25 Life Changing Lessons to Learn from Alan Watts

By Luminita Saviuc |  Purpose Fairy

A world-renowned philosopher, writer and speaker, Alan Watts has left behind many works on personal identity, the true nature of reality, and the pursuit of happiness, relating his experience to scientific knowledge and to the teachings of Eastern and Western religions and philosophies.  Having discovered his work has made a huge impact in my life and  because I honestly believe there are so many valuable life lessons to learn from this wise and beautiful soul, today I am going to share 25 of these valuable lessons with you.

1. This moment it is infinite and eternal.

“Life exists only at this very moment, and at this moment it is infinite and eternal, for the present moment is infinitely small; before we can measure it, it has gone, and yet it exists forever….” ~ Alan Watts

“I have realized that the past and future are real illusions, that they exist in the present, which is what there is and all there is.” ~ Alan Watts

“No valid plans for the future can be made by those who have no capacity for living now.” ~ Alan Watts

“…tomorrow and plans for tomorrow can have no significance at all unless you are in full contact with the reality of the present since it is in the present and only in the present that you live.” ~ Alan Watts

2. Things are as they are.

“Things are as they are. Looking out into it the universe at night, we make no comparisons between right and wrong stars, nor between well and badly arranged constellations.” ~ Alan Watts

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3. Let go of fixed plans and concepts, and the world will govern itself.

“When you get free from certain fixed concepts of the way the world is, you find it is far more subtle, and far more miraculous than you thought it was.” ~ When you get free from certain fixed concepts of the way the world is, you find it is far more subtle, and far more miraculous, than you thought it was.” ~ Alan Watts 

4. Who you are is enough. There is nothing wrong with you at all.

“What I am really saying is that you don’t need to do anything, because if you see yourself in the correct way, you are all as much extraordinary phenomenon of nature as trees, clouds, the patterns in running water, the flickering of fire, the arrangement of the stars, and the form of a galaxy. You are all just like that, and there is nothing wrong with you at all.” ~ Alan Watts

5. The desire for security and the feeling of insecurity are the same thing.

“To put is still more plainly: the desire for security and the feeling of insecurity are the same thing. To hold your breath is to lose your breath. A society based on the quest for security is nothing but a breath-retention contest in which everyone is as taut as a drum and as purple as a beet.” ~ Alan Watts

6. Without the perpetual transmutation of all the forms of life, the world would be static.

“Without birth and death, and without the perpetual transmutation of all the forms of life, the world would be static, rhythm-less, undancing, mummified.” ~ Alan Watts.

“The more a thing tends to be permanent, the more it tends to be lifeless.” ~ Alan Watts

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7. Real religion is the transformation of anxiety into laughter.

“A priest once quoted to me the Roman saying that a religion is dead when the priests laugh at each other across the altar. I always laugh at the altar, be it Christian, Hindu, or Buddhist, because real religion is the transformation of anxiety into laughter.” ~ Alan Watts

8. Faith is the opposite of clinging to belief, of holding on.

“But the attitude of faith is to let go, and become open to truth, whatever it might turn out to be.” ~ Alan Watts

“To have faith is to trust yourself to the water. When you swim you don’t grab hold of the water, because if you do you will sink and drown. Instead, you relax, and float.” – Alan Watts

“And the attitude of faith is the very opposite of clinging to belief, of holding on.” ~ Alan Watts

“In other words, a person who is fanatic in matters of religion, and clings to certain ideas about the nature of God and the universe, becomes a person who has no faith at all.” ~ Alan Watts

9. We are all part of the same consciousness.

“When I meet you, I see not just what you define yourself as –Mr so-and-so, Ms so-and-so, Mrs so-and-so– I see every one of you as the primordial energy of the universe coming on at me in this particular way. I know I’m that, too. But we’ve learned to define ourselves as separate from it. ” ~ Alan Watts

“But I’ll tell you what hermits realize. If you go off into a far, far forest and get very quiet, you’ll come to understand that you’re connected with everything.” ~ Alan Watts

“Your body does not eliminate poisons by knowing their names. To try to control fear or depression or boredom by calling them names is to resort to the superstition of trust in curses and invocations. It is so easy to see why this does not work. Obviously, we try to know, name, and define fear in order to make it “objective,” that is, separate from “I.” ~ Alan Watts

10. Believe nothing, no matter who said it unless it agrees with your own reason and your own common sense.

“We seldom realize, for example, that our most private thoughts and emotions are not actually our own. For we think in terms of languages and images which we did not invent, but which were given to us by our society.” ~ Alan Watts

“Some believe all those parents, tutors, and kindred belief. They take their principles by inheritance, and defend them as they would their estates because they are born heirs to them.” ~ Alan Watts

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11. Have the patience to wait till your mud settles and the water is clear.

“Muddy water is best cleared by leaving it alone.” ~ Alan Watts.

12. No work or love will flourish out of guilt, fear, or hollowness of heart.

“No work or love will flourish out of guilt, fear, or hollowness of heart, just as no valid plans for the future can be made by those who have no capacity for living now.” ~ Alan Watts

13. We do not “come into” into this world; we come out of it.

“We do not “come into” into this world; we come out of it, as leaves from a tree. As the ocean “waves,” the universe “peoples.” Every individual is an expression of the whole realm of nature, a unique action of the total universe. This fact is rarely if ever, experienced by most individuals. Even those who know it to be true in theory do not sense or feel it, but continue to be aware of themselves as isolated “egos” inside bags of skin.” ~ Alan Watts

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