Belief, as I use the word here, is the insistence that the truth is what one would "lief" or wish it to be. The believer will open his mind to the truth on condition that it fits in with his… — Alan Watts Copy Share Image
Belief…is the insistence that the truth is what one would ‘lief’ or (will or) wish to be…Faith is an unreserved opening of the mind to the truth, whatever it may turn out to be. Faith has no preconceptions; it is… — Alan Watts Copy Share Image
“The self-conscious feedback mechanism of the cortex allows us the hallucination that we are two souls in one body -a rational soul and an… — Alan Watts Copy Share
The more we try to catch hold of the present moment the more elusive it becomes. It is like trying to clutch water in… — Alan Watts Copy Share
The Universe is the game of the self, which plays hide and seek forever and ever. — Alan Watts Copy Share
If my happiness at this moment consists largely in reviewing happy memories and expectations, I am but dimly aware of this present. I shall… — Alan Watts Copy Share
...mysticism and empiricism go together in opposition to scholasticism...they base themselves on the non-linear world of experience rather than the linear world of letters. — Alan Watts Copy Share
The hallucination of being a separate ego will not stand up to biological tests. — Alan Watts Copy Share
Although profoundly "inconsequential," the Zen experience has consequences in the sense that it may be applied in any direction, to any conceivable human activity,… — Alan Watts Copy Share
The psychotherapist ... tries to help the individual to be himself and to go it alone without giving unnecessary offense to his community, to… — Alan Watts Copy Share
“As you make more and more powerful microscopic instruments, the universe has to get smaller and smaller in order to escape the investigation. Just… — Alan Watts Copy Share
We are at the moment looking at space as something to be entered by the tremendous thrust of a rocket because that is the… — Alan Watts Copy Share
A philosopher is a sort of intellectual yokel who gawks at things that sensible people take for granted. — Alan Watts Copy Share
The best way to convince someone is by making him realize that what you speak came from his own mind. — Alan Watts Copy Share
The myths underlying our culture and underlying our common sense have not taught us to feel identical with the universe, but only parts of… — Alan Watts Copy Share
To feel that life is meaningless unless “I” can be permanent is like having fallen desperately in love with an inch. — Alan Watts Copy Share
