{"id":114397,"date":"2023-10-09T10:58:00","date_gmt":"2023-10-09T14:58:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?p=114397"},"modified":"2023-10-09T14:07:34","modified_gmt":"2023-10-09T18:07:34","slug":"alan-w-watts-the-wisdom-of-insecurity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/alan-w-watts-the-wisdom-of-insecurity\/","title":{"rendered":"Alan W. Watts’s The Wisdom of Insecurity: Book Overview"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

What’s Alan W. Watts’s The Wisdom of Insecurity<\/em> about? What’s the solution to anxiety?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Wisdom of Insecurity<\/em> is philosopher Alan Watts’s 1951 treatise on the origins of and solutions to modern anxieties. He explains what insecurity is, why it makes you anxious, and how you’re exacerbating anxiety.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Read below for a brief overview of The Wisdom of Insecurity<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

The Wisdom of Insecurity by Alan W. Watts<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Alan W. Watts’s The Wisdom of Insecurity<\/em><\/a> argues that we feel anxious because the only constant in life is change\u2014which means that seeking security is futile and we should embrace a more realistic approach to life by accepting insecurity and living in the moment instead of worrying about the future<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Watts\u2019s philosophy of insecurity is based on his unique interpretations of both Christianity and Eastern philosophies\u2014he\u2019s best known for translating Eastern concepts into terms Westerners can understand and apply to their lives. He\u2019s the author of several other books on Eastern philosophy, including The Way of Zen<\/em><\/a> and The Book<\/em><\/a>, and his numerous lectures can be streamed through the Alan Watts Organization<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Origins of Anxiety<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Before you can know how to deal with anxiety, you need to understand its cause: insecurity. In this section, we\u2019ll explain what insecurity is, why it makes you anxious, and why trying to resist it can lead to further anxiety.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to Watts, insecurity\u2014the state of being impermanent and vulnerable to change\u2014is a fundamental quality of existence. <\/strong>He explains that there\u2019s no such thing as security because change is inevitable: One moment passes and is replaced by the next, which means nothing can be frozen in time. Every living thing changes each moment and ultimately transitions from life to death. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why Insecurity Makes You Anxious<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Watts explains that every human has an animal self <\/em>and a thinking self. <\/em>Despite the fundamental insecurity of life, many people continue to hope or strive for security because they identify with their thinking selves over their animal selves. Your animal self has two key qualities: It has sophisticated instincts (for example, hunger cues), and it lives in the moment, always in flux\u2014transitioning from hungry to satiated, for example, or from sleepy to alert, depending on the internal and external sensations it perceives. Your animal self doesn\u2019t think, and it\u2019s never concerned with the past or the future; it simply exists in the here and now and acts according to its internal wisdom rather than any abstract rules.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the other hand, your thinking self is conscious\u2014it\u2019s able to contemplate, remember, and imagine. It also has time consciousness (a sense of continuity between the past, present, and future). Time consciousness makes you believe that you\u2019re a stable, independent entity\u2014since you share memories with your 10-year-old self, you believe you\u2019re the same person you\u2019ve always been. Your thinking self wants to continue being a stable, independent entity\u2014so it resists change and tries to achieve permanence, even though it can\u2019t. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since your thinking self wants to become permanent, you become anxious about things that threaten your permanence\u2014namely, painful experiences and death.<\/strong> But Watts explains that pain and death are both necessary and valuable parts of life. He says that pain must accompany pleasure because if you experienced a constant stream of pleasure, you\u2019d eventually become numb to it\u2014or it would hurt you, the way too much alcohol can turn you into an addict. Pain punctuates your experience to make pleasure meaningful and enjoyable. Watts argues similarly that death is a good thing\u2014you\u2019d get tired of living if you lived forever. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

How You\u2019re Making Your Anxiety Worse<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Watts notes that despite the utility of pain and death, your anxiety about these experiences leads you to pursue an endless stream of pleasure. <\/strong>You know your time on earth is limited and that pleasures aren\u2019t promised, so you want to cram as much pleasure into your life as possible. You probably engage in consumerism\u2014the purchasing of goods and services beyond the bare necessities\u2014to make that happen. Consumerism is a vicious cycle: Experiencing one pleasure makes you desire more and better pleasures (for example, you might always be chasing the high of obtaining the newest, fastest car). As a result, consumerism can never satisfy you. Watts says this means that the more you pursue pleasure, the more anxious you become.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a consumer, you fixate on the future. When you\u2019re <\/em>experiencing pain, you try to make yourself happy by diverting your attention from your discomfort to ways you can maximize pleasure in the future. However, Watts says that you\u2019ll never <\/em>experience the future\u2014you can only ever experience what\u2019s happening in this present moment; in the next moment, you\u2019ll experience what\u2019s happening in that<\/em> present moment. This means that pursuing a future goal is futile. Also, distracting yourself from the present diminishes your ability to fully experience the present. You won\u2019t fully enjoy any pleasurable experience, so you\u2019ll keep seeking out future pleasures, and you won\u2019t be able to deal with and move on from pain. This extends your anxiety. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Therefore, Watts argues that contrary to popular belief, the inevitability of pain and death isn\u2019t what makes life difficult\u2014what makes life difficult is your insistence on pursuing future pleasures and sparing yourself from future pain and death. <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Religion, Science, and Insecurity<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

According to Watts, another way people cope with insecurity is by seeking comfort in religion or science. In this section, we\u2019ll discuss why Watts believes Western perspectives (Christianity and science) on insecurity are inadequate, and we\u2019ll explore the Eastern approach he says is more valuable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Watts explains that the thinking self attempts to impose order and stability on life by naming and classifying your experiences<\/strong>. For example, labeling<\/a> an animal you see with the word \u201cdog\u201d helps you predict how that animal will behave. Naming and classifying seems to make life more predictable. Watts says that for much of Western history, people seeking predictability have adopted Christianity, which promises eternal life, an unchanging God, and permanent values. Then, Westerners turned to science, which offered security in the form of immutable, universal laws and the potential of happiness on earth instead of in the afterlife (for example, by reducing suffering with the help of modern medicine). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, Watts says that around the time he was writing this book (the 1950s), Westerners had found both Christianity and science unsatisfying for the reasons listed above: Focusing on the future<\/a> is futile and dilutes your experience of the present. This made people feel like life had no meaning, and they turned to consumerism (also futile) for comfort. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

How Eastern Spirituality Helps You Accept Insecurity<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Based on his understanding of Eastern philosophy, Watts says that using religion and science<\/a> to cope with insecurity is inadequate for a few reasons. First, it strengthens your tendency to identify with your thinking self over your animal self\u2014you believe you can classify experiences because you\u2019re an objective, outside observer. Watts says that you\u2019re not outside of experience\u2014you are <\/em>your experience<\/strong>. He reasons that if everyone is their experience, then all of existence is composed of experience\u2014which means that you\u2019re part of an ever-changing, unified whole, rather than a stable, independent entity (your thinking self).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Second, Watts argues that religion and science are merely representations <\/em>of existence, so they\u2019ll never be fulfilling; clinging to these representations is like clinging to a photo of your friends instead of to your friends themselves. He adds that though religions attempt to represent existence, existence can\u2019t be understood by the thinking self\u2014it can only be understood experientially by the animal self that\u2019s living in the moment. Trying to name and classify existence as an independent, objective observer removes you from the experience, so you\u2019ll miss out on aspects of the experience. For example, according to this logic, you\u2019d learn more about running by going for a run than you\u2019d learn by reading about running or watching others run.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Finally, imposing order on existence by accepting religious or scientific beliefs is a form of your thinking self\u2019s resistance to change<\/a>, and Watts argues that it\u2019s only by accepting <\/em>insecurity that you can find spiritual understanding and fulfillment.<\/strong> He says you can have spiritually meaningful experiences when your animal self is living in the moment and your thinking self admires the incomprehensible beauty of existence\u2014a phenomenon he refers to as \u201cwonder.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, Watts says that traditional religious beliefs are useful when understood metaphorically. He explains that everything that exists is intricately, irrevocably interdependent and that all iterations of God, in all religions, symbolize the essential unity of all of existence. He encourages you to think of the Christian notion of an eternal afterlife where you\u2019re joined with God as a metaphor\u2014one that symbolizes that the present is the only thing you can ever experience and that you\u2019re always already joined with all other existence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How to Go With the Flow<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Watts argues that according to Eastern religions, you have to give up your thinking self\u2019s attachment to security and embrace your animal self\u2019s capacity for living in the moment. In this section, we\u2019ll discuss his advice for doing so and explore the benefits of this approach. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Watts explains that the thinking self and the animal self each have their uses\u2014for example, the thinking self enables you to communicate with others, while the animal self alerts you to internal cues like pleasure and pain. However, he says that presently, society is tilted heavily in favor of the thinking self<\/strong>\u2014evidenced by our overreliance on human concepts like religion, for example, to guide our decision-making<\/a> (as opposed to also listening to bodily cues like the sensations that accompany feelings of guilt or comfort). Since you aren\u2019t living in tune with your animal self, you\u2019re anxious\u2014you need time to just experience life, rather than always thinking and talking about life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Watts says that the solution to this problem is to integrate your thinking and animal selves. <\/strong>This means living in the moment according to your body\u2019s wisdom like an animal would do\u2014eating, sleeping, and doing other activities when your body tells you it\u2019s time to do so, rather than relying on an imposed schedule or dogma to guide your choices. As you do so, your thinking self should be focused on the present, not the past or the future. Watts explains that this is the true purpose of your thinking self\u2014to help you more fully comprehend, or at least appreciate, the present moment. He also says that nobody can teach you how <\/em>to do this\u2014you\u2019re already doing it, even if you don\u2019t believe you are, so all you have to do is continue and not let your thinking self get in the way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How Embracing Your Animal Self Makes You Happier<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Integrating your animal and thinking selves transforms pain. <\/strong>Watts says when your thinking self is in charge, you try to escape pain by distracting yourself from the experience with thoughts of the past or future. But this is futile because you can\u2019t escape the present\u2014recall that you are <\/em>your present experience. Distracting yourself from the present only disrupts your ability to understand and accept it, which is necessary if you\u2019re going to move through it. Therefore, distracting yourself from pain only prolongs pain. When you embrace your animal self, you deal with pain like animals do: You\u2019re able to endure the pain as it\u2019s happening, and when it\u2019s over, you move on. Your thinking self focuses on your present experience instead of avoiding it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Embracing your animal self also helps you more fully enjoy pleasure and avoid causing yourself unnecessary <\/em>pain. <\/strong>This is because, as discussed, focusing your awareness on the present (instead of the past or future) allows you to get the most out of each moment\u2014for example, you\u2019re going to enjoy the act of gardening more if you\u2019re focused on the sensation of working with plants and dirt than if you\u2019re focused on whether your flowers will bloom in the future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Watts says that embracing your animal self also prevents you from getting trapped in the painful, anxiety-producing cycle of consumerism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to Watts, integrating your thinking and animal selves also gives you a deep, bodily understanding\u2014rather than an abstract idea\u2014that everything that exists is part of an integrated whole. This will enable you to experience true freedom.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Watts argues that when you understand yourself<\/a> as an individual thinking self, you tend to conceive of freedom as your ability to influence the world. But when you see yourself as part of the whole, you understand freedom as the ability to be part of existence\u2014you can do anything that\u2019s possible because you\u2019re already part of the world of possibilities, and you\u2019ll listen to your bodily cues instead of being restricted by human abstractions like schedules and religion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Watts says once you have a bodily understanding of essential unity, you\u2019ll stop making decisions based on the unnatural pursuit of pleasure or the avoidance of pain\u2014you\u2019ll simply be going with the flow<\/a> from moment to moment. <\/strong>In his view, most immoral actions are the result of pursuing pleasure and avoiding pain\u2014prioritizing the thinking self\u2019s desire for permanence over your true momentary needs. Moral actions, on the other hand, are the result of being united with all of existence\u2014which Watts argues is the equivalent of love, since love brings things together. He explains that the combination of living in the present and acting in a loving way is key to a more peaceful, united world.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What’s Alan W. Watts’s The Wisdom of Insecurity about? What’s the solution to anxiety? The Wisdom of Insecurity is philosopher Alan Watts’s 1951 treatise on the origins of and solutions to modern anxieties. He explains what insecurity is, why it makes you anxious, and how you’re exacerbating anxiety. Read below for a brief overview of The Wisdom of Insecurity.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":83725,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[40,9,6],"tags":[1280],"class_list":["post-114397","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-books","category-psychology","category-spiritual","tag-the-wisdom-of-insecurity","","tg-column-two"],"yoast_head":"\nAlan W. 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