Excerpt from "Myth and Ritual in Christianity" by A. Watts
... The very insistence on the one historical incarnation as a unique step in a course of events leading to the future Kingdom of God reveals the psychology of Western culture most clearly. It shows a mentality for which the present, real world is, in itself, joyless and barren, without value. The present can have value only in terms of meaning—if, like a word, it points to something beyond itself. This "beyond" which past and present events "mean" is the future. This the Western intellectual, as well as the literate common man, finds his life meaningless except in terms of a promising future. But the future is a "tomorrow which never comes", and for this reason Western culture has a "frantic" character. It is a desperate rush in pursuit of an ever-receding "meaning", because the promising future is precisely the famous carrot which the clever driver dangles before his donkey's nose from the end of his whip. Tragically enough, this frantic search for God, for the ideal life, in the future renders the course of history anything but a series of unique steps towards a goal. Its real result is to make history repeat itself faster and more furiously, confusing "progress" with increased agitation.
—Alan Watts, Myth and Ritual in Christianity. 1954
I agree! He may not have been perfect and sometimes he wasn't very rigorous in the academic sense, but that may be besides the point given the own message of his talks about the idea of perfection and attaining.
Edit: and if you haven't read this book yet, give it an opportunity. His early works on Christianity are so refreshing even (or even more) today.
Plus, the man had one hell of a fantastic voice. I put him right up there with Sagan and Attenborough in that regard. I could listen to any of them talking about virtually anything all day and be happy.
Indeed. Lots of his talks are now available in Spotify, uploaded (I don't know if legally) by some podcast called "The Pathist Voice". I'm listening to them a lot lately.
And I may be a snob, but I physically cringe when I see his talks with that kind of titles as in that video lol.
Yeah, I cringe a bit at that too, but sadly it was the best I could quickly find on YouTube... but worse still is the videos of random clips cut from his lectures with nature scenery and cheesy new-age music added to them. Ugh, it’s like someone thinking they can improve a Monet with an instagram filter. :/
P.s. thanks for the heads up about him being on Spotify, I will definitely be checking that out.
I have a bunch of his talks on audible and frequently listen to them while I go to bed. He can consistently keep me up and listening so I usually outlast the sleep timer. I probably listen to Out of your Mind at least once a year.
I often meditate to his lectures and talks. I couldn't imagine listening to them before bed though, as they tend to put me in a very introspective mood, and so I would be up for hours afterwards if I did. :P