Alan Watts on Wisdom Quotes

"You are not a stranger brought into this world; you are the universe itself, experiencing its own existence through a specific point of view."

"The only way to make sense of change is to plunge into it, move with it, and join the dance."

"Trying to define yourself is like trying to bite your own teeth; the self is the eye that sees but cannot see itself."

"We suffer because we mistake the symbol for the reality, like eating the menu instead of the dinner."

"Muddy water is best cleared by leaving it alone; the mind settles only when you stop stirring it."

"The future is a concept, not a reality; to live strictly for the future is to miss the only moment that actually exists."

"Faith is the act of opening up to the unknown, whereas belief is the insistence that the unknown must fit your preconceived notions."

"The separate ego is a fiction; it is merely a social convention that tricks us into feeling isolated from the cosmos."

"To hold your breath is to lose it; to hold onto life is to strangle it. We must let go to truly live."

"Man suffers only because he takes seriously what the gods made for fun."

"If you cannot trust your own nature, you cannot trust your mistrust of it either."

"Silence is not just the absence of noise; it is the space in which the universe can finally be heard."

"The more you try to control your mind, the more erratic it becomes; control is the very agent of chaos."

"We are the universe playing hide and seek with itself, pretending to be separate so we can rediscover our unity."

"A scholar tries to learn something new every day; a student of Tao tries to unlearn something every day."

"The art of living is neither drifting carelessly nor clinging fearfully to the past, but being sensitive to each moment."

"Technology should be an extension of the human organism, not a master that alienates us from our environment."

"You cannot improve yourself because the 'you' who needs improving is the same 'you' doing the improving."

"Anxiety is simply the gap between the 'now' and the 'then'; close the gap, and the anxiety vanishes."

"Just as a wave is something the whole ocean is doing, you are something the whole universe is doing."

"Words can only describe the world in the same way a map describes a territory; do not confuse the map for the land."

"The desire for security and the feeling of insecurity are the same thing."

"We do not 'come into' this world; we come out of it, like leaves from a tree."

"The meaning of life is just to be alive. It is so plain and so obvious and so simple."

"Thinking is a good servant but a terrible master; compulsive thinking is a sickness."

"Death is not the opposite of life, but the opposite of birth; life itself has no opposite."

"By holding your breath, you lose it. By letting it go, you find it."

"Choice is not a form of freedom, but often the hesitation before we realize what we must inevitably do."

"To be fully alive, you must be content to be nothing special."

"Waking up is realizing that the reality you are looking for is the one looking."

"The past is a trail left by the ship of your life; it does not drive the ship."

"When you dance, your purpose is not to get to a certain place on the floor; it is to enjoy each step along the way."

"Realizing that you cannot help yourself is the beginning of helping yourself."