It is a special kind of enlightenment to have this feeling that the usual, the way things normally are, is odduncanny and highly improbable. G.K.Chesterton once said that it is one thing to be amazed at gorgon or a griffin, creatures which do not exist; but it is quite another and much higher thing to be amazed at a rhinoceros or a giraffe, creatures which do exist and look as if they don't. This feeling of universal oddity includes a basic and intense wondering about the sense of things. β¨ Alan Watts (2011). The Book: On the Taboo Against Knowing Who You Are, p.7, Souvenir Press
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- Parts exist only for purposes of figuring and describing, and as we figure the world out we become confused if we do not remember this all the time. β¨ Alan Watts (2011). The Book: On the Taboo Agains β¦ βΆ
- The meaning of life is just to be alive. It is so plain and so obvious and so simple.
- This is the real secret of life -- to be completely engaged with what you are doing in the here and now. And instead of calling it work, realize it is play. β¨ Alan Watts (1977). The essence of Alan W β¦ βΆ
- So we down-to-earth, gutsy, tough, realistic, and practical types have just been squandering billions of dollars and unimaginable amounts of energy, nerve-work, and materials in whizzing off to the m β¦ βΆ
- So then, the relationship of self to other is the complete realization that loving yourself is impossible without loving everything defined as other than yourself.
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