/lit/ - Literature

>>20348707
He explains Zen Buddhism and the like to you.
TMčk waxed poetic about natural psychedelics.
Listen to some lecture recordings on YT for a sampling

he's nice but ultimately a pop figure
not very well educated but sincere

>>20348707
He is a wonderful orator. He talks about Eastern philosophy, some western psychology and psychiatry. I agree with other anons that he’s more of a pop author.

Don’t read him. Listen to his lectures on jewtube, they are wonderful. He had such a charismatic sense of humor that does not appear in his writing.

>>20348707
He's really good. So is McKenna despite the kooky theories.

>>20348707

His "Zen Buddhism" is just an elaborate setup to justify hedonism to Western people, at a time when Western people were getting tired of stuffy old Protestant Christianity, and wanted "Eastern Wisdom" - and what a funny coincidence that Alan Watts was around to sell people "Eastern Wisdom" in a way that would allow them to be degenerate party animals.

He has a lot of good critiques of the flaws of Western thinking, as being too abstract and disconnected from reality, and actually paying attention to things seriously is a good idea, but he doesn't present solutions to the problem.

>>20348707
consciousness and reality man

>>20348960
He never advocates for a hedonistic lifestyle you clown

if u can't appreciate alan watts, i don't want to know u

>>20348967

Which is why he himself, and all of his closest associates, weren't nonstop hedonists.

Except they were.

>>20349030
Doesn't matter what he did personally. Detracts in no way from the actual content of his talks/books
>nooooo he liked booze and women you can't listen to a guy like that
Touch grass.

>>20349044

>Doesn't matter what he did personally.

>If you don't ignore blatant hypocrisy, it's a sign you're a shut-in

Touch grass, not astroturf.

>>20349050
>blatant hypocrisy
Nothing hypocritical in his personal failures.

>>20348707
He's a spiritual conman and womanizer that died because of his alcoholism.

>>20348707
Honestly, his lectures just sparkle. He obviously isn't taken seriously in philosophy, and he lacks almost any rigor, but that's missing the point. What he's great at is articulating different elements of Eastern philosophy and comparing and contrasting them with Western ideas and using then to comment on modern society. He has a brilliant sense of humour and he's very good at showing the silliness and strangeness of the ordinary.

>>20348960
>His "Zen Buddhism" is just an elaborate setup to justify hedonism to Western people
Because hedonism is such an elusive and foreign concept to Westerners? You're a clown.

>>20348855
Das rite. Could ease some sadness you feel maybe, but wouldn't try to learn anything from him, he was an admitted poser.

Another larper white dude

He never pretended to be a serious intellectual/philosopher, which frees his work from the most rigorous scrutiny. I like him a lot for that. Reading or listening to Watts feels less like consulting an authoritative thinker and more like having an uplifting conversation with a thoughtful friend. Personally, I found “The Wisdom of Insecurity” to be interesting and soothing in an approachable, unpretentious sort of way; I’ve also enjoyed various bits of his lectures. Would definitely recommend his work to anyone who’s feeling a little overwhelmed by life but doesn’t have the resolve/confidence to commit to a major course correction quite yet.