The Wisdom of Insecurity: A Message for an Age of Anxiety

Alan W. Watts (1915-1973) was an English philosopher of religion whose work combined various Eastern schools of thought—especially Zen Buddhism and Taoism—with a Western approach, introducing and popularizing Eastern philosophy for a largely Western audience. Watts was the author of dozens of books, including The Way of Zen (1957), The Book: On the Taboo Against Knowing Who You Are (1966), and Tao: The Watercourse Way (1975). Watts lectured at several American universities and to wide audiences, hosting a public television and a radio show on Eastern philosophy. Many of his recorded lectures are still available via streaming; they remain popular.

Watts was born in Chislehurst, England. He spent his childhood receiving a Christian education, though, in adolescence, his exposure to Buddhism led him down a different spiritual path. In 1938, Watts and his wife moved to the United States, eventually becoming citizens. After earning a master’s degree in theology from an Episcopalian seminary, Watts returned to studying Eastern philosophy and spirituality. In 1951, he received a job at the American Academy of Asia Studies in San Francisco. While there, he wrote some of his most popular works, and continued researching Zen, Vedanta, and Chinese philosophies, like Taoism. Watts combined his passions for Christianity, Zen, and other spiritual disciplines in a mystical worldview defined by his perspective on ultimate reality. He also read widely in science and academic philosophy, though he did not consider himself an academic, famously quipping that he was only a “philosophical entertainer.”

Much of Watts’s philosophy concerns the reorientation of one’s perspective away from personal, finite concerns and toward the wider world. For Watts, the ego is an illusion, one that is the source of separation, pain, and anxiety. Zen, and other spiritual traditions, usefully function as a form of psychotherapy, redirecting one’s energy toward a world of wonder. Watts disparaged moralization and instead proposed a social ethics built on community of spirit and aesthetic harmony.

In his later years, Watts had a strong influence on the burgeoning Hippie movement, publishing and speaking widely throughout the United States and Europe. While in San Francisco, Watts spent years at Druid Heights, an artist commune. In 1973, at age 58, Watts was found dead in his cabin. The cause of death is unknown, and there is some controversy surrounding its circumstances.