Welcome, fellow seekers of wisdom and curious minds, to a journey through the remarkable philosophical realm of Alan Watts! In this blog article, we delve into the rich tapestry of Alan Watts’ teachings and unearth 50 thought-provoking quotes that will expand your perspective, ignite contemplation, and challenge the very fabric of your thoughts. Strap yourselves in as we embark on an intellectual adventure, drawing from the profound insights of this enigmatic philosopher who left an indelible mark on the world.
You’re sitting on a serene mountainside, surrounded by the soft whispers of nature. Suddenly, a stranger, draped in a flowing robe, appears and sits beside you. In that very moment, you know you’re about to engage in an extraordinary conversation. As you exchange thoughts and ideas, this stranger reveals himself to be none other than Alan Watts, a captivating figure known for his unyielding exploration of Eastern philosophy and spirituality. His words resonate with a mesmerizing clarity, offering a refreshing perspective on life, existence, and the human experience. Today, we bring you a collection of 50 handpicked Alan Watts quotes that encapsulate his profound wisdom and provide glimpses into the depths of his philosophical insights.
1. “The only way to make sense out of change is to plunge into it, move with it, and join the dance.”
2. “You are a function of what the whole universe is doing in the same way that a wave is a function of what the whole ocean is doing.”
3. “The more a thing tends to be permanent, the more it tends to be lifeless.”
4. “We do not ‘come into' this world; we come out of it, as leaves from a tree.”
5. “You are an aperture through which the universe is looking at and exploring itself.”
6. “We cannot be more sensitive to pleasure without being more sensitive to pain.”
7. “Muddy water is best cleared by leaving it alone.” 
8. “The art of living… is neither careless drifting on the one hand nor fearful clinging to the past on the other. It consists in being sensitive to each moment, in regarding it as utterly new and unique, in having the mind open and wholly receptive.”
9. “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.”
10. “Life is not a problem to be solved but a reality to be experienced.”
11. “The only Zen you find on the tops of mountains is the Zen you bring up there.”
12. “We are living in a culture entirely hypnotized by the illusion of time, in which the so-called present moment is felt as nothing but an infinitesimal hairline between an all-powerfully causative past and an absorbingly important future.”
13. “You are that vast thing that you see far, far off with great telescopes.”
14. “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.”
15. “Waking up to who you are requires letting go of who you imagine yourself to be.”
16. “We cannot be more sensitive to pleasure without being more sensitive to pain.”
17. “The only way to make sense out of change is to plunge into it, move with it, and join the dance.”
18. “Reality is only a Rorschach ink-blot, you know.”
19. “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 phenomena 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.”
20. “Trying to define yourself is like trying to bite your own teeth.”
21. “Zen does not confuse spirituality with thinking about God while one is peeling potatoes. Zen spirituality is just to peel the potatoes.”
22. “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.”
23. “You didn't come into this world. You came out of it, like a wave from the ocean. You are not a stranger here.”
24. “We are all human beings, and we have this marvelous instrument of consciousness, which is the result of billions of years of organic evolution.”
25. “You are a function of what the whole universe is doing in the same way that a wave is a function of what the whole ocean is doing.”
26. “If you say that getting the money is the most important thing, you'll spend your life completely wasting your time. You'll be doing things you don't like doing in order to go on living, that is to go on doing things you don't like doing.”
27. “What the devil is the point of surviving, going on living, when it's a drag? But you see, that's what people do.”
28. “Hospitals should be arranged in such a way as to make being sick an interesting experience. One learns a great deal sometimes from being sick.”
29. “Man suffers only because he takes seriously what the gods made for fun.”
30. “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.”
31. “The only thing that ultimately matters is to eat an ice-cream cone, play a slide trombone, plant a small tree, good God, now you're free.”
32. “This is the real secret of life—to be completely engaged with what you are doing in the here and now. And instead of calling it work, realize it is play.”
33. “The reason we have poverty is that we have no imagination. There are a great many people accumulating what they think is vast wealth, but it's only money. They don't know how to enjoy it, because they have no imagination.”
34. “The myths underlying our culture and underlying our common sense have not taught us to feel identical with the universe, but only parts of it, only in it, only confronting it—aliens.”
35. “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.”
36. “And people get all fouled up because they want the world to have meaning as if it were words… As if you had a meaning, as if you were a mere word, as if you were something that could be looked up in a dictionary. You are meaning.”
37. “You are an aperture through which the universe is looking at and exploring itself.”
38. “The present is the only thing that has no end.”
39. “No valid plans for the future can be made by those who have no capacity for living now.”
40. “You and I are all as much continuous with the physical universe as a wave is continuous with the ocean.”
41. “The more a thing tends to be permanent, the more it tends to be lifeless.”
42. “You didn't come into this world. You came out of it, like a wave from the ocean. You are not a stranger here.”
43. “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.”
44. “The art of living… is neither careless drifting on the one hand nor fearful clinging to the past on the other. It consists in being sensitive to each moment, in regarding it as utterly new and unique, in having the mind open and wholly receptive.”
45. “Muddy water is best cleared by leaving it alone.”
46. “You don't look out there for God, something in the sky, you look in you.”
47. “Zen is a liberation from time. For if we open our eyes and see clearly, it becomes obvious that there is no other time than this instant, and that the past and the future are abstractions without any concrete reality.”
48. “The only Zen you find on the tops of mountains is the Zen you bring up there.”
49. “We are living in a culture entirely hypnotized by the illusion of time, in which the so-called present moment is felt as nothing but an infinitesimal hairline between an all-powerfully causative past and an absorbingly important future.”
50. “The meaning of life is just to be alive. It is so plain and so obvious and so simple. And yet, everybody rushes around in a great panic as if it were necessary to achieve something beyond themselves.”
