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Wisdom of Insecurity(B Format)

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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!

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

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.

This book is an excellent place to start reading philosophy. _The Wisdom of Insecurity_ was obviously written for the layman, making it ideal for those who are new to this type of nonfiction. In it, Alan Watts explains to us various ways of accepting and dealing with anxiety and insecurity in spiritual matters. This technique of acceptance was clearly derived from the Hindu and Buddhist methods of establishing a calm and mellow outlook on life. Like these great Eastern religions, Alan Watts does not try to tackle issues of theological truth head-on, but instead sidesteps the eternal questions. This is not because he is incapable of dealing with more complex metaphysical issues - he does so in great depth in his other, longer works. Neither is this method of sidestepping our sources of anxiety an evasion of rational, empirical truth. This book is not a rigorous empiricist study, and never claimed to be. It is instead a psychotheapeutic work verging on the anti-intellectual, but at the same time embracing meditation and contemplation. Watts shows us ways to act out our love for wisdom and enlightenment by concentrating on the positive and accepting (but not dwelling on) disturbing questions which he considers to be unanswerable. This is not an atheistic work nor is it a tale of despair. This is a work infused with hope, while being mindful of the truth. It succeeds in treading a sort of middle ground between the love of knowledge and anti-intellectualism.

The only problem with this book is its short length, although some might consider this an advantage. If you are looking for a more in-depth and rigorous study, try _Behold the Spirit_ or _Psychotherapy East and West_, also by Alan Watts.

The path is simple, but walking it is more difficult than it sounds. This book was a gift to me from a friend whose sanity, insight and wisdom I've always admired.

This book, although written in very basic, simple but elegant language, is a challenging read merely because the ideas that are expressed are so powerful that you may well find yourself reading the same sentence several times over before you feel like you've completely taken it in.

Its been absolutely instrumental in helping me navigate through a particular instable period in my life. Everyone knows the key to happiness boils down to a simple, hackneyed cliche: 'Don't Worry, Be Happy.' But this books explains very rationally, yet gently, why this is so. I keep it on my bed at all times, and pick it up on certain difficult nights, read a few paragraphs, and remember: the future is out of my hands, and the past is both out of my hands and distorted by my own interpretation of it. The past can never be usefully compared to the present. NOW is the time to focus on. Wake up! Look around! Everything is before you...NOW.

One of my favorite books of all time. I've reread it more times than any other, but never without reaching new insights and finding new inspiration. It's filled with wisdom like the following: "[I]t is a serious misapplication of psychology to make the presence or absence of neurosis the touchstone of truth, and to argue that if a man's philosophy makes him neurotic, it must be wrong. `Most atheists and agnostics are neurotic, whereas most simple Catholics are happy and at peace with themselves. Therefore the views of the former are false, and of the latter true.' Even if the observation is correct, the reasoning based on it is absurd. It is as if to say, `You say there is a fire in the basement. You are upset about it. Because you are upset, there is obviously no fire." Watts talks about the many subtle proprieties of life in which we are all engaged but which we seldom discuss. Then, the instant you read them, you feel as if your own thoughts had been read aloud. I can't recommend this book highly enough.

For my dollar this book, above all similar books of this ilk, explains in the most simple language, awareness to the fact of the fallacy of security. Now, this statement should not be just shrugged off as just another descriptive sentence. Think of it. Do you know how pervasive 'seeking security' is in your everyday life. Be aware of that. The brain as a matter of function is seeking security constantly. Can you be more aware than your own brain. It sounds funny but, I think you can. You can be above the brain. You can be 'mind', for lack of a better word. And, by the way, do not get caught in words or the security of them. After all the description is not the thing described...ever. Read this book and put your anxieties in the dust bin where they belong. Live life. Enjoy it as much as is possible. Know thyself. Read this book 'The Wisdom of Insecurity". Watts can explain it in much simple words than I can.

I first read this book back in 1972 while hitching through the Canadian Maritines and living in the woods. "Life is but a flicker of light between one eternal darkness and another"is the quote, if I rememeber it correctly, that begins the read. This book was like a life Bible during my months on the road and in the wilderness. By the end of my adventure the book was tatered and torn. Over the years I recommended this particular title of Alan Watts to friends and aquaintances that I felt are open to the realization that we are all alone and should embrace our insecurity as a badge of humanity. I think it is time to read it once again.

Each time I pick up my latest copy of this book I find a new, seemingly self-evident truth. My first copy, which I received in 1972 from my girlfriend, opened my eyes to the futility of chasing headlong after so-called "security." Watts blends eastern and western thought and cultural habits, and shows ever-so-clearly that this chase is futile, indeed an oxymoron: the chase is doomed to be eternal, only in giving up the chase can we reach the prize (or, more precisely, can it reach us).

I've given copies to so many friends over the years, but as I write these words it still graces the bookshelf beside me. I treasure it highly, and read passages from it often, 26 years later.

If you're scared to challenge beliefs you've always held to be true, don't touch this book. If you're ready to think about things in a way most people don't, this book could put you right on a path that's so fresh and inspiring, it's lead me to read every book Watts wrote and explore the various Eastern religions he always refers to. The Wisdom of Insecurity discusses extremely foreign and complex concepts in a way that is beautiful to read and calming to imagine.