Does It Matter? Essays on Man's Relation to Materiality 2nd (second) edition Text Only

by Alan W. Watts

This is a series of essays representing philosopher Alan Watts's most recent thinking on the astonishing problems of man's relations to his material environment. The basic theme is that civilized man confuses symbol with reality, his ways of describing and measuring the world with the world itself, and thus puts himself into the absurd situation of preferring money to wealth and eating the menu instead of the dinner.Thus, with his attention locked upon numbers and concepts, man is increasingly unconscious of nature and of his total dependence upon air, water, plants, animals, insects, and bacteria. He has been hallucinated into the notion that the so-called "external" world is a cluster of "objects" separate from himself, that he "encounters" it, that he comes into it instead of out of it. Consequently, our species is fouling its own nest and is in imminent danger of self-obliteration.Here, a philosopher whose works have been mainly concerned with mysticism and Oriental philosophy gets down to the "nitty-gritty" problems of economics, technology, clothing, cooking, and housing.

Genres: Philosophy, Nonfiction, Spirituality, Essays, Buddhism, Psychology, Self Help

Paperback

First published January 1, 1958

About the author

Alan Wilson Watts was a British philosopher, writer and speaker, who held both a Master's in Theology and a Doctorate of Divinity. Famous for his research on comparative religion, he was best known as an interpreter and popularizer of Asian philosophies for a Western audience. He wrote over 25 books and numerous articles on subjects such as personal identity, the true nature of reality, higher consciousness, the meaning of life, concepts and images of God and the non-material pursuit of happiness. In his books he relates his experience to scientific knowledge and to the teachings of Eastern and Western religion and philosophy.

Reviews

[Heather · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found this book on our shared library shelf at work. Someone had sloppily written "No" in black marker just beneath the question mark on the cover. And perhaps that is the right answer to the question of the book's title. But then I'm not sure there truly is one.

I had not previously heard of Alan Watts, except perhaps in idle passing. Now, I want to read everything he's ever said or written. I enjoyed it that much.

In this series of essays, Alan Watts gives a snarky, matter-of-fact, spiritual approach to how we treat ourselves, each other, and the other living things on this planet. With his dash of self-aware arrogance and know-it-all attitude, he leads you through the idea of humanity and our relationship to the material world, all the way down to how we should design our kitchens. To give an example of his mildly irreverent tact: "Life, like getting an erection, is spontaneous process which collapses when one tries to force it to happen." While I may not agree with everything the man says, indeed, I must have underlined at least a quarter of this book.

With a Buddhist bent, this philosopher smart-ass takes you on a trip (and yes, he experimented with LSD) around money, food, drugs, clothing and all the material trappings that we cannot escape while living on this planet. Reading this book was a brilliantly comical and realistic inspiration, and I am still absorbing his other material.

Note: You can also download podcasts of his lectures online. I highly recommend it.

[Catie · Rating 4 out of 5]

"All Buddhism is really summed up in Right View, because Right View is having no special view, no fixed view."

"For when the individual is defined and felt as the separate personality or ego, he remains unaware that his actual body is a dancing pattern of energy that simply does not happen by itself."

"As Saint Augustine of Hippo put it when asked about the nature of time: 'I know what it is, but when you ask me I don't.'"

"'Evil' read backwards is 'live.'"

"All too easily, we confuse the world as we symbolize it with the world as it is."

"True wealth is the sum of energy, technical intelligence, and raw materials."

"To be human, one must recognize and accept a certain element of irreducible rascality both in oneself an in one's enemies."

"I am simply amazed to find myself living on a ball of rock that swings around an immense spherical fire."

"Because we cannot relate to the sensuous and material present we are most happy when good things are expected to happen, not when they are happening."

"Instant coffee, for example, is a well-deserved punishment for being in a hurry to reach the future."

"Beings are alarmingly ignorant of the fact that they are continuous with their nature surroundings."

"It is in such ways that civilization, as we have worked it out, is a system of screens which conceal the connections between events."

"Tact is, after all, silence."

"If I am my organism, I am also my environment."

"Foresight is bought at the price of anxiety, and, when overused, it destroys all its own advantages."

"All existence is a single energy, and that is energy is one's own being."

"But one of the great problems of the United States, legally and politically, is that we have never quite had the courage of our convictions."

"The highest intensities of pleasure and pain are the same extreme."

"Are you yet ready to admit that what you will and what you won't are one and the same process?"

"Liberation, in the Buddhist sense of nirvana or the Hindu of moksha, is the realization that ultimately, it doesn't really matter what strings are plucked or what vibrations occur."

"the perpetual uncalculated life in the present"

"The only way to stop is to stop--instantly, now--by action, not thought."

"Experience your own decision as an event which happens like the opening of a bud."

"For Mahayana is not so much an ideology as a complex of methods for correcting our perception and conception of life. Its essence is not a theory but a realization--almost a sensation--of relativity, that is, of the mutual interdependence of all things..."

"sambhogakaya, 'The Body of Total Bliss'"

[Femke · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book made me so angry!
It was clearly written in the 50s and maybe we should stop republishing some books that are so outdated..
it was also clearly written by a grumpy privileged white dude with too much time. By the way he talked about women he assumed to only have a male audience (which for the time period sadly was probably true) he seemed to be obsessed with sex and drug use (which makes me question, does this man even know what Buddhism is?) and kept on bragging about how he was “so amazed by the Chinese and the Japanese and their clothes and wisdom and look at me wearing a Yukata at home now I can basically call myself a JApAnESe zeN mAsTEr” I can’t believe that this man is said to be “the foremost Western interpreter of Eastern thought for the modern world” please, don’t make me laugh.
If you want to read a book about Zen Buddhism read works by Thich Nhat Hanh and don’t waste your time or money on this nonsense.

[Monica · Rating 3 out of 5]

Passionate, energetic, grand,occasionally verbose, romantic, idealistic, sentimental...and sometimes pop-style pretentious. This was the sense I get of Alan Watts from this collection of essays. Quite different from what I experienced in reading "Tao - The Watercourse Way" (which was the last book written by him, and was finished by his friend posthumously).

Still, Watts was entertaining and refreshing. I liked most of the first chapter on "Wealth vs Money" although it was a bit Utopian. His call for us to ultimately just "do your own thing" at the end since it was pointless to force a change seemed a bit strange to me - like building this big paradiagn-shifting argument and then conclude with no conclusion (perhaps it is due to my own expectations of a certain kind of ending).

The chapter on "Murder In the Kitchen" seemed a bit self-indulgent as he described at length his ideal kitchen and homestead (I can imagine a provencal kitchen and garden) to show how he would honour and love the inevitable sacrifices made by those lives (livestock, plants) that were annihilated so that humans could live. But he had an interesting point - how the world exists in cycles - we eat others, we die, we contribute to other lifeforms' future existence (same for them). So in order to live, we have to annihilate and cannot run away from that fact and may as well recognise and accept that and extend love to what we consume (including humane animal husbandry) and honour our food (like in the movie Avatar...give thanks for the sacrifices the animal has made to serve you) and appreciate it and not waste it.

The chapter on his experiments with psychedelic drugs (a trend of his times but he apparently consumed under research supervision) to understand if there were parallels to religious/spiritual experiences was interesting but I wonder if his experience really matched what he read from other spiritual sources, or his mind just assumed that? Anyway, who can tell? How would we know if he exaggerated these experiences? : )

My teacher, a monk who is a baby boomer, said this when I told him I was reading Alan Watts: "Oh, we've all (him and fellow boomers) gone through the Alan Watts phase...pseudo philospher..." Haha.

Having said the above, which is just based on this book, I must say I do enjoy some of the Alan Watts videos I have seen. Some may call him a light-weight philosopher meant for the masses but I still find his work an interesting presentation of eastern philosophies for the masses who might otherwise not be interested in or know much about eastern world views.

[Ben · Rating 4 out of 5]

This collection of essays have some great insight on the futility of materialism. I particularly love the essays on money and food. I don't particularly agree with his theories on clothing, but I admire his willingness to wear suits when dealing with academia on the "when in Rome" clause. Of the seven short essays, most of them were a little too hippie-dippy for me, but the analysis of Huxley and Buddhism was interesting. Overall, I enjoyed this book and would recommend it to those toying with Eastern ideas, since Watts comes from the West he can better explain the concepts than Thick Dick Hahn or other Zen Buddhists.

[Emily · Rating 3 out of 5]

Alan Watts, what a hippie.

This book is pretty dated, largely evidenced by the numerous analogies to "bringing pleasure to a beautiful woman," but his thesis is still pertinent--that we ignore materials in favor of symbols of reality..."we'd rather eat the menu than the meal". He supports this thesis by sounding off (with more than a dash of pretense) on everything from the design of a kitchen, men's business attire, and psychedelics. my favorite is when he compares a high heel to "a stag beetle with an immense erection." ha!

[Chinara Ahmadova · Rating 4 out of 5]

Qərb cəmiyyətinin və tək Allahlı dinlərin gətirdiyi məhdudiyyətlərə öz yanaşmasını ortaya qoyan, buddizm, taoizm və hinduizmi Qərb insanına onun anlayacağı tərzdə çatdıran teoloq Alan Uats "Nə fərqi var?" esselər toplusunda paltardan dinə; psixotrop maddələrlə olan təcrübəsindən siyasətə, insanın təbiətlə vəhdətinə dair fərqli və cəsur perspektivlərini paylaşır.

Sərhədlərini genişləndirmək üçün oxuya bilərsən.

[Gavriel Gerstler · Rating 4 out of 5]

Does it matter?
Alan Watts's "Essays on Man's Relation to Materiality".
In this short collection of essays, Alan Watts explores modern day problems from the outlook of his own philosophy, inspired mainly by Mahayana Buddhism, Hinduism and Taoism. Tackling problems of economics, technology, cooking and clothing, Watts offers a fresh perspective which is all too foreign to western society. Published in 1970 just shortly before his death, this book is as relevant now as it was when it was written.
An interesting Eastern-esque take on phenomenology, Watts guides you through his thought process's as he explains the problem of confusing symbol with reality, and helps rekindle the consciousness of our connection to nature and our surroundings.
Perhaps the most eye-opening new idea in the book was the distinction that we aren't beings who "come into this world", but rather beings who come out of it.
I will definitely be reading Watts again and hope all his books are as inspiring and interesting as this.

[Alana · Rating 4 out of 5]

Grounded in the late sixties/early seventies view of anti-materialism, Alan Watts' short book of essays is little bit of hippie-dippy philosophy that is both naive and wise. Like a lot of idealists, his solutions to what ails the world are often simplistic, but his observations about our relationship with our goods is spot on.

[Scott · Rating 4 out of 5]

You'll have no trouble recognizing these essays, written in the mid to late sixties, as being a product of that period. But while some of Watt's specific points and complaints sound dated, a lot of them are still relevant.

[Bart Everson]

I swear someone gave me this book as a gift, perhaps for my birthday, but I can’t remember who. All the likely suspects have denied responsibility. That has led to some humorous exchanges, however.

“Did you give me a book by Alan Watts?”

“I don’t think so. What’s the title?”

“Does It Matter?”

“Well, yes, it might jog my memory.”

In other words, great title. Ha ha. But the real meaning of the title is even better: the book purports to be about our “relation to materiality.” That interested me because I am both an American and a Gaian.

As an American, all my life I’ve heard criticism that we, as a people, are materialistic, that we are interested and invested in material things, perhaps to a fault. As a Gaian, I understand that I am part of Gaia, the Living Earth. Erik Assadourian has asserted that Gaians are “embodied to their core,” that “we are our bodies,” that “we extend our bodies to the larger bodies we’re part of, that of the landscape, and Earth.” That sounds pretty materialist, too. I had some hopes that a book about our “relation to materiality” might resolve this seeming contradiction.

The bad news is, this is not really a book on that topic. Rather, it’s a loose collection of essays, grouped together and republished under one cover. Some essays make glancing reference to the topic of materiality, and others do not. There are lengthy discursions on the ideal kitchen and the Western wardrobe which are amusing but dated. As a baker, I appreciate the author’s takedown of mass-manufactured bread. I was put off, however, by his casual sexism and his status as an unabashed carnivore. It’s disconcerting to read about Zen one moment and juicy steaks the next.

All in all, this collection is a mixed bag. I found Alan Watts both inspiring and irritating – sometimes in the span of a single sentence.

In a few places, Alan Watts makes the argument that Americans are not materialists at all. “The heart of the matter is that we are living in a culture which has been hypnotized with symbols — words, numbers, measures, quantities, and images — and that we mistake them for, and prefer them to, physical reality.” I found that helpful and consonant with what I’ve learned through mindfulness meditation.

Alan goes on to make an observation that sounds a lot like Erik: “But civilized human beings are alarmingly ignorant of the fact that they are continuous with their natural surroundings. It is as necessary to have air, water, plants, insects, birds, fish, and mammals as it is to have brains, hearts, lungs, and stomachs. The former are our external organs in the same way that the latter are our internal organs.” This passage had me thinking that perhaps Alan was a proto-Gaian.

I found Alan’s treatment of plastics especially thought-provoking. “Plastic tipifies the whole mock-materialism of industrial civilization,” he writes. Perhaps I’m extrapolating too much, but he seems to argue that plastics are a perversion of materiality, more about our ideas than physical reality. I wish he’d gone deeper on this, but he was writing in the early 1960s, after all. I have to wonder what he’d make of the global plastics crisis we’re living through today.

There were other passages that were also illuminating, but readers are advised not to expect a deep dive on the philosophical ramifications of materialism. I appreciated the tidbits that I found, but I wanted more.

There are some other points of interest here for a Gaian. The author equates ecological awareness with cosmic consciousness or mystical experience and asserts that “naturalism is more consistent with the mystical vision of the world than supernaturalism.”

Particularly poignant is Alan’s critique of the “self-destroying course of industrial civilization,” which very much aligns with Gaian values and the need for degrowth. “Civilization ‘works,’ temporarily, for the privileged individual, but in the not-so-long run, it could easily be a speeding up of consumption which dissolves all life on the planet.” Prophetic words, indeed.

[Isaiah Minick · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a collection of essays written during the end of Alan Watt's life (1960s). Some material is subjective to that time, but as a whole I rate this 5 stars. Some essays I was less fond of , but in particular the essays titles "Money and Wealth", "Psychedelics and the Religious Experience" and the short essay "Planting Seed and Gathering Fruit" were enjoyable and relatable for me.

This is my first encounter reading Alan Watts, and I'm inclined to read more, especially more of his work talking about Zen Buddhism and Taoism.

Below are my notes, inadequately depicting some things I learned from reading these essays.


Money and Wealth

“All too easily we confuse the world as we symbolise it with the world as it is.”

The concept of things often gets in the way of the actual experience of life. This essay talks about how we need to experience beyond labels and concepts. To get back to the visceral living experience of our senses. That we should not confuse money with wealth. A great example is talking about profit. Profit should be a tangible thing that we experience in the world. Not purely an abstract amount in a bank account. Watts says “No one should be expected to do business without the incentive of profit. The actual trouble is that profit is identified entirely with money, as distinct from the real profit of living with dignity and elegance in beautiful surroundings.” We need to start viewing the concepts of what is profitable, what is desirable, what is worth pursuing based on the real effect on our lives - not some ideal. How much does having 6 fancy cars really affect how we feel with our senses, versus how much does it feed the ego and status - things that are concepts that have little real impact on our experience.

Watts explains the problem very well. Our ideals have been shifted from reality to concepts. And this is causing vast amount of harm in the world - and is not sustainable. Watt’s solution is not to campaign, but rather to experience life fully. Lead by example. The change that can be sustained can happen through people getting in touch with themselves - not by force. This concept that we are part of nature and not here to rule nature is the core of this transformation.

““Man and world are a single natural process, but we are behaving as if we were invaders and plunderers in a foreign territory. For when the individual is defined and felt as the separate personality or ego, he rains unaware that his actual body is a dancing pattern of energy that simple does not happen by itself. It happens only in concert with myriads of other patterns - called animals, plants, insects, bacteria, minerals, liquids, and gases. “



Death in the Kitchen

Lots of rambling about how the kitchen is a place of beauty, quality and art with real ingredients and real foods. Taking the time to eat well. He talks about how murder is inevitable in this life. The cycle of life and death is how this world operates. So instead of trying to pretend this isn’t true, to do with with intention and care. For example, not eating meat from factory farms etc.

One aspect of the essay I really enjoyed was when he stopped talked about the kitchen and was talking about how the present moment is important.

““As a people, our ideal is to have a future, and as long as this is so we shall never have a present. But only those who have a present, and who can relate to it materially and imminently, have any use for making plans for the future, for when their plans mature they will enjoy the results.”

This essay was decent but not really life changing. It made me want to cook good food for good people. Taking the time in the kitchen is a way of being present.

Clothes - On and Off

This essay basically talks about how uncomfortable and useless modern (at the time) clothes are. Especially focusing on mens suits and all the props that go with them. He suggest both men and women wear more loose and flowing clothing - to be confident enough with this ‘character’ you put on. He talks a bit about the philosophy that all clothes are a way for the god in us to put on some type of character or form. This essay encourages my current trend of wearing loose and flowing clothes, and allows me a bit more freedom to dress how I want.


The Spirit of Violence and the Matter of Peace

This is an essay talking mainly about the separation between ego and body and how this can affect our lives and our environment. People who are following the ego are trying to put the complications and intricacies of the universe into linear concepts such as words, concepts and ideas. We need to incorporate the sense of self to include our environment, and not purely the ego mind. With this in mind, we should not try to force change, as this is trusting of the ego’s mind. Rather we need to live in accordance with the totality of our ‘self’ which includes our universe that we live in - and cannot live without.

Psychedelics and the Religious Experience

Watts first talks about the difference in category of ‘mind altering’ substances. Things like alcohol and opioids diminish the thinking capabilities of humans, and are categorically different from the psychedelic experience which is in Watts words are ‘ mind manifesting’. I find this distinction very important. That all drugs are not the same and how we experience them is different. He then talks about how the language used for describing both religious experiences and psychedelics is inadequate AND there is a lot of overlap in a true mystic spiritual/religious experience and that of one on psychedelics.

The four dominant characteristics of psychedelics from Watts experience:

1. A concentration in the present - We are truly focused intently on the magic of what is happening right now. We notice the vibrations of music different, and the textures of clothing and the patterns of water.

“Only those who have cultivated the art of living completely in the present have any use of making plans for the future, for when the plans mature they will be able to enjoy the results.”

2. Awareness of Polarity - Things that we call opposite are actually interconnected and need the opposite in order to be defined. Therefore we are polarised with the external world - the world outside of us helps to define who we are. On psychedelics we feel closer connected with the universe in the sense that we sometimes don’t know which one is pulling, which one is being pulled.

3. Awareness of Relativity - There is an immeasurably small world, and big world , and we are somewhere in between. We are just like the fly who is experiencing a world they are in, a smaller world, and a larger world beyond them that they cannot comprehend.

4. Awareness of Eternal Energy - All existence is a single energy and the cycles of life and death are like waves against a shore with the ebbing and flowing of this energy. This alleviates some of the pressure of being alive - we are just experience this flow of energy.

The next part of the essay talks about why religious (especially in the west) are typically against psychedelics. The God of Christianity is experienced a lot these days like a ruling monarch. It is an independent ‘self’ that rules over things. This view of ego translates to humans viewing themselves as a self as well. The nature of psychedelics is contrasting this view.

He talks about 2 main reasons people say not to do psychedelics:

1. They are dangerous - Watts responds with most things worth doing involve a little bit of danger. We don’t need Police men and Laws - we need guidance and advice.
2. They are escapes from reality - The response is that the experience isn’t always great and amazing, and we learn from these journeys about the wholeness of our complete reality.


7 short essays: ( only notes about ones I really liked)

Planting Seeds and Gathering Fruit

I want to read this again and again.

The concept is that we should not be caught up in the pursuit of right over wrong. These journeys to ‘better’ ourselves is futile. It is better to plant seeds and gather fruit. To live in accordance with nature means we understand that life is full of necessary polarity, and this is the way of the Tao. We can choose to live in according with this, accepting all as it is. BUT we still have the choices to plant seeds and gather fruit. It doesn’t mean we become fatalistic, but rather we make decisions on what is natural, instead of trying to find out meanings and concepts of truths that cannot be put into words. We plant seeds, and gather fruit.


Art with a Capital A

Recently, art as a means to create art is new. Previously we did things with care and to create beauty. Our everyday items were built with art and creativity. Some artists these days create art with lots of space - allowing us to pause and listen to the beautiful of the art of the silences, the stillness, the emptiness.

[Tracy · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was a wonderful reading ! It helped me keep my ego at a distance for it is only a symbol, something created by society. We must say the same about money. We seldom focus on the present, this is our biggest mistake. Don't take things seriously, we all die in the end. Life itself is a masquerade. What you think important is not. You think things are important because they are only related to symbols, what your parents taught you, or just the consequences of your hormones and bad thinking. Don't take things seriously, this is just your imagination playing tricks on you. When you understand that, you will be quite ready to cope with any situation.

Here are some interesting quotes :

"Money is a way of measuring wealth but is not wealth in itself."

"We have long forgotten that a schola, or school, is a place of leisure, where those who do not have to grub for a living can apply themselves to the disinterested pursuit of knowledge and art."

"You say "I came into this world". You didn't; you came out of it, as a branch from a tree."

"The ego (like money) is a concept, a symbol, even a delusion-not a biological process or physical reality."

"Because we cannot relate to the sensuous and material present we are most happy when good things are expected to happen, not when they are are happening."

"Clothes, like our roles and personalities should be worn easily and lightly in the realization that, because the whole universe is a masquerade, we may as well do it with the utmost flair and elegance."

"If you know you are a fraud from the beginning, you can afford to be exuberant and flamboyant."

"The basic point to be understood is that it is simply impossible to improve either onself or the world by force."

"While living be a dead man, thoroughly dead. Then, whatever you do, just as you will, will be right."

"Man is a thinking reed but his great works are done when he is not calculating and thinking. "Childlikeness" has to be restored with long years of training in the art of self-forgetfulness. When this is attained, man thinks yet he does not think. He thinks like showers coming down the sky; he thinks like the waves rolling on the ocean; he thinks like the stars illuminating the nightly heavens; he thinks like the green foliage shooting forth in the relaxing spring breeze. Indeed, he is the showers, the ocean, the stars, the foliage. "

[Steve Woods · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a brilliant set of essays by one of the most brilliant philosophical minds of the 20th Century. While stripping bare many of the sacred cows of western culture by simply pointing up their absurdity he combines wit, humour and critical judgement into a pot pouri that had me rolling about the aisles- but also questioning. There is much to decry about the way our culture has evolved over the last 50 years and in these essays Watts does a magnificent job of pointing them up, he does however retain in the commentary, hope. Placed mainly in the (then 60's and 70's) young; perhaps given the way the century proceeded one might say that he misplaced that hope. The revolution of the 60's and 70's was successfully put down by the establishment and the banking system who cynically seduced the bulk of those rebels who made it to middle age, as well as most of those who followed, into chronic indebtedness, thus rendering them impotent through fear of economic insecurity.

There is not much left in western culture or its offspring spawned everywhere by globalisation to recommend it to anyone anywhere. It is bankrupt and not only in monetary terms. We can but await its ultimate and inevitable demise. Unfortunately it has held sway for so long the apocalyptic landscape that will remain, in fact, in spirit and in heart will not leave much room for the fairy tale resurrection. I am in despair of the world left to my grandchildren and Alan Watts had the direction of that drift pegged in mid century. Throw out the Bible, the Koran and the Torah and get all the kids reading this guy, then there might be half a chance

[Kelli · Rating 3 out of 5]

From what I remember from reading it a year ago, I enjoyed the spirituality that Watts touches on, the ebb and flow that is all of life. It also had me considering how strange life is, like the fact that we place such emphasis on what we wear and how we appear to others. The mandala chapter was very creative and reminded me of the cognitive psychology classes I took. The vibrations chapter reminded me of Buddhist texts I have read, which describe that feeling sad or joyful isn't necessarily good or bad--they are just different types of vibrations. We are the ones who judge and attribute good/bad values to them. However, this book is very old and shows its age in the problematic sexist and racist sentiments that Watts says and this detracted greatly from the books likeability.

[Texasmochi · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was given to me by Karen as I dipped my toes into the world of spirituality. At the time it was given to me (2000 or 2001) it was dog-eared and worn. I still have it in my favorite "I'd really like to read it again" basket.

At the same time I acquired a copy of The Taboo Against Knowing Who You Are. I read Taboo first - and this later. I must say I feel like I "got" Taboo more, but this book was clever - and I enjoyed it very much.

[Ben · Rating 2 out of 5]

These essays are 50 years old, written like un-edited blog posts: Many oppinions, unfounded ideas, no context. It's fascinating that the book's topics still have some relevance. What is even more fascinating is how Watt's writes about what is now the boomer generation, describing his hopes that they will be the ones who overcome materialism, consumerism, shallowness... it's a good reminder to recede from simple explanaitions and hopes - like those based in the turn of genereations...

[Bob · Rating 4 out of 5]

The one thing that has really stuck with me from reading this book is that it won't be a materialist who destroys the world in nuclear holocaust, because a materialist loves the material too much for that. It will be a spiritual fanatic who will press the button that ends the world.

[Scott · Rating 2 out of 5]

really funny and relieving. watt's finally stops speaking abstractly and lays down wit and amazing insight on every topic.

[Darkwalker · Rating 4 out of 5]

If I could live as Watts lived, perhaps I'd Be at peace. This book is inspiring even if the state of mind is nigh impossible to one living in a capitalist society.

[Amit · Rating 4 out of 5]

Given that it was written so long ago it was a very succinct read. His insights were very fascinating. Want to read more of his work.

[Jeffrey Bean · Rating 4 out of 5]

Entertaining and enlightening. Excellent.

[Sebastian · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nice book with several short essays on things as varied as food, religion, cannabis and psychedelics, and clothing.
Fun to read Watts.

[Marius Heje Mæhle · Rating 4 out of 5]

🧠 Summary:
The book contains essays exploring the often misunderstood relationship between the spiritual and the material. Watts challenges the idea that spiritual life must be opposed to material existence. He critiques Western dualism (mind vs. matter) and invites readers to see the physical world not as an illusion or trap, but as something sacred and deeply interconnected with consciousness.
Rather than escaping the material world, we must fully participate in it, recognizing that matter is a form of energy, of spirit itself. The main chapters are on wealth, cooking and clothes to use on practial examples for the connection to the spiritual.

🔑 Takeaways:
1. Matter is not meaningless.
– Matter is not inferior to spirit — it's a manifestation of the same underlying reality. Treating it as dead or profane causes deep disconnection.
2. Spirituality and materialism are falsely opposed.
– You don’t have to reject the body, nature, or technology to be spiritual. Enlightenment can arise through the world, not apart from it.
3. Technology reflects our values.
– Watts warns that if we approach technology mechanistically and unconsciously, it will dehumanize us. But it can be used creatively if we relate to it wisely.
4. Our discomfort with material pleasure is culturally conditioned.
– Many people feel guilty about enjoying life or being "too sensual." Watts encourages fully inhabiting our physical existence.
5. We misunderstand the concept of “self.”
– The ego is not a fixed identity, but a mental construct. We are not separate from nature, but expressions of it — like waves are to the ocean.
6. The sacred is found in the ordinary.
– The divine is not above or beyond the world, but in the texture of daily life — in food, sex, art, and nature.

💬 Quotes:
- The disease of civilization is that we have too much of a good thing. If I talk all the time I am not open to what anyone has to say. Likewise, if I think all the time, I have nothing to think about except thoughts.
- All too easily, we confuse the world as we symbolize it with the world as it is.
- Human beings the whole world over need to relax, become gentlemen, take themselves lightly, and come off it. Easy, gracious, and colorful clothing might be a beginning.
- The basic point to understand is that is simply impossible to improve either oneself or the world by force
- We do not ‘come into’ this world; we come out of it, as leaves from a tree.
- Technology is destructive only in the hands of people who do not realize that they are one and the same process as the universe.
- The actual trouble is that profit is identified entirely with money, as distinct from the real profit of living with dignity and elegance in beautiful surroundings.
- You are an aperture through which the universe is looking at and exploring itself.
- Money is a way of measuring wealth but is not wealth in itself. A chest of gold coins or a fat wallet of bills is of no use whatsoever to a wrecked sailor alone on a raft. He needs real wealth, in the form of a fishing rod, a compass, an outboard motor with gas, and a female companion. But this ingrained and archaic confusion of money with wealth is now the main reason we are not going ahead full tilt with the development of our technological genius for the production of more than adequate food, clothing, housing, and utilities for every person on earth
- Isn't it obvious that the whole purpose of machines is to get rid of work?
- For the good to which we aspire exists only and always in the future. Because we cannot relate to the sensuous and material present we are most happy when good things are expected to happen, not when they are happening. We get such a kick out of looking forward to pleasures and rushing ahead to meet them that we can’t slow down enough to enjoy them when they come. We are therefore a civilization which suffers from chronic disappointment—a formidable swarm of spoiled children smashing their toys.
- All too easily, we confuse the world as we symbolize it with the world as it is.
- Man is a thinking reed but his great works are done when he is not calculating and thinking. ‘Childlikeness’ has to be restored with long years of training in the art of self-forgetfulness. When this is attained, man thinks yet he does not think. He thinks like showers coming down from the sky; he thinks like the waves rolling on the ocean; he thinks like the stars illuminating the nightly heavens; he thinks like the green foliage shooting forth in the relaxing spring breeze. Indeed, he is the showers, the ocean, the stars, the foliage

[Nouru-éddine · Rating 4 out of 5]

::انطباع عام::
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أعرف آلان واتس من سنوات مراهقتي، حيث كان يتم نشر العديد من حوارياته مثل بودكاست وكذلك مقتطفات من مقالاته على مواقع إنجليزية مثل برينبيكنيك. هذا الرجل طريقة كتابته ساحرية حقًا، لغته جزلة جدًا، وبعد قراءتك له، تشعر بخفة روحانية رهيبة! يمزج الرجل الفلسفة بالدين بالعلم بالتأملات المتبصرة، مع مسحة من تنمية الذات. قد تكون قراءة مثل هذا الكتاب غير مفيدة بشكل مباشر، لكنها تعيد صلتك مع الحياة مجددًا وتشحن طاقتك الروحانية.
***
::الكتاب::
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يحتوي الكتاب على ست مقالات طويلة ��سبع مقالات قصيرة:
1- الثراء مقابل المال: يتناول فيه الكاتب العلاقة المضللة بين المال كرمز صنعته الحضارة الحديثة، والثراء بمعناه الواقعي الملموس. فمرض العصر الحديث يتلخص في العمى عن عدم القدرة في التمييز بين الرمز والواقع. كما أصبحنا نرزح تحت وطأة لعنة الأرقام التي تجعلنا نختار الربح بشكل كلي تام بالمال فقط دون النظر إلى أي ربح آخر لكيفة عيش الحياة ذاتها بكرامة وأناقة وسط مناطق محيطة جميلة. كما يؤكد الكاتب على وهمية الذات التي خلقها الإنسان، فعلينا العودة إلى تجربة وجودنا ككائنات حية بدلاً من اعتبارنا مجرد شخصيات مجردة تمامًا كما شخصيات أي مسرحية أو رواية تقوم بحكبة مصطنعة: "الأنا مثل المال، فهي مفهوم ورمز، أي أنها شيء مجرد وهمي، وليست عملية بيولوجية أو واقعًا ماديًا."
2- جريمة في المطبخ: علينا نصع مطبخنا الخاص والاستمتاع بتجهيز الطعام كنوع من الممارسة الحياتية الواقعية. علينا التخلص من لعنة الرموز والكلمات والأرقام. وعلينا العودة لاستهلاك أغذية طبيعية غير معاد تدويرها أو مصنعة في وقت قياسي سريع يفقدها كل قيمتها.
3- فن ارتداء الملابس: يشجب الكاتب عاداتنا في الموضة والتزامنا بارتداء ملابس محددة تفرضها علينا ظروف العصر والموضة. فعلى الفرد أن يرتدي حقًا ما يمثل فرديته وذوقه. فالمكسب الحقيقي هو قدرة المرء على ارتداء ثياب مريحة أنيقة تلائمه وتعبر عن أفكاره سواء أكانت تتوافق مع معايير ومواصفات الموضة الحديثة أم لا.
4- روح العنف ومسألة السلام: طبيعة الإنسان يشك الكاتب في أنها العنف بل السلام والتعاون. والعنف الذي يخرجه الإنسان ناتج بالأساس من الانفصام الروحي بداخله. والعلاج الحقيقي لهذا الانفصام في العودة إلى أحضان الطبيعة الفيزيائية لأننا بشكل أساسي لم نأت إلى الطبيعة، بل جئنا منها.
5- العقاقير المخدرة والتجربة الصوفية: يضع الكاتب مقارنة بين آثار المخدر والتجارب الصوفية ويقول بتوازي نتائجهما، إلا أن التجارب الصوفية لها الأفضيلة في صنع توافق ذاتي داخل الإنسان عكس العقاقير المخدرة التي تضعه في حالة مشابهة للصوفية لكنها على المدى البعيد تدهور وظائف عقله.
6- تجربة المخدر: إن شعور الإنسان العميق بالنشوة ينبع أساسًا من إيمانه بالقيمة والفضيلة، فهذا ما يجعله يرغب في إدارة جسده وروحه وعقله على النحو الصحيح، كما أن كافة الثقافات قد عززت معنى القوة الداخلية والإرادة حتى يتمكن الإنسان من الوصول إلى أعلى مراحله الروحية. تتحقق تلك الحالة الصوفية من العيش داخل أبدية الآن الصوفية، وبدلاً من وضع خطط مستقبلية عن مستقبل لم يأت بعد، يتعين علينا وضع خطة لهذه اللحظة التي نعيشها بكامل قوتنا الآن.
7- سبعة مقالات قصيرة: الأسطورة الكبرى؛ روح الماندالا العظيمة أو فن البهجة؛ أنواع فن الماندالا؛ الرمزية في فن الماندالا؛ تاريخ فن الماندالا؛ حول اختيار الذبذبات التي تلائمك؛ غرس البذور وجمع الثمار؛ الفن؛ البوذية عند ألدوس هكسلي بعد كتابه ("الوسائل والغايات")؛ د. سوزوكي والفكر غير التقليدي.
***
::الملخص::
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"إن مرض الحضارة سواء أكان غربيًا أو شرقيًا يتمثل في كوننا نمتلك الكثير من الأشياء الجيدة، إذ أننا نخلط بين الوصف الباهرة للأشياء وما يجري فعليًا على أرض الواقع." - في هذا تتلخص كل فلسفة الكتاب، حيث يحثنا الكاتب للعودة مرة أخرى للواقع، للحياة الحقيقية، والتخلص من أوهام الرموز التي صنعتها الحضارة التي جعلتنا نخلط بين المفاهيم مثل الثروة والمال، السعادة والامتلاك، العيش والاستهلاك: فالناس المتحضرين سواء أكانوا من الشرق أو من الغرب بحاجة ماسة لأن يتخلصوا ويتحرروا من أنظمة الرموز الخاصة بهم، وحينها فقط سوف يصبحون أشد وعيًا بالذبابات الحية للعالم الحقيقي."
كما أن الحل للفرد في مواجهة كل ذلك هو الزهد؛ "فالطبيعة تأبى الفراغ، ولهذا السبب، فإنه لا يمكن تأمين حياة ممتعة والحفاظ عليها دون وجود حد معقول من الشعور بالزهد."
*.*.*.*.*

[Steven H · Rating 5 out of 5]

HOW DO WE RELATE TO VARIOUS ASPECTS OF THE PHYSICAL WORLD?

Alan Wilson Watts (1915-1973) was a British-born philosopher, writer, and speaker, best known as a popularizer of Eastern philosophy. He and his then-wife left England for America in 1938 on the eve of WWII, and he became an Episcopal priest---but he left the priesthood in 1950 and moved to California, where he became a cult figure in the Beat movement of the 1950s and later. He wrote many popular books, such as 'The Spirit of Zen,' 'The Way of Zen,' 'Nature, Man and Woman,' 'This Is It,' 'Psychotherapy East & West,' 'Beyond Theology,' 'The Book: On the Taboo Against Knowing Who You Are', 'Cloud-Hidden, Whereabouts Unknown,' 'Tao: The Watercourse Way,' and his autobiography, 'In My Own Way.'

He wrote in the Foreword to this 1969 book, "This book consists of a series of recent essays on man's relationship to the material world---to what we call nature, the physical environment, the body, and substantial matter."

He remarks on the "amazing increase of interest among American college students in Oriental mysticism and other 'non-Western' studies... Obviously, this interest is not unconnected with the widespread use of psychedelic drugs. This is not, as is often suggested, a substitute for alcohol: it is much more an adventure, an exploration of new dimensions of experience, all the more attractive for being esoteric and in defiance of authority." (Pg. 16)

He states, "Excellent as the cuisine may be, restaurants in America serve for the eye and not for the stomach, because abstractionists delight in the initial lift of fancy menus and vastly overloaded dishes---suited only to the appetites of growing boys, who cannot afford to eat in such places. The customer wants anticipation: he has no capacity for fulfillment." (Pg. 36)

He suggests, "Philosophers and theologians have given all too little attention to the vice of pomposity, which is, at root, the folly of taking oneself seriously." (Pg. 61-62)

He argues, "There are two specific objections to use of psychedelic drugs. First, use of the drugs may be dangerous. However, every worthwhile expedition is dangerous---climbing mountains, testing aircraft, rocketing into outer space, skin diving, or collecting botanical specimens in jungles. but if you value knowledge... you are willing to take the risks...Second, drug use may be criticized as an escape from reality. However this criticism assumes unjustly that the mystical experiences themselves are escapist or unreal. LSD in particular, is by no means a soft and cushy escape from reality." (Pg. 92-93)

Not Watts' most "profound" work, this book will nevertheless be appreciated by most fans of his work, for its treatment of topics that he has not often treated elsewhere.

[Luke · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is Watts at his most relatable. He’s approaching the end of his life during the American 1960s drug revolution. And he’s a decently well known guy. He’s not like Timothy Leary or Allen Ginsberg or something but he’s almost on that level of buffoonery.

He is a man for the west to aspire to be during this messed up, war torn time. People are looking for answers from wise folks. And for excuses to indulge in. Watts not only knows the philosophy, he experiments with an American attitude for rebellion.

Problem is that even at his most vulnerable we don’t see everything. In any of his writing. We don’t get his personal life reflection on marriage or women that is probably deserved. We don’t get the deeper consideration of substance abuse. We only get more self-conscious ambition here. It’s the best WE can hope for unfortunately.

It could be seen as sad to be so hopeful about his future life in this book. He talks about where he will live and what drugs he will do in retirement. He sounds like a college kid or something. Then he dies relatively young soon there after. I still see this book as one of his triumphs. He and Chogyam Trungpa drew wisdom from some weird places…Strictly speaking, the alcoholic beverages may have been a well of resources. And so, in getting a glimpse of that imbalance we see more of what balance means.

Don’t give me this perfectly detached balanced type of writing and speaking. No thank you. This writing is all over the place. He starts out extremely serious like he’s trying to establish both credibility and relatability in this hilarious home design advice. He sounds like Jean Baudrillard in The System of Objects written around the same time. Yes it could be seen as cultural acumen. A way to show off a space functionally. Since functionalism was the new materialist thing back then. But no. This must have been a way for the robed man to show his firm intuition over the materialism that did of course not control him. NEVER.

A man of his time and yet timeless too. His critique of materialism is unique even for robed men. Along with the architectural functionalism of this time came more abstract idealism. Watts takes the stance that it’s better to focus on objects since they are there, and they have straight forward attributes to rest awareness on…and we can directly experience them…when compared to the alternative. Abstraction. His vulnerability with that perspective is interesting to say the least. I can’t just sluff it off as ambition or arrogance. And I can’t pin point a tradition he is pulling from exactly. It’s uniquely his own. And it makes sense. No works cited pages, just a few books he loves.

If I were concerned about the image of Watts I’d have rated this book much lower. This is almost like a journal, written while ambiguously intoxicated at times. Free spirited for sure. But It makes him look careless in callous ways. The reason I’ll still take it. As is. Is that he rarely lets his guard down to this extent. If there’s a depressed eccentric side, drinking all the way to the grave like presumably Trungpa did…This is the book to grow from. It’s at the worst, even for the enlightened types, when we get to abash ourselves with faith. No mud, no lotus. To share in Watts’ intoxicating delusions of grandeur is to well…it just is.

[Sophy H · Rating 2 out of 5]

Skim the surface and Watts sounds convincing enough, zen, check, chill, check, rejectionist of materiality, check!

Dig a little deeper however and Watts' real homophobia, sexism and fakery become very apparent. This book is awash with sweeping generalizations, contradiction and meaningless offerings.

Examples:-

Alan: men- wear what you like that's comfortable like a sarong, futah, mundu or kaftan, they are so comfy and non-restrictive. Ok Alan, well I'll wear one in the US to like mooch to the shops or to work. Alan: The US? Oh god no, you have to wear a suit there to conform to the "local dress code"!

Alan: repressed homosexuality is the cause of so many problems; homosexual men are balls of rage and aggression. Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiight!

Alan: it's kind of like when we look at Chinese people and think they all look the same!! What?!!

Alan: Don't be materialistic and into modern living and appliances. No what you want is all this bespoke stuff like hand crafted wooden chopping boards, huge woks and preferably open plan living yeah?

Alan: Be zen and Buddhist like me; also me- I kill things to eat them, I suggest wearing heavy fur when its cold!

Alan: Take mind-altering drugs but like only for spiritual cleansing, enlightenment or other such legitimate practices!

Alan: I've done a degree in theology and have a doctorate in divinity (wtf even is that?!!) and I shun traditional religion but I'm still going to quote huge swathes of the bible at you, m'kay?!!

I have watched a few Alan Watts Youtube videos which I'm guessing you would label today as TED talks and he seems to talk a good talk but underneath it all, I think he knows no better than any of us, even though he put on a good show.

Here's my offering, try to live a good life, try to be kind, always love ferociously.

[Jeffrey Spitz Cohan · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a loosely connected collection of essays, packaged to appeal to Watts afficionados.

If you're unfamiliar with Watts, I wouldn't start with this book. (I would recommend "Wisdom of Insecurity.")

"Does It Matter" was published just a few years before his death. It's sort of the publishing equivalent of a record company taking a rock star's B sides and creating an album for hardcore fans.

Watts has an uncanny ability to inspire you and infuriate you in the same essay. In "Murder in the Kitchen," he offers the incredible observation -- if you think about it -- that human beings take air, light, water and various nutrients and turn them into poetry, music, paintings, sculptures, as well as weapons. Beautiful.

But then he goes on to make some ridiculous statements about meat-eating. Particularly offensive is his assertion that he is honoring the chicken by cooking it well and relishing it. Really? Does he think the chicken cares about being posthumously honored? The chicken cares about his or her life, which was taken away, brutally at that. Honoring the chicken, in Watts' formulation, is a human-centric and selfish notion.

Elsewhere, though, Watts recognizes that human beings are part and parcel of nature, and correctly observes that our collective failure to recognize that is having disastrous consequences. That's the Watts we need today.

[Ghala Anas · Rating 5 out of 5]

"إن الإنسان لا يُدرك أنه يحيا حالة دائمة مستمرة من الصراع الداخلي خلال تلك المدة التي يتعين عليه فيها الوصول إلى أعلى مستويات الحضارة والثقافة والوعي الروحي التام، فبينما يحاول السيطرة على ذاته وفرض مزيد من القيود حتى يصل إلى أعلى الدرجات، إلا أنه يفقد تدريجياً شيئاً عميقاً أصيلاً بداخل روحه والذي يضطره إلى ممارسة مختلف أشكال العنف ضد نفسه"
هل عالمنا يهُم؟ - آلان واتس \ ترجمة: أميرة الوصيف
كتاب لافتٌ ومُهم فلسفياً، أحبُّ الكتب التي تعود إلى أصول الفكر كي تستوضح متاهاته اللاحقة وتعيد توضيح الغاية من كلِّ أمر، ففي ذلك نجاتنا من الأدلجة التي تكاد تنزع عنا ما يُميزنا.
وجدتُّ في طرحه تشابهاً كبيراً مع ما قدَّمته الفيلسوفة شارلوت جيلمان في كتبها، لا سيما "عالمٌ صنعه الرجال" و"تاريخ الأزياء" و"الاقتصاد والمرأة" وغيرها. فقد تناول الكاتب الغاية الوظيفية لما نُسخره لنا، مثل الرمز واللغة والمال والمادة والنظام، الأمر الذي أسهبت شارلوت الحديث فيه لتوضيح أثر الذكورية المفرطة في خلق مشكلات جادَّة في أهمِّ مجالات الحياة.
أحببتُ الكتاب وأنصح به.