Introduction: A New Look at Alan Watts Peter J. Columbus and Donadrian L. Rice I am committed to the view that the whole point and joy of human life is to integrate the spiritual with the material, the mystical with the sensuous, and the altruistic with a kind of proper self-love——since it is written that you must love your neighbor as yourself. —Alan Watts (1973b, p. ix)
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his book is a call to remembrance and an opportunity for reconsiderLQJ WKH OLIH DQG ZRUN RI $ODQ :DWWV :ULWLQJ D PHUH ÀIWHHQ \HDUV DIWHU Watts’ untimely demise, Michael Brannigan (1988) suggested that Alan’s “place in our history remains to be ascertained. We are still too close to the events of his life DQG WR KLV ZULWLQJV WR SHUFHLYH WKHLU IXOO LPSDFW EXW KLV LQÁXHQFH KDV WKXV IDU EHHQ undeniable” (p. 2). Several decades have now passed beyond Alan’s countercultural zeitgeist, arriving at a pivotal vantage point in a new century from which to assess and re-vision the enduring merit of his writings and lectures.1 November 2008 sigQLÀHG WKH WKLUW\ ÀIWK DQQLYHUVDU\ RI :DWWV· GHDWK DQG WKLV EHQFKPDUN GDWH VHUYHG as inspiration for making a new study of his scholarship. The chapters compiled in this volume reconsider Watts’ insights on the human condition in light of today’s discourse in psychology, philosophy, and religion. A hint of Watts’ contemporary relevance may be found at the beginning of his essay on “Wealth versus Money.” He wrote: “In the year of our lord Jesus Christ 2000, the United States of America will no longer exist” (Watts, 1971b, p. 3). The previous sentence strikes a rather prescient tone given soFDOOHG ´SRVW µ VHQVLELOLWLHV :DWWV ZDV UHÁHFWLQJ RQ PRGHUQ GD\ REVHVVLRQV with abstract monetary riches acquired at the expense of personal, social, and environmental well-being. He wrote also of waning natural resources, nuclear arms proliferation, biological and chemical warfare, and “maniacal misapplications of technology.” Nowadays, there are new variations on old themes: preemptive wars, terrorism, torture, “ethnic cleansing,” food and fuel shortages, catastrophic oil spills, and global climate change. Each is pushing human civilization toward the brink of disaster. Yet, Watts always offered his audiences 1
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