Just So: Money, Materialism, and the Ineffable, Intelligent Universe

by Alan Watts

Overview

From the luminary and prophetic Alan Watts, an invitation to embrace pleasure, play, and connection in our ever-evolving world

“If you were God,” asked Alan Watts, “what kind of universe would you create? A perfect one free of suffering and drama? Or one filled with surprise and delight?”

From the 1950s to the 1970s, Eastern spiritual philosophies sparked in the West profound new ways of perceiving ourselves, the mysteries of reality, and the unfolding destiny of humanity. And through his live gatherings and radio talks, Alan Watts was at the forefront—igniting astonishing insights into who we are and where we're heading.

Based on a legendary series of seminars, Just So illuminates three fascinating domains: money versus real wealth, the spirituality of a deeper materialism, and how technology and spirituality are both guiding us to ever greater interconnection in the universe that we find ourselves in.

Along the way, readers will explore many other themes, at turns humorous, prescient, and more relevant today than ever. What unfolds is a liberating view of humanity that arises from possibility and the unpredictable—perfect and “just so,” not in spite of its messy imperfections, but because of them.

Book highlights:

1. Going With
• Theology and the Laws of Nature
• Thinking Makes It So
• Everything Is Context
• Going With
• What We Mean by Intelligence
• Ecological Awareness
• Of Gods and Puppets

2. Civilizing Technology
• The Problem of Abstractions
• We Need a New Analogy
• Working with the Field of Forces
• Trust
• Synergy and the One World Town
• Privacy, Artificiality, and the Self
• Groups and Crowds

3. Money and Materialism
• The Material Is the Spiritual
• Money and the Good Life
• True Materialism
• Wiggles, Seriousness, and the Fear of Pleasure
• The Failure of Money and Technology
• The Problem of Guilt

4. In Praise of Swinging
• Rigidity and Identity
• Now Is Where the World Begins
• Are We Going to Make It?
• Polarization and Contrast
• No Escape

5. What Is So of Itself
• Spontaneity and the Unborn Mind
• Relaxation, Religion, and Rituals
• Saving the World

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781683642947
Publisher:	Sounds True, Incorporated
Publication date:	02/25/2020
Pages:	216
Sales rank:	307,476
Product dimensions:	5.20(w) x 7.90(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

Alan Watts (1915–1973)
For spiritual seekers of many generations, Alan Watts earned a reputation as one of the most accessible—and entertaining—interpreters of Eastern philosophy in the West. Beginning at age 16, when he wrote an article for the journal of the Buddhist Lodge in London, Watts would develop an audience of millions who were enriched through his books, recordings, radio broadcasts, and public talks. In all, Alan Watts wrote more than 25 books, including such classics as The Book: On the Taboo Against Knowing Who You Are and This Is It: and Other Essays on Zen and Spiritual Experience.

Table of Contents

About This Book ix

Chapter 1 Going With 1

Theology and the Laws of Nature 4

Thinking Makes It So 9

Everything Is Context 14

Going With 18

What We Mean by Intelligence 27

Ecological Awareness 34

Of Gods and Puppets 42

Chapter 2 Civilizing Technology 55

The Problem of Abstractions 58

We Need a New Analogy 62

Working with the Field of Forces 65

Trust 70

Synergy and the One World Town 79

Privacy, Artificiality, and the Self 82

Groups and Crowds 93

Chapter 3 Money and Materialism 97

The Material Is the Spiritual 99

Money and the Good Life 104

True Materialism 110

Wiggles, Seriousness, and the Fear of Pleasure 120

The Failure of Money and Technology 125

The Problem of Guilt 130

Chapter 4 In Praise of Swinging 137

Rigidity and Identity 138

Now Is When the World Begins 143

Are We Going to Make It? 145

Polarization and Contrast 150

No Escape 162

Chapter 5 What Is So of Itself 173

Spontaneity and the Unborn Mind 175

Relaxation, Religion, and Rituals 181

Saving the World 194

Notes 199

About the Author 203

Editorial Reviews

01/20/2020

Five lectures from self-proclaimed “philosophical entertainer” Watts (1915–1973) are collected in this comprehensive, approachable work. Though the language is sometimes delightfully dated—Watts is very concerned about “hang-ups” and calls those who cannot withstand the uncertainty of life “squares”—his general ideas (developing a relationship with the vagaries of the universe, as discussed in his lecture “Going With,” or, in “What Is So of Itself,” learning to trust the intuitive “unborn mind”) still resonate. However, Watts’s idolization of Chinese approaches to technology and nature feels rose-tinted, and Watts’s hopes that transportation technology would eliminate war and that electronic connectivity would connect people in a way that would allow one to “give up all worries concerning ownership” and eliminate the impact of “dirty little secrets” are naive in retrospect. Statements like “when we are adequately fed and sheltered, there isn’t anything missing” remind readers to keep life simple in order to find solace. While those new to the ideas of Western Zen will probably find contemporary authors more to their taste, this insightful survey will appeal to Watts’s fans. (Mar.)

Publishers Weekly

"[Watts is] as good as he ever was on ecology, the self, and what does and does not make for a good life."
—Kirkus Reviews

From the Publisher

2019-12-23
Playful and prophetic dispatches from the intersection of philosophy and spirituality.

Watts (Out of Your Mind: Tricksters, Interdependence, and the Cosmic Game of Hide-and-Seek, 2017, etc.), who died in 1973, loved to startle his readers by exposing their erroneous assumptions about themselves and the world. Nothing in his latest posthumous publication will shock Watts initiates more than his assertion that, "ideally, you only attend one seminar or read just one book and never have to come back to me again. It's not the best business model, but as far as my livelihood is concerned, there are always more people out there foolish enough to pay attention to me." With Just So, Watts is closing in on 50 books to his name, most of which cover Zen, Taoism, Vedanta, and Christianity mixed with British and American cultural criticism. That the author is witty and insightful on these themes is why readers return again and again to only slight variations on them. To adapt one of his best-known sayings, "the point of reading Watts is not to learn something from him; the point of reading Watts is to enjoy it." So his son, Mark, has a solid platform to keep turning out these volumes assembled from archived lectures (the number of posthumous volumes has now surpassed those Watts himself saw through to publication). The challenge for such a project is to get the lecture segments to cohere into something that feels like a book—and hopefully one that offers something that lectures themselves, which are readily available online, do not. On this count, this latest mostly falls short, but the author's charming style is enough to overcome the book's structural shortcomings. He's as good as he ever was on ecology, the self, and what does and does not make for a good life.

No surprises here—just vintage Watts.

Kirkus Reviews