The Wisdom of Insecurity - Softcover

Watts, Alan

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0712671315 ISBN 13: 9780712671316

Publisher: Rider & Co, 1997

Synopsis

Exploring man's quest for psychological security, this book shows how important this is in a world of uncertainty. The author suggests that insecurity is, paradoxically, the result of trying to be secure, and that salvation can only be found by recognizing that there is no way of saving ourselves.

About this title

Review

Reading Alan Watts challenges us to explore new avenues of thinking, inspires us to lead more fulfilling lives. His legacy lives on in The Wisdom of Insecurity, a work that energetically displays Watts s piercing intellect, razor-sharp wit, and winning grace. For the clarity and wisdom with which it engages timeless concerns crucial to us all, it is unmatched. An important book.
Greg Mortenson, author of Three Cups of Tea
Perhaps the foremost interpreter of Eastern disciplines for the contemporary West, Watts had the rare gift of writing beautifully the unwritable.
Los Angeles Times
The wisdom of insecurity is not a way of evasion, but of carrying on wherever we happen to be stationed carrying on, however, without imagining that the burden of the world, or even of the next moment, is ours. It is a philosophy not of nihilism but of the reality of the present always remembering that to be of the present is to be, and candidly know ourselves to be, on the crest of a breaking wave.
Philip Wheelwright, Arts and Letters
This book proposes a complete reversal of all ordinary thinking about the present state of man. The critical condition of the world compels us to face this problem: how is man to live in a world in which he can never be secure, deprived, as many are, of the consolations of religious belief? The author shows that this problem contains its own solution that the highest happiness, the supreme spiritual insight and certitude are found only in our awareness that impermanence and insecurity are inescapable and inseparable from life. Written in a simple and lucid style, it is a timely message.
Book Exchange (London)"

"Reading Alan Watts challenges us to explore new avenues of thinking, inspires us to lead more fulfilling lives. His legacy lives on in The Wisdom of Insecurity, a work that energetically displays Watts's piercing intellect, razor-sharp wit, and winning grace. For the clarity and wisdom with which it engages timeless concerns crucial to us all, it is unmatched. An important book."
--Greg Mortenson, author of Three Cups of Tea

"Perhaps the foremost interpreter of Eastern disciplines for the contemporary West, Watts had the rare gift of 'writing beautifully the unwritable.'"
--Los Angeles Times

"The wisdom of insecurity is not a way of evasion, but of carrying on wherever we happen to be stationed--carrying on, however, without imagining that the burden of the world, or even of the next moment, is ours. It is a philosophy not of nihilism but of the reality of the present--always remembering that to be of the present is to be, and candidly know ourselves to be, on the crest of a breaking wave."
--Philip Wheelwright, Arts and Letters

"This book proposes a complete reversal of all ordinary thinking about the present state of man. The critical condition of the world compels us to face this problem: how is man to live in a world in which he can never be secure, deprived, as many are, of the consolations of religious belief? The author shows that this problem contains its own solution--that the highest happiness, the supreme spiritual insight and certitude are found only in our awareness that impermanence and insecurity are inescapable and inseparable from life. Written in a simple and lucid style, it is a timely message."
--Book Exchange (London)

Book Description

A classic look at man's search for certainty from the acclaimed expert on Eastern philosophy

Edition details

• Publisher: Rider & Co
• Publication date: 1997
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0712671315
• ISBN 13: 9780712671316
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 4
• Number of pages: 144