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The Wisdom of Insecurity: A Message for an Age of Anxiety Paperback – February 8, 2011

by Alan W. Watts (Author)

421 customer reviews

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We live in an age of unprecedented anxiety. Spending all our time trying to anticipate and plan for the future and to lamenting the past, we forget to embrace the here and now. We are so concerned with tomorrow that we forget to enjoy today. Drawing from Eastern philosophy and religion, Alan Watts shows that it is only by acknowledging what we do not—and cannot—know that we can learn anything truly worth knowing. In The Wisdom of Insecurity, he shows us how, in order to lead a fulfilling life, we must embrace the present—and live fully in the now. Featuring an Introduction by Deepak Chopra.

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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)

About the Author

Alan W. Watts, who held both a master’s degree in theology and a doctorate of divinity, is best remembered as an interpreter of Zen Buddhism in particular, and of Indian and Chinese philosophy in general. Standing apart, however, from sectarian membership, he has earned the reputation of being one of the most original and “unrutted” philosophers of the twentieth century. Watts was the author of some twenty books on the philosophy and psychology of religion that have been published in many languages throughout the world, including the bestselling The Way of Zen. An avid lecturer, Watts appeared regularly on the radio and hosted the popular television series, Eastern Wisdom and Modern Life, in the 1960s. He died in 1973.

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Product details

Paperback: 160 pages
Publisher: Vintage Books; 2nd edition (February 8, 2011)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0307741206
ISBN-13: 978-0307741202
Product Dimensions: 5.2 x 0.5 x 8 inches
Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review: 421 customer reviews
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #6,248 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #9 in Books > Politics & Social Sciences > Philosophy > Modern
- #11 in Books > Religion & Spirituality > Hinduism > Chakras
- #17 in Books > Religion & Spirituality > New Age & Spirituality > Spiritualism

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Reader beware: This is NOT a PRACTICAL book

July 14, 2016

Verified Purchase

I know that had Alan Watts been live, and had he seen the title of this review, he would have possible stomped his foot on the ground or even slapped me into my senses while saying: "BUT THAT'S NOT THE POINT."

And I understand why he would say that. I understood (albeit not perfectly) the message that he is trying to pass on. Watts is the most Eastern Westerner I know. His philosophies, particularly in this book, can lead into a metaphysical web that could leave you stuck indefinitely. At this same time, if you peel back the philosophical layers, which he helps you do at times, you will notice that the message, at its core, is always simple. He is begging the reader not to eliminate the ego, but to come to a full realization, a hyper awareness of sorts, that there is NO ego - that the ego, or the "I," is simply a figment of imagination. There is no method to achieve this hyper-awareness, no guide, no set of instructions, but only this imperative: "Look!"

I may be just a tad bit too simplistic to fully grasp the significance of this, but I believe that at times I caught a glimpse of the implications of Watt's message. To live perfectly in the moment, to understand that the experience and the "experiencer" are one in the same just as a wave is not part of the ocean, but is the ocean, all of it - I can begin to fathom how one would be able to shed so much pretense and predispositions. Or not, I don't know.

My personal opinion is that there are gems in this book, but as it is with all things, anything in excess is harmful. This book sells Eastern thought in its entirety, and I believe that no, Alan Watt's does not have the answer to the meaning of life (which he would probably agree to me saying) and I don't think you'll find in this book all the answers to your questions. It is a refreshing read though, at least it was for me. I really had to break down my mind, my prejudices, my perceptions and realize that my reality is truly the product of my own mind - and that I can change that, if I want to.

In any case, a worthy read, but definitely not a book if you're looking for "10 Ways to Reduce Anxiety." It is rather an exhortation to awareness.

86 people found this helpful

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applewoodTop Contributor: Blues Music

The Illusion of "I"

December 6, 2013

Verified Purchase

This is a delightfully fresh and direct book from Watts. I have been reading him on and off for the past 35+ years and this seems to me to be something of a breakthrough for/from him, really expressing a very clear experience of being in the moment. It is easy to read (large print, simple words), but the meaning is deep and profound, and he says it all in a way that is both clearly simple and yet playfully fresh. And he does this without a lot of cultural baggage (East or West), so making it especially powerful and approachable for modern readers (yet also remarkable in that he wrote this in 1951).

Over and over he points out what is real (what we all know), and yet indescribable;

"What is true and positive is too real and too living to be described, and to try to describe it is like putting red paint on a red rose." (p.76)

"Indeed, every experience is in this sense new, and at every moment in our lives we are in the midst of the new and unknown. At this point you receive the experience without resisting it or naming it, and the whole sense of conflict between "I" and the present reality vanishes." (p.94)

"The meaning of freedom can never be grasped by the divided mind. If I feel separate from my experience, and from the world, freedom will seem to be the extent to which I can push the world around, and fate the extent to which the world pushes me around. But to the whole mind there is no contrast of "I" and the world. There is just one process acting, and it does everything that happens.... No one fates and no one is being fated." (p. 122)

And the way he finishes the book is perhaps best of all;

"Discovering this the mind becomes whole; the split between I and me, man and the world, the ideal and the real, comes to an end. Paranoia, the mind beside itself, becomes metanoia, the mind with itself and so free from itself. Free from clutching at themselves the hands can handle; free from looking at themselves the eyes can see; free from trying to understand itself thought can think. In such feeling, seeing, and thinking life requires no future to complete itself nor explanation to justify itself. In this moment it is finished." (p. 152)

And he could just as easily have said, in this moment it begins.

19 people found this helpful

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John Szafranski

"It Is Finished"

June 6, 2016

Verified Purchase

Maybe the single best Alan Watts book. If you get this book, and really get "It", and you will know if you really got "It", your search for "It" will be finished. For you will have realized that you are "It". Always have been, always will be.

18 people found this helpful

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Patricia Masters

You can trust Watts' books.

May 14, 2017

Verified Purchase

I particularly love Watts when he was still a deeply thinking Christian. But all his books are great, especially for those of us who are interested in the real life of the spirit, but don't want to 'be' a Buddhist, a Christian or join anything.

4 people found this helpful

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Thorne Hamstring

Still Timely And Worth Reading

July 13, 2017

Verified Purchase

Alan Watts was foundational in introducing Zen and straight thinking (my term) to a Western audience. This is one of his earlier books and well worth reading and considering NOW. The Wisdom of Insecurity is a great book and remains timely in the same way as The Tao of Physics (also a worthy read).

2 people found this helpful

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Blows my freakin' mind every time

June 11, 2018

Verified Purchase

My favorite book ever on the topics of living in the present moment and the interconnectedness of all things. It differs from other books in the way he approaches the subjects, with paradigm-shifting examples and intriguing narrative that guides you into his way of seeing things. Enjoy the ride!

2 people found this helpful

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A gorgeously simple profound read....

June 14, 2017

Verified Purchase

Thank you, Alan Watts...I am rediscovering you in my elder hood and know why your work will live on...writing as if you are speaking and making so much clear and connected for my journey of the mind and spirit...and you are so funny! This too will live on....

2 people found this helpful

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