- Paperback: 160 pages
- Publisher: Vintage (Sep 12 1968)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0394704681
- ISBN-13: 978-0394704685
- Product Dimensions: 10.9 x 1.1 x 18.4 cm
- Shipping Weight: 45 g
- Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (35 customer reviews)
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Amazon Bestsellers Rank:
#111,184 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #39 in Books > Health, Mind & Body > Psychology & Counseling > History
- See Complete Table of Contents
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Product Details |
Product Description
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)
—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)
Product Description
An exploration of man's quest for psychological security and spiritual certainty in religion and philosophy.
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Most helpful customer reviews
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
Great Quotes to Live By,
This review is from: The Wisdom of Insecurity (Paperback)
I'm no longer sure how I bumped into this book. I'm sure it was from a review or a list of best books to read. In any event, I'm glad I did bump into.Alan Watts writes about the obvious. But, like so many simple things, we need his clear and effective writing to see that what he says is truely obvious. Basically, we spend too much time planning and anticipating the future and too much time thinking about, lamenting and wishing to change the past. I have dogeared too many corners underlying too many quotes to reproduce them all here, but let me give you a flavor: "If happiness always depends on the future, we are chasing a will-o-the-wisp that ever eludes our grasp, until the future,and ourselves,vanish in the abyss of death." This quote is taped to the cover of my fanancial notebook that contains my financial portfolio data, 401K information and reams and reams of retirement plan calculations. He also wrote: "But tomorrow and plans for tomorrow can have no significance at all unlessyou are in full contact withthe reality of the present,since it is in the present and onlyin thepresent that you live. There is no other reality than present reality, so that, even if one were to live for endless ages, to live for the future would be to miss the point everlastingly." This short book contains so many pearls, go get yourself a copy, pick some quotes, write them down, look at them, reread them (e-mail them to me) and get on with living today. --Joe
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
How does he do it?,
By
This review is from: The Wisdom of Insecurity (Paperback)
I can't say I've had too many 'mystical experiences' just from reading books - but "The Wisdom of Insecurity" induced at least one. I came across it backpacking in Southeast Asia and was very grateful for having it along with me on the endless overnight bus trips on bad roads.Alan Watts's great gift was that he was such a gifted communicator of Eastern ideas to Western readers such as myself. You can wade through the Upanishads and the Tao Te Ching, and it's unlikely you will get a lot out of them (at least on the first reading), but Watts always had a way of distilling some of these crucial ideas and conveying them in a way that, for me in any case, sort of slaps you in the face with the lived reality of what he is saying, as opposed to just giving you an intellectual grasp. I read his "Tao: The Watercourse Way" during those same travels and found it similarly enlightening. Watts's main theme is that since everything is changing and nothing lasts, it is senseless to be clinging to ideas, things, people, and so on. Endeavoring to achieve "security" of any kind, in life, love, job, family, or whatever, is a perpetually receding goal for the simple reason that nothing stands still! Hence the wise man or woman learns to live dynamically balanced in the present, responding creatively and joyously to anything and everything that's happening. This at least is my distillation of the idea, and the more I study the more I feel this simple message is at the core of all meditation and 'seeking.' "Be Here Now" as Ram Dass put it, and Watts communicates this essential message not only better than anyone else I've read, but also beautifully and effectively. Very highly recommended.
3 of 4 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
This is the bible for seekers of enlightenment.,
By Bernadette (Key West, Florida USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Wisdom of Insecurity (Paperback)
This was the first book recommended to me by a wise friend who is into zen. It is the real ultimate gate to get your mind into the right place to find the big E. Watts and Suzuki are really the top of the heap. With this book I found myself starting to slip into that magic space where the lines of reality blur as I read it. Any book that can take you on a nice little trip into bliss while you are reading it is one I will recommend here to my fellow cyberspace searchers. I've read a lot of books by Watts but this is by far his best. A MUST!
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