Nothingness

by Alan W. Watts

Alan Wilson Watts (6 January 1915 – 16 November 1973) was a British born philosopher, writer, and speaker, best known as an interpreter and populariser of Eastern philosophy for a Western audience. Born in Chislehurst, he moved to the United States in 1938 and began Zen training in New York. Pursuing a career, he attended Seabury-Western Theological Seminary, where he received a master's degree in theology. Watts became an Episcopal priest but left the ministry in 1950 and moved to California, where he joined the faculty of the American Academy of Asian Studies.

Genres: Philosophy, Nonfiction, Spirituality

63 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 1974

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

[Davidswriting · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very brief, illustrated book. Each image is a circle that stands alone on the left-hand page, with some text on the right. It is very good writing, and it is hard to criticize spiritual writing for being to breif, because it ideally should be something that you think about while not reading. This book gives plenty to meditate on,and would be a nice introduction to Alan Watts for people who don't want to dive right in to theological prose.

[Scott Ballard · Rating 5 out of 5]

A quick read, but a profound read on clarity, nothingness and perception.

“And so it’s all made up of off and on and conscious and unconscious. But the unconscious is a part of experience which is doing consciousness, just as the trough manifest the wave, the space manifests the solid, the background manifests the figure. And so all that side of life which you call unconscious, unknown, impenetrable is consciousness, unknown, impenetrable, because it’s really you. In other words, the deepest you is the nothing side is a side which you don’t know. “

“ think once again of the image of clarity crystal clear. Nothing is what brings something into focus. This nothing symbolized by the crystal is your own eyeball your own consciousness.”

[Rocco Ricca · Rating 4 out of 5]

A really interesting view of the world. I want to sit and think about it for a while but basically what Watts is saying is that nothingness is something to embrace and love because the nothingness is pivotal to the something that we feel/see/hear/sense everyday.
One of the passages that really stuck out to me was his view of the fear of the universe ending. He feels that it's a completely unreasonable fear because with nothing, something is always there to fill the space. The idea that there is no something is so unimaginable because it can't happen. Without the something to fill the nothing, nothingness can't be there. (I'm butchering this but it was cool and made sense to me)

[Lori Zuppinger · Rating 5 out of 5]

So happy any time I manage to get my hands on another of this little series from the 70s.

[Andy Sternberg · Rating 3 out of 5]

A bit off-the-wall with equal doses of science and irreverence but an enjoyable lightning-quick reads on one of my fave core reasons for everything... nothing.