Then there is this one, which do you like better?
Okay, well, that is my interpretation (which I took a few liberties with) of his face. Plus, I put a bird on it! It must be coo, right?
If you haven't, you're about to. Though, I am going to bet you probably have. One of the things I like about Steem is that a lot of the time I am preaching to the choir. Earlier today, as I was posting this, I posted one of the art pieces on @MinnowSupport Discord chat and three people were like, hey that is cool. Well, they stroked my ego more than that (thank you guys, my ego expresses latitudes of gratitude) but they knew.
I posted elsewhere on social media and people were like "Whaaaa? Who this?" In any case, whether you know him or not, I am a huge fan. I personally think that you should. Common sense and wisdom are two things this world is often short on. They are also two things that this man seemed to be full of.
To begin, as you may notice with many of my posts, I like to include some mood music. This post, has been a lot more challenging to write than an average article. Not because it is a tough subject for me... quite the contrary. Rather, I tend to get sucked in, absorbed into the topic and then I am doing art... the next thing you know it is days later and I have posted nothing on Steem and have been zen to the soothing voice of Alan Watts. I don't know, he has that kind of Walt Disney tone and he is speaking these words that just make sense. Along the way of researching, I found this and have pretty much been listening to it daily for the last couple of weeks.
Take a moment, if you don't mind. You can see what I am meaning for yourself and get in the mood to absorb some good words through chill vibes.
I have included it on a number of my playlists. It makes me inspired to do some of my own mixes, but see.... THAT is how I get off course.
I haven't listened to the lectures or read the books of Alan Watts religiously or anything. He'd probably be happy to hear that. Even though I come back to Alan Watts often and I find it funny, thinking back to my younger years, how much I didn't understand what he was really meaning. For his day, the words he spoke were off the beaten path. Of course, there were others that had similar messages, but I think out of the lot of them, Mr. Watts is my favorite.
I won't lie, I now want to take this image of him, make him into more fangirl art and turn Alan Watts into a rave kid. Stay Tuned It will be a thing ;)
Alan Watts has been gone for a long time, he passed away back in 1973, years before I was born. I heard about him in my early 20s but never really ready anything until about 4 or 5 years ago. He was an Episcopal minister for nearly 6 years and then during the post-war peace time, he decided to abruptly stop. He was academically trained, beyond seminary and did provide some insight as to why he no longer felt the need to serve God in the Christian sense.
Here is a great video of him just speaking. It explains not only why he stopped being a minister.
Alan Watts has been noted as saying that he felt a need to, "Escape the monstrosity oppressive that is God the father". This led him to Buddhist practices, or a mastery of such. It was in this, he thrived. He became a wildly popular author, he lectured rather than returning as a teacher at the college level. He spent his time writing and exploring the world, his perception. More than that, he was the first to teach the Zen mechanics of Buddhism to the masses of America. First in 1937 with the "Spirit of Zen", then 20 years with his follow up best seller.
He offered his own view on the Buddhist faith, seemingly ignited (whether by lust for life or other things) this innate wisdom Hearing it is enlightening and so many years later, humanity is still hanging on to the rich English voice with a Californian charm.
A few years back, I found The New Alchemy, one of his books, and I read it. I still don't think that I appreciated it enough, but I have grown to. In recent years, I have noticed a lot more available on YouTube and other video sites online. I know that his family was in probate for a long while after death and it held up his work to be released.
Now all that is left is the recordings of his lectures and his written words. Beyond his family, this is his legacy. Of course, there are plenty that don't care for his legacy. I have found quite a few posts online, mainly discussing the coping skills and personal choices of Alan Watts. It seems even though he was liked and had charm out the wazoo,this didn't make it easier on him. He was known for being more than a bit of a rake, he was also an alcoholic, eternal playboy type. Perhaps it was the English born charisma, combined with a rich tenor to his voice or simply being a bored and out of sorts Capricorn... in any case, I'll say this, the wisdom and the man may not be entirely equal, but then again... when is that the case?
The truth is, when he found the Buddhist movement early in life, he had a pull towards it. He was also raised harsh as a Christian in England. He wasn't an actual American citizen till the 40s. Mind you he gained his popularity in San Fransisco, teaching in and around the area as he developed his practice and teachings.
The man may not have been perfect, but his message was ideal. His earliest book told about Zen and was basically a translation. It was important because the Spirit of Zen allowed him the opportunity to establish himself as an expert and a practitioner of sorts. Even if he didn't have as good of a grasp on the practices of Zen in the beginning, by the time he published the Art of Zen two whole decades later, you can see his deeper understanding of the knowledge. That in itself is progress for the magically inclined.
The fact is, he ended up with over 25 books in total, many lectures including his own views and teachings of philosophy, religion and how to be. An open proponent for people and the development of mankind, he preached many of the social awarenes ideas that we use today. His wisdom is not just used for Buddhists either. In fact, many pagans, witches and new age types have a blast with Alan Watts. Those that are conservative and guarded about their one deity not being represented will probably want to look elsewhere for the books. Starting off on high magick is hard, perhaps because it requires a lot more than Wicca or most any other mentalism type of religion. He speaks of personal responsibility has a cool, collected and rich voice.
It isn't easy being a guru of any kind. Unlike many guru types, Alan Watts did seek out people. He was vocal about his spiritual and cultural beliefs. The best that any of us can do, in regards of spreading wisdom is to stick to a developed plan for documenting and narraiting and spend some time not working.
In that case, I should get some sleep.. I said I would have this posted yesterday and yet here it is today.
This has been a fun post to write, but it is nearly 7 am.
Thankfully, most of the archived work of Alan Watt's paper got damaged. There is plenty online, though they have copies of his book for not that much on Amazon as well. I like to read a book, smell a book. Plan for the day!
I run a FaceBook page called Hydrophant and we have books / PDFs in a growing library. If you wanna check out the library, feel free to request the page. You can also find more about Alan Watts and his corresponding books here.
