Alan Wilson Watts (January 6, 1915 – November 16, 1973) was a
BritishThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe. It is an island country, spanning an archipelago including Great Britain, the northeastern part of Ireland, and many small islands...
philosopher,
writerA writer is anyone who creates a written work, though the word usually designates those who write creatively or professionally, as well as those who have written in many different forms.-Profession:...
, speaker, who held both a master's degree in theology and a doctorate of divinity.
Famous for his research on
comparative religionComparative religion is a field of religious study that analyzes the similarities and differences of themes, myths, rituals and concepts among the world's religions...
, he was best known as an interpreter and popularizer of
Eastern philosophyEastern philosophy includes the various philosophies of Asia, including Indian philosophy, Chinese philosophy, Iranian philosophy, Japanese philosophy, and Korean philosophy...
for a
WesternWestern culture refers to cultures of European origin.The term "Western culture" is used very broadly to refer to a heritage of social norms, ethical values, traditional customs, religious beliefs, political systems, and specific artifacts and technologies...
audience.
He wrote more than 25 books and numerous articles on subjects such as personal
identityIdentity is an umbrella term used throughout the social sciences to describe an individual's comprehension of him or herself as a discrete, separate entity. This term, though generic, can be further specified by the disciplines of psychology and sociology, including the two forms of social psychology...
, the true nature of
realityReality, in everyday usage, means "the state of things as they actually exist." Literally, the term denotes what is real; in its widest sense, this includes everything that is, whether or not it is observable or comprehensible. Reality in this sense includes being and sometimes is considered to...
,
higher consciousnessHigher consciousness, also called super consciousness , objective consciousness , Buddhic consciousness , cosmic consciousness, God-consciousness and Christ consciousness , are expressions used in various spiritual traditions to denote the consciousness of a human being who has reached a...
, meaning of life, concepts and images of God and the non-material pursuit of
happinessHappiness is a state of mind or feeling characterized by contentment, love, satisfaction, pleasure, or joy. A variety of philosophical, religious, psychological and biological approaches have striven to define happiness and identify its sources....
.
In his books he relates his experience to scientific knowledge and to the teachings of
EasternEastern religion is a term used to refer to religions originating in the Eastern world —India, China, Japan and Southeast Asia —and thus have dissimilarities with Western religions...
and
Western religionThe term Western religion refers to religions that originated within Western culture, and are thus which historically, culturally, and theologically distinct from the Eastern religions...
and philosophy.
Early years
Watts was born to
middle classThe middle class are any class in the middle of a social schema. In Weberian socio-economic terms they are the broad group of people in contemporary society who fall socioeconomically between the working class and upper class. In Marxist terms, middle class commonly refers to either the...
parents in the village of
ChislehurstChislehurst is a suburban settlement in south east London, England and an electoral ward of the London Borough of Bromley.-Etymology:The name "Chislehurst" is derived from the Saxon words "cisel" which means gravel and "hyrst" which means wooded hill....
,
KentKent , originally Cantia, is a county in southeast England, and is one of the home counties. It borders East Sussex, Surrey and Greater London and has a defined boundary with Essex in the middle of the River Thames estuary. The ceremonial county boundaries of Kent include the shire county of Kent...
,
EnglandEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the North Sea to the east, with the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
in the year 1915, living at 3 (now 5) Holbrook Lane. His father was a representative for the London office of the
Michelin Tyre CompanyMichelin based in Clermont-Ferrand in the Auvergne région of France, is primarily a tyre manufacturer, currently either the world's second-largest or the largest...
, his mother a housewife whose father had been a
missionaryA missionary is a member of a religion who works to convert those who do not share the missionary's faith; someone who proselytizes. The word "mission" is derived from the Latin missioninimus A missionary is a member of a religion who works to convert those who do not share the missionary's faith;...
. With modest financial means, they chose to live in pastoral surroundings and Alan, an only child, grew up playing outside, learning the names of wildflowers and butterflies.
Probably because of the influence of his mother’s religious family the Buchans, an interest in "ultimate things" seeped in. But it mixed with Alan’s own interests in storybook fables and romantic tales of the mysterious Far East.
Watts also later wrote of a mystical sort of vision he experienced while ill with a fever as a child. During this time he was influenced by Far Eastern landscape paintings and embroideries that had been given to his mother by missionaries returning from
ChinaChina is a cultural region, an ancient civilization, and, depending on perspective, a national or multinational entity extending over a large area in East Asia....
. The few Chinese paintings Watts was able to see in England riveted him, and he wrote "I was aesthetically fascinated with a certain clarity, transparency, and spaciousness in Chinese and Japanese art. It seemed to float..." [as presented in his autobiography]. These works of art emphasized the participative relationship of man in nature, a theme that stood fast throughout his life.
Buddhism
By his own assessment, Watts was imaginative, headstrong, and talkative. He was sent to
boarding schoolA boarding school is a school where some or all pupils not only study, but also live during term time, with their fellow students and possibly teachers. The word 'boarding' is used in the sense of "bed and board", that is, food and lodging...
s (which included both academic and religious training) from early years. During holidays in his teen years, Francis Croshaw, a wealthy
epicureanEpicureanism is a system of philosophy based upon the teachings of Epicurus , founded around 307 BC. Epicurus was an atomic materialist, following in the steps of Democritus. His materialism led him to a general attack on superstition and divine intervention...
with strong interests in both
BuddhismBuddhism, as traditionally conceived, is a path of salvation attained through insight into the ultimate nature of reality. It encompasses a variety of traditions, beliefs and practices, largely based on teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as the Buddha...
and the exotic little-known aspects of European culture, took Watts on a trip through
FranceFrance , officially the French Republic , is a country located in Western Europe, with several overseas islands and territories located on other continents. Metropolitan France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, and from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean...
. It was not long afterward that Watts felt forced to decide between the Anglican Christianity he had been exposed to and the Buddhism he had read about in various libraries, including Croshaw’s. He chose Buddhism, and sought membership in the London Buddhist Lodge which had been established by Theosophists, and was now run by the barrister
Christmas HumphreysTravers Christmas Humphreys, QC was a British barrister who prosecuted several controversial cases in the 1940s and 1950s, and later became a judge at the Old Bailey. He was an enthusiastic Shakespeare scholar and proponent of the Oxfordian theory...
. Watts became the organization’s secretary at 16 (1931). The young Watts explored several styles of
meditationMeditation is used here as a broad term for practices done by a sole practitioner without much, if any, external aide, often for the purpose of self-transformation...
during these years.
Education
Watts attended King's School next door to
Canterbury CathedralCanterbury Cathedral in Canterbury, Kent, is one of the oldest and most famous Christian structures in England and forms part of a World Heritage Site. It is the cathedral of the Archbishop of Canterbury, leader of the Church of England and symbolic leader of the worldwide Anglican Communion...
. Though he was frequently at the top of his classes scholastically, and was given responsibilities at school, he botched an opportunity for a
scholarshipA scholarship is an award of access to an institution, or a financial aid award for a student to further education. Scholarships are awarded on various criteria usually reflecting the values and purposes of the donor or founder of the award.-Types:...
to
OxfordOxford is a city, and the county town of Oxfordshire, in South East England. The city has a population of just under 165,000, with 151,000 living within the district boundary. The rivers Cherwell and Thames run through Oxford and meet south of the city centre...
by styling a crucial examination essay in a way that was read as presumptuous and capricious.
Hence, when he graduated from secondary school, Watts was thrust into the world of employment, working in a printing house and later a bank. He spent his spare time involved with the Buddhist Lodge and also under the tutelage of a "rascal guru" named
Dimitrije MitrinovićDimitrije Mitrinović Serbian Cyrillic Димитрије Митриновић - was a philosopher, poet, revolutionary, mystic, theoretician of modern painting, traveller and cosmopolite.-Biography:...
. (Mitrinović was himself influenced by
Peter Demianovich OuspenskyPeter D. Ouspensky , , a Russian philosopher, invoked euclidean and noneuclidean geometry in his discussions of psychology and higher dimensions of existence.Ouspensky has a reputation for his expositions of the early work of the Greek-Armenian teacher of esoteric doctrine George...
,
G. I. GurdjieffGeorge Ivanovich Gurdjieff ; January 13, 1866? – October 29, 1949), was a Greek-Armenian mystic and spiritual teacher. He called his discipline "The Work" , or as he first referred to it, the Fourth Way.At one point he described his teaching as "esoteric Christianity".At...
, and the varied psychoanalytical schools of
FreudSigmund Freud , Sigismund Schlomo Freud , was an Austrian neurologist who founded the psychoanalytic school of psychology...
,
JungCarl Gustav Jung was a Swiss psychiatrist, an influential thinker and the founder of analytical psychology known as Jungian psychology. Jung's approach to psychology has been influential in the field of depth psychology and in countercultural movements across the globe...
and
AdlerAlfred Adler was an Austrian medical doctor, psychologist and founder of the school of individual psychology. In collaboration with Sigmund Freud and a small group of Freud's colleagues, Adler was among the co-founders of the psychoanalytic movement as a core member of the Vienna Psychoanalytic...
.) Watts also read widely in philosophy, history, psychology, psychiatry and Eastern wisdom.
Influences and first publication
London afforded him a considerable number of other opportunities for personal growth. Through Humphreys, he contacted eminent spiritual authors (e.g.,
Nicholas RoerichNicholas Roerich, also known as Nikolai Konstantinovich Rerikh , was a Russian painter, philosopher, scientist, writer, traveler, public figure. He created about 7,000 paintings and about 30 literary works...
, Dr. Sarvapalli Radhakrishnan) and prominent theosophists like
Alice BaileyAlice Ann Bailey , known as Alice A. Bailey or AAB, was born as Alice LaTrobe Bateman, in Manchester, England—at 7:32 AM GMT, according to Dane Rudhyar. She moved to the United States in 1907, where she spent most of her life as a writer and teacher...
. In 1936, aged 21, he attended the World Congress of Faiths at the University of London, heard D.T. Suzuki read a paper, and afterwards was able to meet this esteemed scholar of Zen Buddhism. Beyond these discussions and personal encounters, he absorbed, by studying the available scholarly literature, the fundamental concepts and
terminologyTerminology is the study of terms and their use. Terms are words and compound words that are used in specific contexts. Not to be confused with "terms" in colloquial usages, the shortened form of technical terms which are defined within a discipline or speciality field...
of the main philosophies of
IndiaIndia, officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the south, the Arabian Sea on the west, and the Bay of Bengal...
and
East AsiaEast Asia or Eastern Asia is a subregion of Asia that can be defined in either geographical or cultural terms. Geographically and geo-politically, it covers about , or about 28 percent of the Asian continent, about 15 percent bigger than the area of Europe, though some categorize Tibet, Xinjiang,...
. In 1936, Watts' first book was published,
The Spirit of Zen, which he later acknowledged to be mainly digested from the writings of Suzuki.
In 1938 he and his bride left England to live in America. He had married Eleanor Everett, whose mother
Ruth Fuller EverettRuth Fuller Sasaki , born Ruth Fuller, was an important figure in the development of Buddhism in the United States. As Ruth Fuller Everett , she met and studied with D. T. Suzuki in Japan in 1930...
was involved with a traditional Zen Buddhist circle in
New YorkNew York is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States and is the nation's third most populous. The state is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
. A few years later, Ruth Fuller married the Zen master (or "roshi"), Sokei-an Sasaki, and this Japanese gentleman served as a sort of model and mentor to Alan, though Watts chose not to enter into a formal Zen training relationship with Sasaki.
During these years, according to his later writings, Watts had another mystical experience while on a walk with his wife.
Priesthood and after
Watts had left formal Zen training in New York because the method of the teacher didn't suit him. He was not ordained as a Zen monk, but he felt a need to find a professional outlet for his philosophical inclinations. He entered an Anglican (Episcopalian) school (Seabury-Western Theological Seminary, in Evanston, Illinois), where he studied Christian scriptures, theology, and Church history. He attempted to work out a blend of contemporary Christian worship, mystical Christianity, and Asian philosophy. Watts was awarded a master's degree in theology in response to his thesis, which he published as a popular edition under the title
Behold the Spirit. The pattern was set, in that Watts did not hide his dislike for religious outlooks that he decided were dour, guilt-ridden, or militantly proselytizing --- no matter if they were found within
JudaismJudaism is a set of beliefs and practices originating in the Hebrew Bible , as later further explored and explained in the Talmud and other texts...
,
ChristianityChristianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as presented by the revelations in the New Testament....
,
HinduismHinduism is the predominant religion of the Indian subcontinent. Hinduism is often referred to as ', a Sanskrit phrase meaning "the eternal law", by its adherents. Generic "types" of Hinduism that attempt to accommodate a variety of complex views span folk and Vedic Hinduism to bhakti tradition, as...
, or Buddhism.
All seemed to go reasonably well in his next role, as Episcopalian priest (beginning in 1945, aged 30), until an extramarital affair resulted in his young wife having their marriage annulled. It also resulted in Watts leaving the ministry by 1950. He spent the New Year getting to know
Joseph CampbellJoseph John Campbell was an American mythologist, writer and lecturer, best known for his work in comparative mythology and comparative religion. His work is vast, covering many aspects of the human experience...
; his wife, Jean Erdman; and
John CageJohn Milton Cage Jr. was an American composer, philosopher, poet, music theorist, artist, printmaker, and amateur mycologist and mushroom collector. A pioneer of chance music, electronic music and non-standard use of musical instruments, Cage was one of the leading figures of the post-war...
.
In the spring of 1951, Watts moved to California, where he joined the faculty of the American Academy of Asian Studies in San Francisco. Here he taught alongside Saburō Hasegawa, Frederick Spiegelberg,
Haridas ChaudhuriHaridas Chaudhuri , Bengali integral philosopher, was a correspondent with Sri Aurobindo and the founder of the California Institute of Integral Studies . He was born in Kolkata. He studied at the Scottish Church College and later at the University of Calcutta from where he earned his doctorate in...
,
lamaLama is a title for a Tibetan teacher of the Dharma. The name is similar to the Sanskrit term guru . The title can be used as an honorific title conferred on a monk, nun or advanced tantric practitioner to designate a level of spiritual attainment and authority to teach, or may be part of a...
Tokwan Tada, and various visiting experts and professors. Hasegawa, in particular, served as a teacher to Watts in the areas of Japanese customs, arts, primitivism, and perceptions of nature.
Watts also studied written Chinese and practiced Chinese brush calligraphy with Hasegawa as well as with some of the Chinese students who enrolled at the Academy. While Watts was noted for an interest in Zen Buddhism, with its origins in China, his reading and discussions delved into
VedantaVedanta was originally a word used as a synonym for that part of the Veda known also as the Upanishads. The name is a sandhied form of Veda-anta = "Veda-end" = "the appendix to the Vedas"...
, "the new physics,"
cyberneticsCybernetics is the interdisciplinary study of the structure of regulatory systems. Cybernetics is closely related to control theory and systems theory...
,
semanticsSemantics is the study of meaning, usually in language. The word "semantics" itself denotes a range of ideas, from the popular to the highly technical. It is often used in ordinary language to denote a problem of understanding that comes down to word selection or connotation. This problem of...
,
process philosophyProcess philosophy identifies metaphysical reality with change and dynamism. Since the time of Plato and Aristotle, philosophers have posited true reality as "timeless", based on permanent substances, whilst processes are denied or subordinated to timeless substances...
,
natural historyNatural history is the scientific research of plants or animals, leaning more towards the observational than experimental methods of study, and encompasses more research that is published in magazines than in academic journals. Grouped among the natural sciences, Natural history is the systematic...
, and the
anthropologyAnthropology is the study of human beings, everywhere and throughout time....
of sexuality.
Middle years
After heading up the Academy for a few years, Watts left the faculty for a freelance career in the mid 1950s. In 1953, he began what became a long-running weekly radio program at
Pacifica RadioPacifica Radio is the oldest public radio network in the United States. It is a network of over 100 affiliated stations and five independently operated, non-commercial, listener-supported radio stations that is known for its liberal and progressive political orientation. Many other U.S. and...
station
KPFAKPFA is a listener-funded progressive talk radio and music radio station located in Berkeley, California, broadcasting to the San Francisco Bay Area. KPFA airs public news, public affairs, talk, and music programming. The station was founded in 1949...
in
BerkeleyBerkeley is a city on the east shore of the San Francisco Bay in Northern California, United States. Its neighbors to the south are the cities of Oakland and Emeryville. To the north is the city of Albany and the unincorporated community of Kensington...
, which continued until his death in 1973. Like other volunteer programmers at the listener-sponsored station, Watts was not paid for his broadcasts; they did, however, gain him a large following in the
San Francisco Bay AreaThe San Francisco Bay Area, commonly known as the Bay Area, or the Yay Area, is a metropolitan region that surrounds the San Francisco and San Pablo estuaries in Northern California. The region encompasses large cities such as San Francisco, Oakland, and San Jose, along with smaller urban and...
. These programs were later carried by additional Pacifica stations, and were re-broadcast many times over in the decades following his death. The original tapes are currently held by the
Pacifica Radio Archives, based at
KPFKKPFK is a radio station in Studio City, California, United States, which serves the Greater Los Angeles Area, and streams 24 hours a day via the Internet...
in Los Angeles.
In 1957 when 42, Watts published one of his best known books,
The Way of Zen, which focused on philosophical explication and history. Besides drawing on the lifestyle and philosophical background of Zen, in India and China, Watts introduced ideas drawn from
general semanticsGeneral semantics is a non-Aristotelian educational discipline created by Alfred Korzybski during the years 1919 to 1933. General Semantics is distinct from semantics , a different subject...
(directly from the writings of
Alfred KorzybskiAlfred Habdank Skarbek Korzybski was a Polish-American philosopher and scientist. He is most remembered for developing the theory of general semantics.-Early life and career:...
and also from
Norbert WienerNorbert Wiener was an American pure and applied mathematician.A famous child prodigy, Wiener went on to become a pioneer in the study of stochastic and noise processes, contributing work relevant to electronic engineering, electronic communication, and control systems.Wiener is the founder of...
's early work on
cyberneticsCybernetics is the interdisciplinary study of the structure of regulatory systems. Cybernetics is closely related to control theory and systems theory...
, which had recently been published). Watts offered analogies from cybernetic principles possibly applicable to the Zen life. The book sold well, eventually becoming a modern classic, and helped widen his lecture circuit.
Around this time, Watts toured parts of Europe with his father, meeting the renowned psychiatrist
Carl JungCarl Gustav Jung was a Swiss psychiatrist, an influential thinker and the founder of analytical psychology known as Jungian psychology. Jung's approach to psychology has been influential in the field of depth psychology and in countercultural movements across the globe...
. In relation to modern psychology, Watts's instincts were closer to Jung's or
Abraham MaslowAbraham Harold Maslow was an American psychologist. He is noted for his conceptualization of a "hierarchy of human needs", and is considered the founder of humanistic psychology.-Biography:...
's than to those of
FreudSigmund Freud , Sigismund Schlomo Freud , was an Austrian neurologist who founded the psychoanalytic school of psychology...
.
Experimentation
When he returned to the United States, he began to dabble in psychedelic drug experiences, initially with
mescalineMescaline or 3,4,5-trimethoxyphenethylamine is a naturally occurring psychedelic alkaloid of the phenethylamine class. It is mainly used as an entheogen, and a tool to supplement various practices for transcendence, including in meditation, psychonautics, art projects, and psychedelic...
given to him by Dr.
Oscar JanigerOscar Janiger was a University of California Irvine Psychiatrist who was best known for his LSD research, which lasted from 1954 to 1962. Nine hundred people took LSD and recorded their experiences...
. He tried
LSDLysergic acid diethylamide, LSD-25, LSD, formerly lysergide, commonly known as acid, is a semisynthetic psychedelic drug of the ergoline family...
several times with various research teams led by Drs. Keith Ditman, Sterling Bunnell, and Michael Agron. He also tried marijuana and concluded that it was a useful and interesting psychoactive drug that gave the impression of time slowing down. Watts’ books of the 60s reveal the influence of these chemical adventures on his outlook. He would later comment about psychedelic drug use, "When you get the message, hang up the phone."
For a time, Watts came to prefer writing in the language of modern science and psychology (
Psychotherapy East and West is a good example), finding a parallel between mystical experiences and the theories of the material universe proposed by 20th-century physicists. He later equated mystical experience with ecological awareness, and typically emphasized whichever approach seemed best suited to the audience he was addressing.
Supporters and critics
Watts's explorations and teaching brought him into contact with many noted intellectuals, artists, and American teachers in the
human potential movementThe Human Potential Movement arose out of the social and intellectual milieu of the 1960s and formed around the concept of cultivating extraordinary potential that its advocates believed to lie largely untapped in most people...
. His friendship with poet
Gary SnyderGary Snyder is an American poet , as well as an essayist, lecturer, and environmental activist . Snyder is a winner of a Pulitzer Prize for Poetry...
nurtured his sympathies with the budding
environmental movementThe environmental movement, a term that includes the conservation and green movements, is a diverse scientific, social, and political movement for addressing environmental issues....
, to which Watts gave philosophical support. He also encountered
Robert Anton WilsonRobert Anton Wilson became, at various times, an American novelist, essayist, philosopher, polymath, psychonaut, futurist, libertarian and self-described agnostic mystic...
, who credited Watts with being one of his 'Light[s] along the Way' in the opening appreciation of
Cosmic Trigger.
Though never affiliated for long with any one academic institution, he did have a fellowship for several years at
Harvard UniversityHarvard University is a private university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts and a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1636 by the colonial Massachusetts legislature, Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and currently comprises ten separate academic units...
. He also lectured to many college and university students. His lectures and books gave Watts far-reaching influence on the American intelligentsia of the 1950s-1970s, but Watts was often seen as an outsider in academia. When questioned sharply by students during his talk at U.C. Santa Cruz in 1970, Watts responded that he was not an academic philosopher, but rather "a philosophical entertainer."
Watts has been criticized by Buddhists such as Roshi
Philip KapleauPhilip Kapleau was born in New Haven, Connecticut, in the United States and became a teacher of Zen Buddhism in the Sanbo Kyodan tradition, a blending of Japanese Soto and Rinzai schools...
,
John Daido LooriJohn Daido Loori was a Zen Buddhist priest who served as the abbot of Zen Mountain Monastery, and was the founder of the Mountains and Rivers Order, and CEO of Dharma Communications...
, and D. T. Suzuki for allegedly misinterpreting several key concepts of Zen Buddhism. Kapleau wrote that Watts dismissed
zazenZazen is at the heart of Zen Buddhist practice. The aim of zazen is just sitting, "opening the hand of thought". This is done either through koans, Rinzai's primary method, or whole-hearted sitting , the Soto sect's method...
on the basis of only half a
koanA kōan is a story, dialogue, question, or statement in the history and lore of Zen Buddhism, generally containing aspects that are inaccessible to rational understanding, yet may be accessible to intuition...
. In regard to aforementioned koan,
Robert AitkenRobert Aitken may refer to:* Sir Robert Aitken, New Zealand physician and university administrator* Robert Aitken , American publisher* Robert Aitken , Canadian flutist and composer...
reports that Suzuki told him "I regret to say that Mr. Watts did not understand that story." In Loori's translation of
DogenDōgen Zenji was a Japanese Zen Buddhist teacher born in Kyōto, and the founder of the Sōtō school of Zen in Japan. He was a leading religious figure of his time, as well as being an important philosopher...
's
The True Dharma EyeThe term Shōbōgenzō has three main usages in Buddhism: It can refer to the essence of the Buddha's realization and teaching, that is, to the Buddha Dharma itself, as viewed from the perspective of Mahayana Buddhism, it is the title of a koan collection with commentaries by Dahui Zonggao, and it...
, the author also mentions this and expands further to suggest that Zen in its essence
is zazen, and cannot be grasped without the practice.
Applied aesthetics
Watts often wrote about, or sometimes alluded to, a group of neighbors in Druid Heights (near Mill Valley, California), who had endeavored to combine architecture, gardening, and carpentry skills to make a beautiful and comfortable life for themselves. Druid Heights was founded by the writer
Elsa GidlowElsa Gidlow was a poet, who in 1923 published the first volume of openly lesbian love poetry in the United States: On A Grey Thread. She promoted alternative spiritualities including Buddhism and Goddess Worship. In the 1940s she founded a rural retreat center, The Druid Heights Artists Retreat,...
.
Regarding his intentions, it can be argued that Watts attempted to lessen the alienation that accompanies the experience of being human that he felt plagued the modern Westerner, and (like his fellow
BritishThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe. It is an island country, spanning an archipelago including Great Britain, the northeastern part of Ireland, and many small islands...
expatriate and friend,
Aldous HuxleyAldous Leonard Huxley was an English writer and one of the most prominent members of the famous Huxley family. He spent the later part of his life in the United States, living in Los Angeles from 1937 until his death in 1963...
) to lessen the ill will that was an unintentional by-product of alienation from the natural world. He felt such teaching could improve the world, at least to a degree. He also articulated the possibilities for greater incorporation of
aestheticsAesthetics is commonly known as the study of sensory or sensori-emotional values, sometimes called judgments of sentiment and taste...
(for example: better architecture, more art, more fine cuisine) in American life. In his autobiography he wrote, "… cultural renewal comes about when highly differentiated cultures mix" (Watts,
In My Own Way).
The spiritual aspect of sex
In his last novel
IslandIsland is the final book by English writer Aldous Huxley, published in 1962. It is the account of Will Farnaby, a cynical journalist who is shipwrecked on the fictional island of Pala. Island is Huxley's utopian counterpart to his most famous work, the 1932 novel Brave New World, itself often...
, Aldous Huxley mentions the religious practice of
maithunaMaithuna or Mithuna is a Sanskrit term used in Tantra most often translated as sexual union in a ritual context. It is the most important of the five makara and constitutes the main part of the Grand Ritual of Tantra variously known as Panchamakara, Panchatattva, and Tattva Chakra.Although some...
as being something like what Roman Catholics call "
coitus reservatusCoitus reservatus , is commonly thought of as a form of sexual intercourse in which the man does not attempt to ejaculate within his partner, but instead attempts to remain at the plateau phase of intercourse for as long as possible avoiding the orgasm and seminal emission Coitus reservatus...
". A few years before, Alan Watts had discussed the theme in his own book
Nature, Man and Woman. There, he discusses the possibility of the practice being known to early Christians and of it being kept secretly by the Church.
Later years
In his writings of the 1950s, he conveyed his admiration for the practicality in the historical achievements of
Chán-People:* Chan Marshall, American musician better known as Cat Power* Chan , Chinese surname; Mandarin transcription of the same name is Chen ** Agnes Chan, Hong Kong singer, also famous in Japan...
(Zen) in the Far East, for it had fostered farmers, architects, builders, folk physicians, artists, and administrators among the monks who had lived in the monasteries of its lineages.
In his mature work, he presents himself as "Zennist" in spirit as he wrote in his last book,
Tao: The Watercourse Way. Child rearing, the arts, cuisine, education, law and freedom, architecture, sexuality, and the uses and abuses of technology were all of great interest to him.
On the personal level, Watts sought to resolve his feelings of alienation from the institutions of marriage and the values of American society, as revealed in his classic comments on love relationships in "Divine Madness" and on perception of the organism-environment in "The Philosophy of Nature".
In looking at social issues he was quite concerned with the necessity for international peace, for tolerance and understanding among disparate cultures. He also came to feel acutely conscious of a growing ecological predicament; as one instance, in the early 1960s he wrote: “Can any melting or burning imaginable get rid of these ever-rising mountains of ruin – especially when the things we make and build are beginning to look more and more like rubbish even before they are thrown away?" These concerns were later expressed in a television pilot made for
NETNational Educational Television was an American educational television network in the United States from May 16, 1952, to October 4, 1970. It was replaced on October 5, 1970, by the PBS, which continues to the present.-History:...
filmed at his mountain retreat in 1971 in which he noted that the single track of conscious attention was wholly inadequate for interactions with a multi-tracked world.
Political stance
In his writings; Watts alluded to his own political shift from
RepublicanThe Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the Grand Old Party or the GOP, despite being the younger of the two major parties. In the U.S...
conservatismConservatism is the diverse political and social philosophy that supports tradition and the status quo, or that calls for a return to the values and society of an earlier age, the status quo ante. However, the term has been used by politicians and political commentators with a variety of meanings...
to a more libertarian legal and political outlook. Distrusting both the established political left and right, he found inspiration in the Chinese sage Chuang-Tzu. He disliked much in the conventional idea of "progress". He hoped for change, but personally he preferred amiable, semi-isolated rural social enclaves, and also believed in tolerance for urban tenderloins, social misfits, and eccentric artists. Watts decried the suburbanization of the countryside and the way of life that went with it.
In one campus lecture tour, which Watts titled "The End to the Put-Down of Man", Watts presented positive images for both nature and humanity, spoke in favor of the various stages of human growth (including the teenage years), reproached excessive cynicism and rivalry, and extolled intelligent creativity, good architecture and food.
On spiritual and social identity
Watts felt that
absolute moralityMoral absolutism is the meta-ethical view that certain actions are absolutely right or wrong, devoid of the context of the act. Thus lying, for instance, might be considered to be always immoral, even if done to promote some other good...
had nothing to do with the fundamental realization of one’s deep spiritual identity. He advocated social rather than personal ethics. In his writings, Watts was increasingly concerned with ethics applied to relations between humanity and the natural environment and between governments and citizens. He wrote out of an appreciation of a racially and culturally diverse social landscape.
He often said that he wished to act as a bridge between the ancient and the modern, between East and West, and between culture and nature.
Watts led some tours for Westerners to the Buddhist temples of Japan. He also studied some movements from the traditional
Chinese martialChinese martial arts, sometimes referred to by the Mandarin Chinese term wushu and popularly as kung fu , consist of a number of fighting styles that were developed over the centuries. Those fighting styles can be classified according to common themes that are identified as "families" , "sects" ...
art T'ai Chi Ch'uan, with an Asian colleague, Al Chung-liang Huang. Watts lived his later years at times on a
houseboatA houseboat is a boat that has been designed or modified to be used primarily as a human dwelling. Some houseboats are not motorized, because they are usually moored, kept stationary at a fixed point and often tethered to land to provide utilities...
in Sausalito and at times in a secluded cabin on
Mount TamalpaisMount Tamalpais is a peak in Marin County, California, United States, often considered symbolic of Marin County...
. Laden with social and financial responsibilities, he struggled increasingly with alcohol addiction, which probably shortened his life. In October 1973 he returned from an exhausting European lecture tour. Watts died of heart failure in his sleep at his home on Mt. Tamalpais the following month at the age of 58.
Worldview
In several of his later publications, especially
Beyond Theology and
The Book on the Taboo Against Knowing Who You Are, Watts put forward a worldview, drawing on Hinduism, Chinese philosophy, pantheism, and modern science; in which he maintains that the whole universe consists of a cosmic self playing hide-and-seek (
MayaMaya , has multiple meanings, and refers to concepts of "illusion" in Hinduism and Sikhism. Maya, is the principal concept which manifests, perpetuates and governs the illusion and dream of duality in the phenomenal Universe...
), hiding from itself by becoming all the living and non-living things in the universe, forgetting what it really is; the upshot being that we are all IT in disguise. In this worldview, Watts asserts that our conception of ourself as an "ego in a bag of skin" is a myth; the entities we call the separate "things" are merely processes of the whole.
Family life
Alan Watts was married three times and had seven children, five daughters and two sons. His oldest son, Mark Watts, has recently served as curator of his father's work.
He met Eleanor Everett in 1936, when her mother,
Ruth Fuller EverettRuth Fuller Sasaki , born Ruth Fuller, was an important figure in the development of Buddhism in the United States. As Ruth Fuller Everett , she met and studied with D. T. Suzuki in Japan in 1930...
, brought her to London to study piano. They met at the Buddhist Lodge, were engaged the following year, and married in April 1938. A daughter, Joan, was born November 1938, and another, Anne, was born in 1943. Their marriage ended eleven years later, but Watts continued after that to correspond with his ex-mother-in-law.
He lived with his wife Mary Jane in Sausalito, California in the mid-60s.
Books
- 1936 The Spirit of Zen, Paperback. 1969 ISBN 0-8021-3056-9 Read preview
- 1937 The Legacy of Asia and Western Man
- 1940 The Meaning of Happiness, Paperback. 1970, ISBN 0-06-080178-6
- 1944 Theologica Mystica of St. Dionysius, (translation from Greek of pseudo-Dionysius, now available online)
- 1948 Behold the Spirit:A Study in the Necessity of Mystical Religion, Vintage ed. 1972, ISBN 0-394-71761-9
- 1950 Easter - Its Story and Meaning
- 1950 The Supreme Identity, Vintage ed. 1972, ISBN 0-394-71835-6
- 1951 The Wisdom of Insecurity, Vintage ed. 1968, ISBN 0-394-70468-1
- 1953 Myth and Ritual in Christianity, Beacon Press 1971, ISBN 0-8070-1375-7
- 1957 The Way of Zen, Vintage Spiritual Classics 1999, ISBN 0-375-70510-4
- 1958 Nature, Man, and Woman, Vintage reissue 1991, ISBN 0-679-73233-0
- 1959 Beat Zen Square Zen and Zen, Paperback, ASIN B000F2RQL4
- 1960 "This Is It" and Other Essays on Zen and Spiritual Experience, Vintage reprint 1973, ISBN 0-394-71904-2
- 1961 Psychotherapy East and West, Vintage ed. 1975, ISBN 0-394-71609-4 (excerpt here)
- 1962 The Joyous Cosmology - Adventures in the Chemistry of Consciousness
- 1963 The Two Hands of God - The Myths of Polarity
- 1964 Beyond Theology - The Art of Godmanship, Vintage 1973, ISBN 0-394-71923-9
- 1966 The Book - On the Taboo Against Knowing Who You Are, Vintage reissue 1989, ISBN 0-679-72300-5 (excerpt here)
- 1967 Nonsense, ISBN 0-525-47463-3. This book is an interesting spiritual application of literary nonsense
Literary nonsense refers to a style or motif in literature that plays with the conventions of language and the rules of logic and reason via sensical and non-sensical elements. The effect of nonsense is often caused by an excess of meaning, rather than a lack of it.In the exhibition of literary...
.
- 1970 Does It Matter?: Essays on Man's Relation to Materiality, Vintage ed. 1971, ISBN 0-394-71665-5
- 1971 Erotic Spirituality - The Vision of Konarak
- 1972 The Art of Contemplation
- 1972 In My Own Way - An Autobiography 1915-1965, Vintage 1973, ISBN 0-394-71951-4 Read preview
- 1973 Cloud-hidden, Whereabouts Unknown: A Mountain Journal, Vintage 1974, ISBN 0-394-71999-9
Posthumous publications
- 1974 The Essence of Alan Watts, Celestial Arts 1977, ISBN 0-89087-210-4
- 1975 Tao: The Watercourse Way, with Al Chung-liang Huang, Pantheon 1977, ISBN 0-394-73311-8
- 1976 Essential Alan Watts
- 1978 Uncarved Block, Unbleached Silk: The Mystery of Life
- 1979 Om: Creative Meditations
- 1982 Play to Live
- 1983 Way of Liberation: Essays and Lectures on the Transformation of the Self
- 1985 Out of the Trap
- 1986 Diamond Web
- 1987 The Early Writings of Alan Watts, Paperback. 1995, ISBN 0-89087-794-7
- 1990 The Modern Mystic: A New Collection of Early Writings
- 1994 Talking Zen
- 1995 Become What You Are, Shambhala Expanded ed. 2003, ISBN 1-57062-940-4
- 1995 Buddhism: The Religion of No-Religion Read preview
- 1995 The Philosophies of Asia
- 1995 The Tao of Philosophy, edited transcripts, Tuttle Publishing 1999, ISBN 0-8048-3204-8
- 1996 Myth and Religion
- 1997 Taoism: Way Beyond Seeking
- 1997 Zen and the Beat Way
- 1998 Culture of Counterculture
- 1999 Buddhism: The Religion of No-Religion, edited transcripts, Tuttle Publishing, ISBN 0-8048-3203-X
- 2000 What Is Zen?, editor: Mark Watts, New World Library, ISBN 0-394-71951-4 Read preview
- 2000 What Is Tao?, ed. Mark Watts, New World Library, ISBN 1-57731-168-X
- 2000 Still the Mind: An Introduction to Meditation, ed. Mark Watts, New World Library, ISBN 1-57731-214-7
- 2000 Eastern Wisdom, ed. Mark Watts, MJF Books, ISBN 1-56731-491-0, three books in one volume: What is Zen?, What is Tao?, and An Introduction to Meditation (Still the Mind). These were assembled from transcriptions of audio tape recordings made by his son Mark, of lectures and seminars given by Alan Watts during the last decade of his life. They constitute simplified introductions to the philosophies he taught.
Audio and video works, essays
Including recordings of lectures at major universities and multi-session seminars:
- 1960 Eastern Wisdom in Modern Life, television series, (here)
- 1960 Essential Lectures, audio recordings, (here)
- 1960 Nature of Consciousness, essay, (here)
- 1960 The Value of Psychotic Experience
- 1960 The World As Emptiness
- 1960 From Time to Eternity
- 1960 Lecture On Zen
- 1960 The Cross of Cards
- 1960 Taoism
- 1962 This Is IT
- 1968 "Psychedelics & Religious Experience", in California Law Review
The California Law Review is the flagship law journal of UC Berkeley School of Law . Founded in 1912, the Review was the first student law journal published west of Illinois....
(here)
- 1969 Why Not Now: The Art of Meditation
- 1994 Zen: The Best of Alan Watts (VHS)
- 2005 Do You Do It, or Does It Do You?: how to let the universe meditate you (CD)
- 2007 Zen Meditations with Alan Watts, DVD, (here)
Other Books
- Genuine Fake: a Biography of Alan Watts, by Monica Furlong, Published by Heinemann, 1986
External links