The “primary consciousness,” the basic mind which knows reality rather than ideas about it, does not know the future. It lives completely in the present, and perceives nothing more than what is at this moment. The ingenious brain, however, looks at that part of present experience called memory, and by studying it is able to make predictions. These predictions are, relatively, so accurate and reliable (e.g., “everyone will die”) that the future assumes a high degree of reality — so high that the present loses its value.

Live in the present, because the present is essentially all there is; the past and future are mental memories that we evoke in the present. Anywho, I wasn't sure whether or not i wanted to give this four or five stars...and I couldn't help it, not only does Alan do a great job explaining some nuggets of Zen Buddhism to the masses but this book has a funny way of giving some practical application to the whole "letting go" phenomenon that psychologists, twelve-step people and religious enthusiasts alike seem to rave on about.

What are key takeaways from The Wisdom Of Insecurity?

Watts’ basic thesis is that living well requires enjoyment of the present moment. Some sacrifice of present enjoyment, could be merited, if it would create a greater future happiness or avoid a greater future pain. However, in many situations we are like the man getting surgery—unable to change anything at all, yet also ruining our present moment which is unproblematic. From a scientific perspective, this isn’t surprising. Since we evolved as survival and replication machines, happiness is not an end goal in our makers’ designs, but an instrumental one. If being more anxious made us slightly less likely to be eaten by a tiger, but it destroyed many moments of uncomplicated bliss, that would be a positive trade-off. Is There a Solution to the Happiness Problem?

With the destruction of traditional myths, many have proposed that modern humans need to adopt new myths – but Watts doesn’t think this is possible. A myth is only effective so long as it is believed to be true. When it is seen for what it is, it loses its efficacy.Watts continues with some linguistically based logical arguments exploring the concepts of faith, belief, God. He peppers in difficult concepts and then immediately explains them with such clarity that his system of thought is obviously in concert with the workings of the universe. Watts’ next chapter argues for the need of accepting both pleasure and pain in the present moment and to avoid chasing the future as it invalidates the present. In writing about the pursuit of financial stability, he notes, “Instead of earning a living [many people] are mostly earning an earning and thus when the time comes to relax they are unable to do so” (36). One gets the sense that Watts has wrestled with his own demons and developed a depth of self-awareness that would scare many of us. Writing in 1951, he had just lost his vocation as an Episcopal priest and his young wife in a divorce. He writes from an Eastern perspective, which has a holistic view of reality as opposed to a Western dualism that relies on linear, logical propositions. This will unsettle, even upset, some traditional religious readers. He pokes holes in the dark side of some traditional understandings that in reality can be driven by one’s ego-self. One example: Alan Wilson Watts was an English writer, speaker and self-styled "philosophical entertainer", known for interpreting and popularising Japanese, Chinese and Indian traditions of Buddhist, Taoist, and Hindu philosophy for a Western audience. Book details What makes us unable to live with pure awareness, Watts points out, is the ball and chain of our memory and our warped relationship with time:

This insight is may seem like a technicality, until it is applied to some of the concepts we believe are central such as time and the self. Insight #2: Time is an Abstraction Thus far, I’ve focused more on whether this approach could help resolve the problem of happiness and why it might not be more widely practiced if it is indeed as useful as it claims to be. However, practical issues aren’t the only thing at stake here. Is Watts’ view of reality actually true? Enter consumerism. Yes, you could spend your Saturdaypondering why you didn’t get the promotion, what else you could do with your career and work out a life plan. Oooooor, you can go shopping, eat steak for dinner and then to a club! That sounds like a lot more fun. Let’s do that!Perhaps the foremost interpreter of Eastern disciplines for the contemporary West, Watts had the rare gift of ‘writing beautifully the unwritable.’” What's interesting about these kind of books and teachings and why it fits so well into our time is the fact that there is a retreat to the private sphere, focusing on your own little world instead of questioning the whole system (e.g. political, societal rules and systems). The message is "if you are unhappy it is your fault and you just have to correct your own views on yourself and on the world." In that respect those eastern teachings fit very well in our current neoliberal society and maybe this fact is also partly responsible for their success and their popularity here and now.

What I find especially overbearing and arrogant is the author judging about giving birth, being a man and also apparently a medically totally uninformed and unqualified person. Giving birth wasn't easier in "former times" as it was supposedly more "natural", as he depicts it. Childbirth was and still is one of the most fatal situations any woman can find herself in and still nowadays many women and/or their newborns die or are severely harmed during the process especially in regions where there is no proper medical assistance and care available. This, then, is the human problem: there is a price to be paid for every increase in consciousness. We cannot be more sensitive to pleasure without being more sensitive to pain. By remembering the past we can plan for the future. But the ability to plan for the future is offset by the 'ability' to dread pain and to fear of the unknown. Furthermore, the growth of an acute sense of the past and future gives us a corresponding dim sense of the present. In other words, we seem to reach a point where the advantages of being conscious are outweighed by its disadvantages, where extreme sensitivity makes us unadaptable.”The decay of belief has come about through the honest doubt, the careful and fearless thinking of highly intelligent men of science and philosophy. Moved by a zeal and reverence for facts, they have tried to see, understand, and face life as it is without wishful thinking. Yet for all that they have done to improve the conditions of life, their picture of the universe seems to leave the individual without ultimate hope. The price of their miracles in this world has been the disappearance of the world-to-come, and one is inclined to ask the old question, "What shall it profit a man if he gain the whole world and lose his soul?" Logic, intelligence, and reason are satisfied, but the heart goes hungry. For the heart has learned to feel that we live for the future. Science may, slowly and uncertainly, gives us a better future—for a few years. And then, for each of us, it will end. It will all end. However long postponed, everything composed must decompose. The first, is that the tools don’t work. Despite all the false profundity of the writing, they hinge on an incorrect premise. The nature of reality and human existence doesn’t fit with this picture, or if it does, there is nothing we can do about it. You can tell from the audio quality that the recordings are old, sometimes take place in classrooms, yet don’t feel like a lecture. So what’s that about? All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.