--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: It is also in despair of being able to…" description: "\"It is also in despair of being able to understand or make any productive contribution to the highly organised chaos of our politico-economic system tha..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5ad/alan-watts-587_abandon_it-is-also-in-despair-of-being-able-to-u_1826361.jpg" --- # It is also in despair of being able to understand or make… ![“It is also in despair of being able to understand or make any productive contribution to the highly organised chaos of our politico-economic system that large numbers of people simply abandon political and social committments. They just let society be taken over by a pattern of organisation which…” quote by Alan Watts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5ad/alan-watts-587_abandon_it-is-also-in-despair-of-being-able-to-u_1826361.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5ad/alan-watts-587_abandon_it-is-also-in-despair-of-being-able-to-u_1826361.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5ad/alan-watts-587_abandon_it-is-also-in-despair-of-being-able-to-u_1826361.jpg) > “It is also in despair of being able to understand or make any productive contribution to the highly organised chaos of our politico-economic system that large numbers of people simply abandon political and social committments. They just let society be taken over by a pattern of organisation which is as self-proliferative as a weed, and whose ends and values are neither human nor instinctive but mechanical.” [Alan Watts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-watts/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. People disengage from politics because the system feels chaotic and dehumanized, leading to passive acceptance of mechanistic structures. **In simple terms:** Many abandon politics due to a chaotic, mechanical system. Key Takeaway Re-engage with community to shape humane policies. Themes politics alienation systemic chaos humanism activism Mood reflective critical Type philosophical inspirational When to use this quote - voting - community organizing - public discourse Key Concepts social responsibility political efficacy collective action Questions to Reflect On - Why do you feel disconnected from politics? - What small actions can restore agency? A Different Perspective Changing large systems is daunting and may feel futile. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Abandon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/abandon/) [Abandon Political](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/abandon-political-2237752/) [Able](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/able/) [Chaos](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/chaos/) [Contribution](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/contribution/) [Despair](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/despair/) [Economic](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/economic/) [Economic system](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/economic-system/) [Economic systems](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/economic-systems/) [Ends](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ends/) [Humans](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/humans/) [Large numbers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/large-numbers/) [Let Society](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/let-society-471422/) [Numbers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/numbers/) [Organisation](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/organisation/) [Organised](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/organised/) [Organised Chaos](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/organised-chaos-1264244/) [Patterns](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/patterns/) [People](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/people/) [Political](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/political/) [Political Social](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/political-social-1168336/) [Politics](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/politics/) [Productive](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/productive/) [Self](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/self/) [Social](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/social/) [Social Committments](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/social-committments-2237753/) [Taken](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/taken/) [Values](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/values/) [Weed](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/weed/) ## Related quotes > [My life at the moment is a bit like my wardrobe. Organised chaos.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-wenham/my-life-at-the-moment-is-a-bit-like-my-wardrobe-organised-chaos/) [David Wenham](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-wenham/) > [I call my life a beautiful mess and organised chaos. Its just always been like that. My entire life things have been attracted to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mindy-mccready/i-call-my-life-a-beautiful-mess-and-organised-chaos-its-just-always/) [Mindy McCready](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mindy-mccready/) > [“If you abandon the political arena, somebody is going to be there. Corporations aren't going to go home and join the PTA. They are…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/noam-chomsky/if-you-abandon-the-political-arena-somebody-is-going-to-be-there/) [Noam Chomsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/noam-chomsky/) > [Do not let society dictate your self worth and happiness in life. It must come from within.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/senora-roy/do-not-let-society-dictate-your-self-worth-and-happiness-in-life-it/) [Senora Roy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/senora-roy/) > [We've got a duty to die and get out of the way with all of our machines and artificial hearts and everything else like…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-lamm/we-ve-got-a-duty-to-die-and-get-out-of-the-way-with-all-of-our/) [Richard Lamm](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-lamm/) > [After we graduate tonight, we no longer have to let society happen to us. We get to create our own.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rachel-maddow/after-we-graduate-tonight-we-no-longer-have-to-let-society-happen-to/) [Rachel Maddow](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rachel-maddow/) > [If there is something you want to be, be it. Who cares what people say! Do not let society shape you in to becoming…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jenna-bognar/if-there-is-something-you-want-to-be-be-it-who-cares-what-people-say/) [Jenna Bognar](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jenna-bognar/) > [Don't let society drown you.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/don-t-let-society-drown-you/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [“Don’t let your society and environment dictate what you do with your time”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sunday-adelaja/don-t-let-your-society-and-environment-dictate-what-you-do-with-your/) [Sunday Adelaja](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sunday-adelaja/) > [Don't let society tell you, how you should live and be, because the longer you allow the world to control you, the more you…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carniel-dunlop/don-t-let-society-tell-you-how-you-should-live-and-be-because-the/) [Carniel Dunlop](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carniel-dunlop/) > [“Society can be a bitch." "And is by no means always right. Society can't know you like you know yourself. So don't let society…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/g-b-gordon/society-can-be-a-bitch-and-is-by-no-means-always-right-society-can-t/) [G.B. Gordon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/g-b-gordon/) > [I don't mean you disregard every rule of your community. I don't go around naked, for example. I don't run through red lights. The…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mitch-albom/i-don-t-mean-you-disregard-every-rule-of-your-community-i-don-t-go/) [Mitch Albom](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mitch-albom/) > [“Don't let society's defined genre hold you down, be a free spirit and just write, let society be the one to decide where each…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/uma-nnenna/don-t-let-society-s-defined-genre-hold-you-down-be-a-free-spirit-and/) [Uma Nnenna](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/uma-nnenna/) > [“Society we must have; but let it be society, and not exchanging news or eating from the same dish. Is it society to sit…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-waldo-emerson/society-we-must-have-but-let-it-be-society-and-not-exchanging-news-or/) [Ralph Waldo Emerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-waldo-emerson/) > [We need a new model of social protection. Let us accept that jobs are not the magic solution - and that in a globalised…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/guy-standing/we-need-a-new-model-of-social-protection-let-us-accept-that-jobs-are/) [Guy Standing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/guy-standing/) ## More by Alan Watts > [“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…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-watts/the-self-conscious-feedback-mechanism-of-the-cortex-allows-us-the/) [Alan Watts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-watts/) > [The more we try to catch hold of the present moment the more elusive it becomes. 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I shall…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-watts/if-my-happiness-at-this-moment-consists-largely-in-reviewing-happy/) [Alan Watts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-watts/) > [...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.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-watts/mysticism-and-empiricism-go-together-in-opposition-to-scholasticism/) [Alan Watts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-watts/) > [The hallucination of being a separate ego will not stand up to biological tests.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-watts/the-hallucination-of-being-a-separate-ego-will-not-stand-up-to/) [Alan Watts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-watts/) > [Although profoundly "inconsequential," the Zen experience has consequences in the sense that it may be applied in any direction, to any conceivable human activity,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-watts/although-profoundly-inconsequential-the-zen-experience-has/) [Alan Watts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-watts/) > [Everything is perpetually becoming new.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-watts/everything-is-perpetually-becoming-new/) [Alan Watts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-watts/) > [The psychotherapist ... tries to help the individual to be himself and to go it alone without giving unnecessary offense to his community, to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-watts/the-psychotherapist-tries-to-help-the-individual-to-be-himself-and-to/) [Alan Watts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-watts/) > [“As you make more and more powerful microscopic instruments, the universe has to get smaller and smaller in order to escape the investigation. Just…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-watts/as-you-make-more-and-more-powerful-microscopic-instruments-the/) [Alan Watts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-watts/) > [We are at the moment looking at space as something to be entered by the tremendous thrust of a rocket because that is the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-watts/we-are-at-the-moment-looking-at-space-as-something-to-be-entered-by/) [Alan Watts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-watts/) > [A philosopher is a sort of intellectual yokel who gawks at things that sensible people take for granted.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-watts/a-philosopher-is-a-sort-of-intellectual-yokel-who-gawks-at-things/) [Alan Watts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-watts/) > [The best way to convince someone is by making him realize that what you speak came from his own mind.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-watts/the-best-way-to-convince-someone-is-by-making-him-realize-that-what/) [Alan Watts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-watts/) > [The myths underlying our culture and underlying our common sense have not taught us to feel identical with the universe, but only parts of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-watts/the-myths-underlying-our-culture-and-underlying-our-common-sense-have/) [Alan Watts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-watts/) > [To feel that life is meaningless unless “I” can be permanent is like having fallen desperately in love with an inch.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-watts/to-feel-that-life-is-meaningless-unless-i-can-be-permanent-is-like/) [Alan Watts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-watts/) [Explore all 460 Alan Watts quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-watts/) ## More Abandon quotes > [Humans are, as Sartre put it, 'condemned to be free'. To insist that science, or God, objectively defines moral values is to abandon our…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kenan-malik/humans-are-as-sartre-put-it-condemned-to-be-free-to-insist-that/) [Kenan Malik](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kenan-malik/) > [The purpose of a spirit filled life is to demonstrate the supernatural power of our living God so that the unsaved multitudes will abandon…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/t-l-osborn/the-purpose-of-a-spirit-filled-life-is-to-demonstrate-the/) [T.L. Osborn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/t-l-osborn/) > [However, however, if the goal is to abandon America's free enterprise economy, if the goal is to convert America into a submissive member of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marco-rubio/however-however-if-the-goal-is-to-abandon-america-s-free-enterprise/) [Marco Rubio](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marco-rubio/) > [I would leave at once, but it would be cruel to abandon a lady in a foreign land with a maniac.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cassandra-clare/i-would-leave-at-once-but-it-would-be-cruel-to-abandon-a-lady-in-a/) [Cassandra Clare](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cassandra-clare/) > [When we fall utterly, something gathers us up. But our falling must be without reservation, without expectation, without hope, though not hopeless. You cant…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/roger-housden/when-we-fall-utterly-something-gathers-us-up-but-our-falling-must-be/) [Roger Housden](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/roger-housden/) > [every subjective phenomenon is essentially connected with a single point of view, and it seems inevitable that an objective, physical theory will abandon that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-nagel/every-subjective-phenomenon-is-essentially-connected-with-a-single/) [Thomas Nagel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-nagel/) > [Can you dissolve your ego? Can you abandon the idea of self and other? Can you relinquish the notions of male and female, short…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/laozi/can-you-dissolve-your-ego-can-you-abandon-the-idea-of-self-and-other/) [Laozi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/laozi/) > [Every great thing starts with an idea, followed by a doubt and finally a resolve to abandon or pursue. Victory is a treacherous journey.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dane-cook/every-great-thing-starts-with-an-idea-followed-by-a-doubt-and-finally/) [Dane Cook](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dane-cook/) > [Those who have been once intoxicated with power, and have derived any kind of emolument from it, even though but for one year, never…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edmund-burke/those-who-have-been-once-intoxicated-with-power-and-have-derived-any/) [Edmund Burke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edmund-burke/) > [Do not lose hope; St. Joseph also experienced moments of difficulty, but he never lost faith and was able to overcome them, in the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pope-francis/do-not-lose-hope-st-joseph-also-experienced-moments-of-difficulty-but/) [Pope Francis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pope-francis/) > [It is a dangerous and fateful presumption, besides the absurd temerity that it implies, to disdain what we do not comprehend. For after you…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/it-is-a-dangerous-and-fateful-presumption-besides-the-absurd-temerity/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [“Don't give up because things are hard, but work harder, when you think of giving up.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anthony-liccione/don-t-give-up-because-things-are-hard-but-work-harder-when-you-think/) [Anthony Liccione](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anthony-liccione/) > [Sex is not the ultimate high, but the ultimate high hangs out around sex. The ultimate high is the dance with another person, played…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marianne-williamson/sex-is-not-the-ultimate-high-but-the-ultimate-high-hangs-out-around/) [Marianne Williamson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marianne-williamson/) > [I care so deeply about this matter that I'm willing to take on the legal penalties, to sit in this prison cell, to sacrifice…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mahatma-gandhi/i-care-so-deeply-about-this-matter-that-i-m-willing-to-take-on-the/) [Mahatma Gandhi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mahatma-gandhi/) > [I've been to unpretty places with the roles I've played, and I'm attracted to reckless abandon. I like being taken to the edge of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rhys-ifans/i-ve-been-to-unpretty-places-with-the-roles-i-ve-played-and-i-m/) [Rhys Ifans](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rhys-ifans/) [Browse all 1,142 Abandon quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/abandon/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "It is also in despair of being able to understand or make any productive contribution to the highly organised chaos of our politico-economic system that large numbers of people simply abandon political and social committments. 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