...that Western cultures have bred a type of human being who feels strongly alienated from everything which is not his own consciousness. He is a stranger both to the external world and his own body, and in this sense he has lost his connection with the surrounding universe. He does not know that the "ultimate inside" of himself is the same as the "ultimate inside" of the cosmos, or that, in other words, his sensation of being "I" is a glimmering intimation of what the universe itself feels like on the inside.
He has been taught to regard everything outside of human skins as so much witless mechanism which has nothing whatsoever in common with human feelings and values. This style of man must therefore see himself as the ghastly and tragic accident of sensitive and intelligent tissue caught up in the cosmic toils like a mouse in a cotton gin.
~ Beyond Theology: The Art of Godmanship by Alan Watts, p. 6 ~
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"Western cultures have bred a type of human being"...That has lost all sense of its place in the world.
ReplyDeleteEgo has been fed and overfed, turning each human into little more than an insatiable feeding-machine: the cannon-fodder of consumerism.
Humility, if anyone still knew what it was, would go a long way to undoing the general dissolution, and recreating a society that believed in itself, in its destiny, and in its belonging to the universe, rather than being at odds with it.
As one raised and living immersed in a Western culture, I feel blessed I am slowly coming to know we are all of one living body.
ReplyDeleteBecause I am equal with that living body, I, as well as everyone, share in the responsibility of the divisiveness.
I think I've come to learn that part of my path in life is to live in a way that heals the division.
Some accused Watts of just recycling Eastern Wisdom as his own. Well I'm glad he did, he was a gifted writer and a gift to us all.
ReplyDeleteWise indeed.
How is it possible to recycle wisdom???
ReplyDeleteWisdom is wisdom: timeless, always relevant.
If it isn't, then it isn't wisdom.
I don't think he ever really claimed to have invented the things he talked about. Rather, he seemed to offer us the East in his hands..."Hey, everybody, check this out! I think its pretty cool!" He was one of the early influences on me. I've always thought he had some pretty good things to say. I'll take recycled wisdom over recycled sitcom jokes anytime...lol.
ReplyDelete