Identity Quote by Alan Wilson Watts
““We seldom realize, for example, that our most private thoughts and emotions are not actually our own. For we think in terms of languages and images which we did not invent, but which were given to us by our society. We copy emotional reactions from our parents, learning from them thatexcrement is supposed to have a disgusting smell and that vomiting is supposed to be an unpleasant sensation. The dread of death is also learned from their anxieties about sickness and from their attitudes to funerals and corpses. Our social environment has this power just because we do not exist apart from a society. Society is our extended mind and body. Yet the very society from which the individual is inseparable is using its whole irresistible force to persuade the individual that he is indeed separate! Society as we now know it is therefore playing a game with self-contradictory rules.””
About This Quote
Source Book: The Book: Life, Alan Watts, 1966
Our thoughts and feelings are shaped by cultural language and learned reactions, not innate personal ownership.
In simple terms: Thoughts are socially learned.
Key Takeaway
Recognize societal influence on emotions.
Themes
culture
identity
psychology
Mood
reflective
thoughtful
Type
philosophical
analytical
When to use this quote
- parenting
- education
- media consumption
- personal reflection
Key Concepts
social conditioning
extended mind
memetics
Questions to Reflect On
- How much of your emotional response is learned?
- Can you identify cultural scripts in your thinking?
A Different Perspective
Social influence can be subtle and internalized without awareness.
![“To perceive others as fully human means to be saddened by the death of every single person, regardless of the population, group, or part of the world from which he comes, and regardless of our own personal acquaintance with him. If we accord him identity, then we must individualize his death [and]…” quote by David Livingstone Smith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/f0d/david-livingstone-smith-27767_death_to-perceive-others-as-fully-human-means_2989654.jpg)
![“In the worldly life, due to maadakta (intoxication of the ego of ‘I am Chandubhai’), one has completely lost awareness of everything about one’s self. Everything in the worldly life is nothing but intoxication. The food is intoxicating, the senses are intoxicating. [Therefore] Go to the one, who…” quote by Dada Bhagwan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/2b3/dada-bhagwan-31_absolute_in-the-worldly-life-due-to-maadakta-into_3662.jpg)
