--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: A particularly significant example of…" description: "\"“A particularly significant example of brain against body, or measures against matter, is urban man’s total slavery to clocks. A clock is a convenient ..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ce4/alan-wilson-watts-4665_helping-people_a-particularly-significant-example-of-br_1738415.jpg" --- # A particularly significant example of brain against body… ![“A particularly significant example of brain against body, or measures against matter, is urban man’s total slavery to clocks. A clock is a convenient device for arranging to meet a friend, or for helping people to do things together, although things of this kind happened long before they were…” quote by Alan Wilson Watts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ce4/alan-wilson-watts-4665_helping-people_a-particularly-significant-example-of-br_1738415.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ce4/alan-wilson-watts-4665_helping-people_a-particularly-significant-example-of-br_1738415.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ce4/alan-wilson-watts-4665_helping-people_a-particularly-significant-example-of-br_1738415.jpg) > ““A particularly significant example of brain against body, or measures against matter, is urban man’s total slavery to clocks. A clock is a convenient device for arranging to meet a friend, or for helping people to do things together, although things of this kind happened long before they were invented. Clocks should not be smashed; they should simply be kept in their place. And they are very much out of place when we try to adapt our biological rhythms of eating, sleeping, evacuation, working, and relaxing to their uniform circular rotation. Our slavery to these mechanical drill masters has gone so far and our whole culture is so involved with it that reform is a forlorn hope; without them civilization would collapse entirely. A less brainy culture would learn to synchronize its body rhythms rather than its clocks.”” [Alan Wilson Watts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-wilson-watts/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Human schedules dominate natural rhythms, causing cultural dependence on clocks that disrupts biology. **In simple terms:** Clocks control life, misaligning bodies. Key Takeaway Re‑align daily habits with natural cycles. Themes time culture biology technology rhythm Mood reflective critical Type philosophical observational When to use this quote - work schedules - sleep patterns - meal times - exercise routines - social gatherings Key Concepts chronobiology social critique modernity Questions to Reflect On - How can we balance clock time with body time? - What small changes can restore natural rhythms? A Different Perspective Clocks are essential for coordination, so total abandonment is impractical. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Body Rhythms](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/body-rhythms-1497997/) [Clock](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/clock/) [Clocks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/clocks/) [Example Brain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/example-brain-1497996/) [Helping people](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/helping-people/) [Rhythms Clocks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/rhythms-clocks-1497995/) [Slavery Clocks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/slavery-clocks-1497994/) ## Related quotes > [A less 'brainy-culture' would learn to synchronise its body rhythms rather than its clocks.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-watts/a-less-brainy-culture-would-learn-to-synchronise-its-body-rhythms/) [Alan Watts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-watts/) > [“Indeed, very few people are aware that in each of our fingers, located somewhere between the first phalange, the mesophalange, and the metaphalange, there…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jos-saramago/indeed-very-few-people-are-aware-that-in-each-of-our-fingers-located/) [José Saramago](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jos-saramago/) > [“A heart pulsating in harmony with the circulation of sap and the flow of rivers? A body with the rhythms of the earth in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dag-hammarskj-ld/a-heart-pulsating-in-harmony-with-the-circulation-of-sap-and-the-flow/) [Dag Hammarskjöld](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dag-hammarskj-ld/) > [Punctuation is biological. It is the physical indication of the body-rhythms which the reader is to acknowledge.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/muriel-rukeyser/punctuation-is-biological-it-is-the-physical-indication-of-the-body/) [Muriel Rukeyser](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/muriel-rukeyser/) > [Repetition is based on body rhythms, so we identify with the heartbeat, or with walking, or with breathing.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karlheinz-stockhausen/repetition-is-based-on-body-rhythms-so-we-identify-with-the-heartbeat/) [Karlheinz Stockhausen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karlheinz-stockhausen/) > [Laws and institutions, like clocks, must occasionally be cleaned, wound up, and set to true time.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-ward-beecher/laws-and-institutions-like-clocks-must-occasionally-be-cleaned-wound/) [Henry Ward Beecher](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-ward-beecher/) > [Today's shitty attitude by me is proudly sponsored by my alarm clock.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/today-s-shitty-attitude-by-me-is-proudly-sponsored-by-my-alarm-clock/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [The steward, according to custom, had stopped all the clocks. This, in the language of Narouz, said "Your stay with us is so brief,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lawrence-durrell/the-steward-according-to-custom-had-stopped-all-the-clocks-this-in/) [Lawrence Durrell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lawrence-durrell/) > [In this world, there are two times. There is mechanical time and there is body time." "They do not keep clocks in their houses.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-lightman/in-this-world-there-are-two-times-there-is-mechanical-time-and-there/) [Alan Lightman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-lightman/) > [“Tip #2: No more alarm clocks”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-helen-conroy/tip-2-no-more-alarm-clocks/) [Mary Helen Conroy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-helen-conroy/) > [Sleeping is my drug, my bed is the dealer, and my alarm clock is the police..](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mitchell-sakundiak/sleeping-is-my-drug-my-bed-is-the-dealer-and-my-alarm-clock-is-the/) [Mitchell Sakundiak](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mitchell-sakundiak/) > [“Death Laughs In The Faces Of Clocks”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dean-cavanagh/death-laughs-in-the-faces-of-clocks/) [Dean Cavanagh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dean-cavanagh/) > [I got these hataz like when he gon stop? maybe a minute after never start ya clocks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lil-wayne/i-got-these-hataz-like-when-he-gon-stop-maybe-a-minute-after-never/) [Lil Wayne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lil-wayne/) > [“Do days exist without calendars? Does time pass when there are no human hands left to wind the clocks?”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/howard-koch/do-days-exist-without-calendars-does-time-pass-when-there-are-no/) [Howard Koch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/howard-koch/) > [“You shouldn't be in here!”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/evelyn-winters/you-shouldn-t-be-in-here/) [Evelyn Winters](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/evelyn-winters/) ## More by Alan Wilson Watts > [“Advice? I don’t have advice. Stop aspiring and start writing. If you’re writing, you’re a writer. Write like you’re a goddamn death row inmate…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-wilson-watts/advice-i-don-t-have-advice-stop-aspiring-and-start-writing-if-you-re/) [Alan Wilson Watts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-wilson-watts/) > [“The common mistake of the religious celibate has been to suppose that the highest spiritual life absolutely demands the renunciation of sexuality, as if…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-wilson-watts/the-common-mistake-of-the-religious-celibate-has-been-to-suppose-that/) [Alan Wilson Watts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-wilson-watts/) > [“Real freedom cannot exist alongside false freedom, but the abandonment of false freedom looks as if it would leave you as good as dead.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-wilson-watts/real-freedom-cannot-exist-alongside-false-freedom-but-the-abandonment/) [Alan Wilson Watts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-wilson-watts/) > [“But it is not that you are something which is just watching what happens. “What happens” is just using your organism to watch itself.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-wilson-watts/but-it-is-not-that-you-are-something-which-is-just-watching-what/) [Alan Wilson Watts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-wilson-watts/) > [“Read Theodore Schwenk’s marvelous book Sensitive Chaos (London, Rudolph Steiner Press, 1965),”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-wilson-watts/read-theodore-schwenk-s-marvelous-book-sensitive-chaos-london-rudolph/) [Alan Wilson Watts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-wilson-watts/) > [“Idolatry is not the use of images, but confusing them with what they represent, and in this respect mental images and lofty abstractions can…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-wilson-watts/idolatry-is-not-the-use-of-images-but-confusing-them-with-what-they/) [Alan Wilson Watts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-wilson-watts/) > [“The more we accustom ourselves to understanding the present in terms of memory, the unknown by the known, the living by the dead, the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-wilson-watts/the-more-we-accustom-ourselves-to-understanding-the-present-in-terms/) [Alan Wilson Watts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-wilson-watts/) > [“We do not dance to reach a certain point on the floor, but simply to dance. Energy itself, as William Blake said, is eternal…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-wilson-watts/we-do-not-dance-to-reach-a-certain-point-on-the-floor-but-simply-to/) [Alan Wilson Watts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-wilson-watts/) > [“Thought and science are therefore raising problems which their terms of study can never answer, many of which are doubtless problems only for thought.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-wilson-watts/thought-and-science-are-therefore-raising-problems-which-their-terms/) [Alan Wilson Watts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-wilson-watts/) > [“But this is at the same time a vivid way of saying that your soul, or rather your essential Self, is the whole cosmos…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-wilson-watts/but-this-is-at-the-same-time-a-vivid-way-of-saying-that-your-soul-or/) [Alan Wilson Watts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-wilson-watts/) > [“When you no longer make the distinction between the universe and how you are acting upon it, you are really on your own and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-wilson-watts/when-you-no-longer-make-the-distinction-between-the-universe-and-how/) [Alan Wilson Watts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-wilson-watts/) > [“My death will be the disappearance of a particular pattern in the water.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-wilson-watts/my-death-will-be-the-disappearance-of-a-particular-pattern-in-the/) [Alan Wilson Watts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-wilson-watts/) > [“I have always thought that all philosophical debates are ultimately between the partisans of structure and the partisans of "goo.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-wilson-watts/i-have-always-thought-that-all-philosophical-debates-are-ultimately/) [Alan Wilson Watts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-wilson-watts/) > [“We are living in a culture entirely hypnotized by the illusion of time, in which the so-called present moment is felt as nothing but…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-wilson-watts/we-are-living-in-a-culture-entirely-hypnotized-by-the-illusion-of/) [Alan Wilson Watts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-wilson-watts/) > [“Where there is to be creative action, it is quite beside the point to discuss what we should or should not do in order…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-wilson-watts/where-there-is-to-be-creative-action-it-is-quite-beside-the-point-to/) [Alan Wilson Watts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-wilson-watts/) [Explore all 106 Alan Wilson Watts quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-wilson-watts/) ## More Clock quotes > [Even Einstein had to rely for his time on his clock.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stanislaw-jerzy-lec/even-einstein-had-to-rely-for-his-time-on-his-clock/) [Stanislaw Jerzy Lec](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stanislaw-jerzy-lec/) > [“Time was never neutral and often felt dangerous. We either think we have all the time in the world or time moves too fast…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/katherine-reay/time-was-never-neutral-and-often-felt-dangerous-we-either-think-we/) [Katherine Reay](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/katherine-reay/) > [Before a clock was in the tower, Or e'er a watch was worn; I knew of night the passing hour, And prophesied the morn;…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/before-a-clock-was-in-the-tower-or-e-er-a-watch-was-worn-i-knew-of/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [A clock struck out the hour of twelve, and the bird in the hedgerow was still singing as we marched out to the roadway,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/patrick-macgill/a-clock-struck-out-the-hour-of-twelve-and-the-bird-in-the-hedgerow/) [Patrick MacGill](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/patrick-macgill/) > [“Time is, to put it in its most impressive and some might say poncy-sounding form, my domain. I can see things that once happened,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jacqueline-rayner/time-is-to-put-it-in-its-most-impressive-and-some-might-say-poncy/) [Jacqueline Rayner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jacqueline-rayner/) > [Time travel offends our sense of cause and effect - but maybe the universe doesn't insist on cause and effect.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-m-lerner/time-travel-offends-our-sense-of-cause-and-effect-but-maybe-the/) [Edward M. Lerner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-m-lerner/) > [My only aim is to clock a time that everyone remembers.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hima-das/my-only-aim-is-to-clock-a-time-that-everyone-remembers/) [Hima Das](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hima-das/) > [Time.The greatest creator, and the worst destroyer.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/levi-keely/time-the-greatest-creator-and-the-worst-destroyer/) [Levi Keely](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/levi-keely/) > [Steven Spielberg seems to have wanted to be a director from 13. He put his dog in a certain position and made him eat…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/albert-brooks/steven-spielberg-seems-to-have-wanted-to-be-a-director-from-13-he-put/) [Albert Brooks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/albert-brooks/) > [No life goes past so swiftly as an eventless one, no clock spins like a clock whose days are all alike.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wallace-stegner/no-life-goes-past-so-swiftly-as-an-eventless-one-no-clock-spins-like/) [Wallace Stegner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wallace-stegner/) > [Those who stop marketing to save money are like those who stop a clock to save time.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-ford/those-who-stop-marketing-to-save-money-are-like-those-who-stop-a/) [Henry Ford](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-ford/) > [Time is the nervous system of narration, whether factual or fictive. If it gets confused some of the minutiae of human nature are certain…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/glenway-wescott/time-is-the-nervous-system-of-narration-whether-factual-or-fictive-if/) [Glenway Wescott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/glenway-wescott/) > [I don't know if it's just me or everyone, but the whole vibe with skiing is not so much thriving on competition against others…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/picabo-street/i-don-t-know-if-it-s-just-me-or-everyone-but-the-whole-vibe-with/) [Picabo Street](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/picabo-street/) > [Time goes on, even when yer not looking.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/patrick-ness/time-goes-on-even-when-yer-not-looking/) [Patrick Ness](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/patrick-ness/) > [CLOCK, n. A machine of great moral value to man, allaying his concern for the future by reminding him what a lot of time…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ambrose-bierce/clock-n-a-machine-of-great-moral-value-to-man-allaying-his-concern/) [Ambrose Bierce](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ambrose-bierce/) [Browse all 2,738 Clock quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/clock/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“A particularly significant example of brain against body, or measures against matter, is urban man’s total slavery to clocks. A clock is a convenient device for arranging to meet a friend, or for helping people to do things together, although things of this kind happened long before they were invented. Clocks should not be smashed; they should simply be kept in their place. And they are very much out of place when we try to adapt our biological rhythms of eating, sleeping, evacuation, working, and relaxing to their uniform circular rotation. Our slavery to these mechanical drill masters has gone so far and our whole culture is so involved with it that reform is a forlorn hope; without them civilization would collapse entirely. A less brainy culture would learn to synchronize its body rhythms rather than its clocks.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Alan Wilson Watts" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-wilson-watts/a-particularly-significant-example-of-brain-against-body-or-measures/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Clock" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-wilson-watts/a-particularly-significant-example-of-brain-against-body-or-measures/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ce4/alan-wilson-watts-4665_helping-people_a-particularly-significant-example-of-br_1738415.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ce4/alan-wilson-watts-4665_helping-people_a-particularly-significant-example-of-br_1738415.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ce4/alan-wilson-watts-4665_helping-people_a-particularly-significant-example-of-br_1738415.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“A particularly significant example of brain against body, or measures against matter, is urban man’s total…” — Alan Wilson Watts", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Alan Wilson Watts", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-wilson-watts/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "“A particularly significant example of brain...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-wilson-watts/a-particularly-significant-example-of-brain-against-body-or-measures/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-wilson-watts/a-particularly-significant-example-of-brain-against-body-or-measures/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```