gems to drop.
I’m in a place right now where I feel especially persuaded by a philosophy that teaches understanding through accepting that one can't understand, feeling at one with the self by letting go, and coming to terms with the essence of everything as everything. There’s a certain peacefulness to this line of thinking, and when Watts puts his Taoism hat on, he’s brilliant.
But he needs to leave the science to the scientists.
Without ever outright saying so, it is clear that Alan Watts believes Western culture’s natural progression has perverted our ability to truly acknowledge our humanity; our ego, ever inflated by human nature, has inhibited our ability to FEEL our human nature.
Watts, self-admittedly in vain, attempts to explain the metaphysics of being with the physical, invoking weakly defined references to science and mathematics to strengthen the philosophical arguments he makes. But he’s like a shitty Bill Nye when he does this. These rambling passages oscillate between being oh so fucking boring to woefully unconvincing due to how closely they seem to neighbor pseudo-science.
Even still, this is Alan Watts, and ya boy still has some philosophical gems to drop.
I’m in a place right now where I feel especially persuaded by a philosophy that teaches understanding through accepting that one can't understand, feeling at one with the self by letting go, and coming to terms with the essence of everything as everything. There’s a certain peacefulness to this line of thinking, and when Watts puts his Taoism hat on, he’s brilliant.
But he needs to leave the science to the scientists.