August Read/3

Title: 

Eastern Wisdom, Modern Life: Collected Talks: 1960-1969

Author: Watts, Alan

Book Description (from amazon.com):

Alan Watts introduced millions of Western readers to Zen and other Eastern philosophies, but he’s also recognized as a brilliant commentator on Judeo-Christian traditions as well as a celebrity philosopher who exemplified the ideas — and lifestyle — of the 1960s counterculture. In this compilation of controversial lectures, delivered at American universities throughout the decade, Watts challenges readers to reevaluate Western culture’s most hallowed constructs. Watts treads familiar ground, interpreting Eastern traditions, and also covers new territory, exploring the counterculture’s basis in the ancient tribal and shamanic cultures of Asia, Siberia, and the Americas. In the process, he addresses some of the era’s most important questions: What is the nature of reality? And how does an individual’s relationship to society affect this reality? Filled with his playful, provocative style, the talks show the remarkable scope of a philosopher in his prime, exploring and defining the '60s counterculture as only Alan Watts could.
My Read:
Page: 142
"The art of living is to operate in the world as if you were absent." 
This sentence stays with me after I finished the book. It reminds me of those books I have read about "mindfulness," "live in the moment," "enlightened life." But this book also provoked me in some ways. For instance, as I was walking I wondered where the ancient sages got their ideas/perceptions about life. There were no printed wisdom in ancient time. The answer must, in my own personal thinking, come from the nature: the changes of the time and seasons, the ever-changing landscapes and the shapely clouds, mountains, rivers, and creatures roaming the earth. Sometimes, I figure, the answers are simple and straight; they are right in the plain sight and around us. It just needs an aware mind to be conscious about life, living, and beyond. Life is to live.