Alan Watts: Philosopher and Free Spirit

Long before I ever dreamed I'd go to seminary I read Alan Watts.  It was either Myth and Ritual in Christianity, or The Supreme Identity.  It was long enough ago that I can't recall which came first, but whichever one it was, I was completely enchanted.  Here was someone who was trained in Christian theology (at the same seminary I attended much later), but who saw the Christian story through the lens of mythology, as Joseph Campbell did, as well as in harmony with Eastern traditions of Taoism and Zen. (I'm using the spelling Watts himself used.)  Theological purists may critique Watts's interpretation of the religions he embraced, but the scope and energy of his vision was enormously compelling to my 20-something self. 

Like Campbell, Watts had a way of fitting Christianity into something larger, something truly worthy of the term "catholic," as in "universal."  Growing up surrounded by Christian, and indeed Roman Catholic exceptionalism, by my college years I'd become acutely uncomfortable with the notion that God could love everyone, but He loved Catholics best.  That idea seemed unworthy of a genuinely loving God.  In Watts's writing, I encountered a wider understanding of God's presence, and some very practical instructions in meditation as a way of approaching that Presence.

Watts's personal story did not end well - he died of alcoholism and the cumulative effects of his desire to be free from conventional constraints coupled with the late-60s/early-70s lifestyle which he'd embraced. Monica Furlong wrote a thoughtful account of his life, now published as Zen Effects.  He himself managed to write more than 25 books during his lifetime, though, and leave a body of some 400 audiotaped talks, many of which his son Mark has been collecting and transcribing.  

I am grateful to have encountered such a radical thinker at that time in my life, and equally grateful to look back in appreciation for his influence on my subsequent path.  If you want to learn more about him, read his books, or visit the web page of Alan Watts Mountain Center where you will find out more about him, and about work that continues in his memory. Namaste, and thank you, Alan.