Rationalizing Life - Deepstash
The Philosophy Of Alan Watts

Learn more about philosophy with this collection

Understanding the concept of the self

The importance of living in the present moment

The illusion of control

The Philosophy Of Alan Watts

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Rationalizing Life

There is a viewpoint from which the “rationalization” of life is not rational. The brain is clever enough to see the vicious circle which it has made for itself. But it can't do nothing about it.

You may acknowledge that worrying brings no benefits, but that doesn't stop you from worrying; instead, you worry even more for being unreasonable. Calling a negative feeling bad names doesn’t help you to get rid of it.

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2.28K reads

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The Happiness Consumerism

The Happiness Consumerism

The brain is in pursuit of happiness, and because it is much more preoccupied with the future than the present, it sees happiness as an assurance of a future with pleasures, that must be cramped into the span of a few years.

And the “brainy” economy...

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2.2K reads

The Pain And Pleasure Spectrum

In order to really enjoy the pleasures of life, we need to face the painful parts, too.

Pain and pleasure take turns: constant pleasure is a stimulus that must either lose strength or grow. And this growth will either harden the sense buds with its friction, or turn into pa...

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"Spoilers" Of The Present

The real problem doesn't come from feeling pain the in moment, but from the way we use memory and anticipation.

The object or event we fear is not always something happening in the immediate future. It may be the problem of next month’s bills, a social or natural disast...

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There Is No Security In Life

So, rather than feeling anxious about it, accept this insecurity as a part of life by being aware of the present moment. This will help you find peace and contentment.

We have no reassurance regarding what the future will bring and even the best predictions are stil...

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ALAN WATTS

"If we are open only to discoveries which will accord with what we know already, we may as well stay shut. (...) It is in vain that we can predict and control the course of events in the future, unless we know how to live in the present. It is in vain that doctors prolong life if we spend the...

ALAN WATTS

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What Awareness Is

Being aware of life means experiencing it as it is in the present moment, without judgments or ideas about it.

You have to see and feel what you are "experiencing as it is, and not as it is named".

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Making Sense Out Of Life

We think that making sense out of life means we have in some way to fit the sequence of events into a rigid framework.

Life is meaningful to us if we can understand it in terms of fixed codes, rules and law. But if this is what “making sense out of life” means, we have ...

562

2.92K reads

Giving Power To Silence

Giving Power To Silence

Silence is the only way to discover something new to talk about. The person constantly talking, without stopping to look and listen, is repeating himself over and over again.

The same thing happens with thinking, which is really silent talking. Thinking is by nature not ope...

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Instinctual Wisdom

We usually don't trust the “snap” solutions our wandering minds find, but the truth is that these easy and almost unconscious solutions is what the brain is supposed to deliver.

When it's functioning the right way, the brain is the highest form of “instinctual wisdom.”

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Understanding Comes Through Awareness

Understanding Comes Through Awareness

If a problem can be solved, to understand it and to know what to do about it are the same thing.

Doing something about a problem that you don't understand is like trying to clear away darkness by thrusting it aside with your hands.

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The Two Ways Of Understanding An Experience

  1. Compare it with the memories of other experiences, to name and define it. This is to interpret it in accordance with the the past.
  2. Be aware of it as it is, forget past and future, let the present be all, and thus do not even stop to think, "I am ...

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Memories Never Truly Succeed In “Catching” Reality

Memories are abstract things: they symbolize knowledge about things rather than of things. Memory never captures the core and the tangible reality of an experience.

"It is, as it were, the corpse of an experience, from which the life has vanished. What we know by memory...

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Tying Our Happiness To Future Events

Tying Our Happiness To Future Events

Humans seem to be happy just as long as they have something in the future to look forward to, whether this is a good time tomorrow or an eternal life beyond physical death.

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Alan Watts

"Tomorrow and plans for tomorrow can have no significance at all unless you are in full contact with the reality of the present, since it is in the present and only in the present that you live. There is no other reality than present reality, so that, even if one were to live for endless ages...

ALAN WATTS

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Working Around Worry

Since we cannot stop worrying through conscious effort, the best course of action is to concentrate on working around it. 

  • Accept worry, acknowledge the stressors and limitations it has imposed on us, and focus pragmatically on achieving the best possible outcomes unde...

Get To The Root Of Worry

Worrying can spin out of control until the thing you're worried about is 10 steps removed from your immediate issue. But it is important to figure out what the real problem is in order to stop the worry cycle.

It's important to move from problem-generation, which is what worri...

Practical Steps To Handle Unwanted Intrusive Thoughts

  1. Acknowledge and label these thoughts as bad or negative, creating a distance between you and the thoughts.
  2. Write them down, to have it in front of you on a piece of paper, as you reflect on it and stop the worrying in the process.
  3. Recognize that the thoughts are real and a...

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