Ivan Frimmel presents

Alan Watts The Unconventional Way(1915 - 1973)

The Alan Watts Story (1)Born in Kent, England, January 6, 1915.

Attended King's College School, Canterbury.

At age sixteen he wrote essay for the journal of the Buddhist Lodge in London, and after that became a regular contributor to this journal.

Came to the United States in 1938 (age 23).

The Alan Watts Story (2)Served on the Council of the World Congress of Faiths (1936-38).

He held a Master's Degree in Theology from Seabury-Western Theological Seminary and an Honarary DD from the University of Vermont in recognition of his work in the field of comparative religions. Become widely recognized as an authority on Zen Buddhism, for his Zen writings, e.g. The Way of Zen, and for The Book On the Taboo Against Knowing Who You Are.

The Alan Watts Story (3)For more than forty years, Alan Watts earned a reputation as a foremost interpreter of Eastern philosophies for the West. From the age of 16 he developed an audience of millions who were enriched through his books, tape-recordings, radio & television appearances, and public lectures. In all, Alan Watts wrote more than twenty-five books and recorded hundreds of lectures and seminars - all building toward a personal philosophy that he himself lived and shared in complete candor and joy with his readers and listeners throughout the world. His overall works have presented a model of individuality and self-expression that can be matched by only a few philosophers.

His life and work reflect an astonishing adventure: he was an editor, Anglican priest, graduate dean, broadcaster, author, lecturer, and entertainer He had fascinations for archery, calligraphy, cooking, chanting, and dancing, and was very fond of hiking alone in the wilderness.

The Alan Watts Story (4)He held fellowships from Harvard University and the Bollingen Foundation, and was the Episcopal Chaplain at Northwestern University during the Second World War.

He became professor and dean of the American Academy of Asian Studies in San Francisco, made the television series Eastern Wisdom and Modern Life for National Educational Television, and served as a visiting consultant for some psychiatric institutions and hospitals, and the United States Air Force.

In the mid-sixties he traveled widely with his students in Japan, and visited Burma, Ceylon, and India.

Alan Watts died in his sleep (at 58) on 16 November 1973, at home aboard the old ferryboat Vallejo, in San Francisco Bay; he is survived by his second wife and seven children.

His Bibliography (1)The Spirit of Zen (1936) The Legacy of Asia and Western Man (1937) The Meaning of Happiness (1940) The Theologica Mystica of St. Dionysius (1944) (translation) Behold the Spirit (1948) Easter - Its Story and Meaning (1950) The Supreme Identity (1950) The Wisdom of Insecurity (1951) Myth and Ritual in Christianity (1953) The Way of Zen (1957) Nature, Man, and Woman (1958) This Is It (1960) Psychotherapy East and West (1961)

His Bibliography (2)The Joyous Cosmology-Adventures in the Chemistry of Consciousness (1962) The Two Hands of God - The Myths of Polarity (1963) Beyond Theology - The Art of Godmanship (1964) The Book - On the Taboo Against Knowing Who You Are (1966) Nonsense (1967) Does It Matter? - Essays on Man's Relation to Materiality (1970) Erotic Spirituality - The Vision of Konarak (1971) The Art of Contemplation (1972) In My Own Way - An Autobiography 1915-1965 (1972) Cloud-hidden, Whereabouts Unknown - A Mountain Journal (1973) Tao: The Watercourse Way (unfinished at the time of his death in 1973 - published in 1975) The Early Writings of Alan Watts (1987) The Modern Mystic: A New Collection of Early Writings (1990)

His Record AlbumsAlan Watts made at least two record albums:

Om: The Sound of Hinduism (1967); Why Not Now: Dhyana, The Art of Meditation (two record set) (1969)

and hundreds of broadcasts on various radio stations throughout the USA.

Books Published After His DeathIn addition, a number of books have been published by his son Mark since his death, which contain transcripts of recorded lectures and/or articles not included above. They include:

The Essence of Alan Watts (1974) Essential Alan Watts (1976) Uncarved Block, Unbleached Silk: The Mystery of Life (1978) Om: Creative Meditations (1979) Play to Live (1982) Way of Liberation: Essays and Lectures on the Transformation of the Self (1983) Out of the Trap (1985) Diamond Web (1986) Talking Zen (1994) Become Who You Are (1995) Buddhism: The Religion of No-Religion (1995) The Philosophies of Asia (1995) The Tao of Philosophy (1995) Myth and Religion (1996) Taoism: Way Beyond Seeking (1997) Zen and the Beat Way (1997) Culture of Counterculture (1998)

His Bestselling Books

Alan Watts on EgoI find that the sensation of myself as an ego inside a bag of skin is really a hallucination. What we really are is, first of all, the whole of our body. And although our bodies are bounded with skin, and we can differentiate between outside and inside, they cannot exist except in a certain kind of natural environment. Obviously a body requires air, and the air must within a certain temperature range. The body also requires certain kinds of nutrition. So in order to occur the body must be on a mild and nutritive planet with just enough oxygen in the atmosphere spinning regularly around in a harmonious and rhythmical way near a certain kind of warm star.

That arrangement is just as essential to the existence of my body as my heart, my lungs, and my brain. So to describe myself in a scientific way, I must also describe my surroundings, which is a clumsy way getting around to the realization that you are the entire universe. However we do not normally feel that way because we have constructed in thought an abstract idea of our self.

"Well," you ask."How do I get rid of it?" And my answer to that is: That's the wrong question. How does one get rid of what? You can't get rid of your hallucination of being an ego by an activity of the ego. Sorry, but it can't be done. If you try to get rid of your ego with your ego you will just end up in a vicious circle. You'd be like somebody who worries because they worry because they worry.

Alan Watts on Self Underneath the superficial self, which pays attention to this and that, there is another self more really us than I. And the more you become aware of the unknown self -- if you become aware of it -- the more you realize that it is inseparably connected with everything else that is. You are a function of this total galaxy, bounded by the Milky Way, and this galaxy is a function of all other galaxies. You are that vast thing that you see far, far off with great telescopes. You look and look, and one day you are going to wake up and say, "Why, that's me!" And in knowing that, you know that you never die. You are the eternal thing that comes and goes, that appears -- now as John Jones, now as Mary Smith, now as Betty Brown -- and so it goes, forever and ever and ever.

Trying to define yourself is like trying to bite your own teeth.

Alan Watts on GodThe difficulty for most of us in the modern world is that the old-fashioned idea of God has become incredible or implausible. When we look through our telescopes and microscopes, or when we just look at nature, we have a problem.

Somehow the idea of God we get from the holy scriptures doesn't seem to fit the world around us, just as you wouldn't ascribe a composition by Stravinsky to Bach. The style of God venerated in the church, mosque, or synagogue seems completely different from the style of the natural universe. It's hard to conceive of the author of the other.

Alan Watts on Nothing The idea of nothing has bugged people for centuries, especially in the Western world. We have a saying in Latin, Ex nihilo nihil fit, which means "out of nothing comes nothing." It has occurred to me that this is a fallacy of tremendous proportions. It lies at the root of all our common sense, not only in the West, but in many parts of the East as well. It manifests in a kind of terror of nothing, a put-down on nothing, and a put-down on everything associated with nothing, such as sleep, passivity, rest, and even the feminine principles.

But to me nothing -- the negative, the empty - is exceedingly powerful. I would say, on the contrary, you can't have something without nothing. Image nothing but space, going on and on, with nothing in it forever. But there you are imagining it, and you are something in it. The whole idea of there being only space, and nothing else at all, is not only inconceivable but perfectly meaningless, because we always know what we mean by contrast.

Thank YouIvan Frimmel

Cell: 082-454-0311

E-mail: ivan.frimmel@nanhua.co.za