Watts Alan - Alan Watts--here and now: contributions to psychology, philosophy, and religion

SUNY SERIES IN TRANSPERSONAL AND HUMANISTIC PSYCHOLOGY

Richard D. Mann, editor

Alan Watts HERE
and NOW

contributions to psychology, philosophy, and religion

Edited by
Peter J. Columbus and Donadrian L. Rice

state university of new york press

Published by
STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK PRESS
Albany

2012 State University of New York

All rights reserved

Printed in the United States of America

No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission. No part of this book may be stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means including electronic, electrostatic, magnetic tape, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without the prior permission in writing of the publisher.

For information, contact
State University of New York Press
www.sunypress.edu

Production and book design, Laurie Searl
Marketing, Anne M. Valentine

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Alan Wattshere and now : contributions to psychology, philosophy, and religion / edited by Peter J. Columbus and Donadrian L. Rice.

p. cm. (SUNY series in transpersonal and humanistic psychology)

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 978-1-4384-4199-3 (hardcover : alk. paper) 1. Watts, Alan, 1915-1973. I. Columbus, Peter J. II. Rice, Donadrian L.

B945.W324A65 2012

191dc23

2011021791

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Acknowledgments

The inspiration and idea for this book came to light in the sacred clearing that is the Unitarian Universalist Rowe Conference Center in Rowe, Massachusetts. Sincere appreciation to Rev. Douglas Wilson, Pru Berry, Felicity Pickett, and the staff of the Rowe Center for maintaining a remarkable sanctuary.

Infinite gratitude goes to our contributors and their readiness to write substantive chapters in the midst of already hectic schedules.

The book was edited in several locales: The psychology departments at Union College (Kentucky) and University of West Georgia; Sandra Cohen's New York estate; and Jean-Claude van Itallie's Shantigar estate in Rowe, Massachusetts. Thanks to all for their kindness, generosity, and benefaction.

Thanks also to Dr. Jeffrey J. Kripal, an anonymous reviewer, and the editing staff at SUNY Press for helping to make a more perfect book; to Susan Mann for her troubleshooting and encouragement, and to Kevin Kent for his careful and astute attention to the process of indexing.

We are grateful to Chungliang Al Huang who kindly shared his calligraphic artwork.

Illustrations

Introduction: A New Look at Alan Watts

Peter J. Columbus and Donadrian L. Rice

I am committed to the view that the whole point and joy of human life is to integrate the spiritual with the material, the mystical with the sensuous, and the altruistic with a kind of proper self-lovesince it is written that you must love your neighbor as yourself.

T his book is a call to remembrance and an opportunity for reconsidering the life and work of Alan Watts. Writing a mere fifteen years after Watts' untimely demise, November 2008 signified the thirty-fifth anniversary of Watts' death, and this benchmark date served as inspiration for making a new study of his scholarship. The chapters compiled in this volume reconsider Watts' insights on the human condition in light of today's discourse in psychology, philosophy, and religion.

A hint of Watts' contemporary relevance may be found at the beginning of his essay on Wealth versus Money. He wrote: In the year of our lord Jesus Christ 2000, the United States of America will no longer exist (). The previous sentence strikes a rather prescient tone given so-called post-9/11 sensibilities. Watts was reflecting on modern-day obsessions with abstract monetary riches acquired at the expense of personal, social, and environmental well-being. He wrote also of waning natural resources, nuclear arms proliferation, biological and chemical warfare, and maniacal misapplications of technology. Nowadays, there are new variations on old themes: preemptive wars, terrorism, torture, ethnic cleansing, food and fuel shortages, catastrophic oil spills, and global climate change. Each is pushing human civilization toward the brink of disaster. Yet, Watts always offered his audiences propitious and uplifting insights on what it means to be human. He continually broached the possibility that greed, anger, and ignorance could be transformed, as Buddhists often suggest, into wisdom, compassion, and enlightenment. If it is true in the new millennium as it was during Watts' own day, that humanity is facing what Martin Luther King called the fierce urgency of now as some contemporary voices would imply, then all the more compelling reason to consider Alan Watts anew.