The Wisdom of Insecurity [Paperback]

Alan W. Watts (Author)

Book Description

Release date: September 12, 1968

An exploration of man's quest for psychological security and spiritual certainty in religion and philosophy.

Editorial Reviews

Review

“Reading Alan Watts challenges us to explore new avenues of thinking, inspires us to lead more fulfilling lives. His legacy lives on in The Wisdom of Insecurity, a work that energetically displays Watts’s piercing intellect, razor-sharp wit, and winning grace. For the clarity and wisdom with which it engages timeless concerns crucial to us all, it is unmatched. An important book.”
—Greg Mortenson, author of Three Cups of Tea

“Perhaps the foremost interpreter of Eastern disciplines for the contemporary West, Watts had the rare gift of ‘writing beautifully the unwritable.’”
—Los Angeles Times

“The wisdom of insecurity is not a way of evasion, but of carrying on wherever we happen to be stationed—carrying on, however, without imagining that the burden of the world, or even of the next moment, is ours. It is a philosophy not of nihilism but of the reality of the present—always remembering that to be of the present is to be, and candidly know ourselves to be, on the crest of a breaking wave.”
—Philip Wheelwright, Arts and Letters
 
“This book proposes a complete reversal of all ordinary thinking about the present state of man. The critical condition of the world compels us to face this problem: how is man to live in a world in which he can never be secure, deprived, as many are, of the consolations of religious belief? The author shows that this problem contains its own solution—that the highest happiness, the supreme spiritual insight and certitude are found only in our awareness that impermanence and insecurity are inescapable and inseparable from life. Written in a simple and lucid style, it is a timely message.”
—Book Exchange (London)

From the Inside Flap

An exploration of man's quest for psychological security and spiritual certainty in religion and philosophy.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 160 pages
• Publisher: Vintage; First Edition edition (September 12, 1968)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0394704681
• ISBN-13: 978-0394704685
• Product Dimensions: 4.3 x 0.4 x 7.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (93 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #285,754 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #78 in Books > Health, Fitness & Dieting > Psychology & Counseling > History

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

100 of 100 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A Therapeutic Bible November 30, 1999

By Jerry L. Brinegar, Ph.D.

Format:Paperback

I am a therapist that recommends this incredibly insightful book to most of my clients, especially those suffering from anxiety disorders and control issues. Alan Watts is a century ahead of his time. "For the animal to be happy it is enough that this moment be enjoyable." For man, we often miss this moment by trying to assure the next moment will be as enjoyable. Alan's book is required reading, in my opinion, for all therapists practicing therapy in this security obsessed world. Great book! One of my psychotherapy bibles!

58 of 58 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars An old friend February 11, 2000

By Brandy

Format:Paperback

At the tender age of eight years, I held this book in my hands for the first time, a gift from my father. Somehow he (who then and always has known too much) felt that by allowing me to find such insight while still so young he could show me intellectual avenues that happened upon him too late. Of course at eight years old I had not lived or thought enough to understand much of the more self-centered implications of what Watts has to say, but the intellectual gyrations got me started. I've never stopped since. Since then, now nearly twenty years ago, I have revisited this book whenever I feel myself growing unclear and uneasy about the universe and my "place" within it. The only problem is that I find myself buying it over and over again because I keep giving it away, to those that, at the time, seem to need clarity more than do I. But I always come back.

Oh, and if anyone becomes desperate for the answer to the anagram, I know it (after ten years of crossing my eyes at it). But it's much more satisfying to see it for yourself.

66 of 67 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Great Quotes to Live By May 1, 2000

By Joseph L. Rockne

Format:Paperback

I'm no longer sure how I bumped into this book. I'm sure it was from a review or a list of best books to read. In any event, I'm glad I did bump into.

Alan Watts writes about the obvious. But, like so many simple things, we need his clear and effective writing to see that what he says is truely obvious. Basically, we spend too much time planning and anticipating the future and too much time thinking about, lamenting and wishing to change the past. I have dogeared too many corners underlying too many quotes to reproduce them all here, but let me give you a flavor:

"If happiness always depends on the future, we are chasing a will-o-the-wisp that ever eludes our grasp, until the future,and ourselves,vanish in the abyss of death."

This quote is taped to the cover of my fanancial notebook that contains my financial portfolio data, 401K information and reams and reams of retirement plan calculations.

He also wrote:

"But tomorrow and plans for tomorrow can have no significance at all unlessyou are in full contact withthe reality of the present,since it is in the present and onlyin thepresent that you live. There is no other reality than present reality, so that, even if one were to live for endless ages, to live for the future would be to miss the point everlastingly."

This short book contains so many pearls, go get yourself a copy, pick some quotes, write them down, look at them, reread them (e-mail them to me) and get on with living today.

--Joe