Nature, Man and Woman

I have been reading and rereading this book since 2002, when a dear friend mailed it to me as a present. It accompanies me on most of my travels, and I can just start reading on a random page. It never fails to challenge my thoughts and beliefs. Even after reading it 10 or 20 times, I still get new insights and sudden revelations about my place in the universe and my relation to the world, nature and my fellow man. On top of that, the writing is erudite and eloquent, in a beautiful British English, more like literature. During my first read I chuckled when I suddenly realized it must have been written before the Internet time, even though it read as a thoroughly contemporary book. So I looked up the publishing date - and saw an amazing 1957...

Excellent item arrived right on schedule!

I decided to transition into a better person decades ago. That everything that I know and believe was founded on my social experiences to date. To improve on that, I would need to consider other concepts and ideas from those that gained their experience from such. I do not consider myself an expert in any one topic. Although, I am told, "expert," is just another word for "experienced." Grain of salt! Alan Watts took a different path in life and I am grateful to his memory of such a path.

Like other of his books, Alan Watts challenge the reader with his incisive views and examples, requires mindful reading to grasp his wisdom.

Alan Watts is one of the most profound thinkers of the 20th century, in my opinion. I've read many of his books over the years & with the advent of the Internet & specifically YouTube listened to the many recorded lectures & talks he gave over the years. This is one of his best books I think. He makes esoteric topics like mysticism & eastern religions somewhat understandable for the western mind & this book is no exception. Highly recommended.

I read Nature "Man and Woman" in paper back, when just out of high school. It introduced me to Eastern philosophy and to Alan Watts. Later, when when the US army say fit to post me to South Korea, I met and married my Wife Yong Cha. We've been very happily married for nearly fifty years. I thought it was time to add the hard cover edition to my library. Where else but Amazon partners would one look?

Alan Watts for the win.

Watts' work is still amazingly relevant. His exposition of timeless philosophical themes is deep and accessible at the same time. His articulation of the limits of narrow logical consciousness is still the best antidote to the sickness of the current hyper-capitalist disrespect for nature that I have read. He flows easily from discussion of narrow consciousness to a discussion of more natural and intuitive forms of consciousness to the application of that intuition in interpersonal relations. Still amazing!

I've read (or started to read) several books on Zen and Taoism. The author often takes an approach of 'why say it in 3 words when you can say it in 10'. This makes the content of such books and what is a deep and emotive subject all the harder to understand or become acquainted with. HOWEVER - Alan Watts however writes in easy to understand English. That's not to say that you won't need to re-read a passage or pause after a page to digest and think about the meaning of what you just read. I really feel that I understand what he's saying. All in all a great book and I will be looking to buy others written by this great man and mind.

One of Watts’ finest. Wonderful to see him still so widely in print. Among all the gurus and guides, before or since, to eastern spiritual traditions, he wrote with the most elegance, concision, and awareness of where his (western) readers were coming from and the sorts of difficulties they might encounter while exploring eastern wisdom.

Complexity of human life explained in excellent way…The way of Zen

The seconds book from Alan Watts that I read. I'm a spiritual teacher, physicist, and psychotherapist having read more than a hundred books in the past decades. So far I did not find anyone else who masters the common aspects of virtually all eastern philosophies without getting entangled in awkward belief systems and traditional dogmas. He is one of the rare exceptions knowing what he is talking about. Obviously, he has practiced what he writes about, since he is able to clearly describe experiences, which cannot be made otherwise. His style tends to be flowery and repetitive. However, for most readers this may rather be helpful to explain experiences and connections, which are probably alien to many readers. This book contains a detailed discussion where Christian spirituality took the wrong turn. Although to me it was an enlightening insight, its share might be considered too large, since it is not necessary to understand the actual topic. The main subject unfolds in the final chapters. So, for me, the introductory part felt too long. But simultaneously I think that it is required that way in order to prepare readers who are less familiar with eastern thought. On the other hand, it probably still won't reach the unprepared Westener.

My favourite has to be the wisdom of insecurity, but this is more gold from the great spiritual master. He talks much of Christianity and it’s errors which gets a bit tiresome. It was quite interesting and indeed delightful to read watts openly confirm his enlightenment in a matter of fact kind of way to the reader. Alas finding the timeless present moment and acting in the world in perfect divine spontaneity seems a distant goal for me and many others. I could dedicate more time to meditation but as watts points out this only sees the goal retreat into the distance. I wonder also how many people have found the magical union between two lovers without ego that he describes at the end of the book? It sure would be nice to meet a lady and share a relationship like that. Alas I am almost as far from meeting a woman as I am from enlightenment. If you like watts lectures or books you are guaranteed to enjoy this. Although I wonder, haven’t these works been written over 50 years ago? Shouldn’t they be in the public domain and therefore free? I don’t mind paying but I wonder about that.