Alan Watts
Alan Wilson Watts was born on the 6th of January 1915 in Chislehurst, Kent. He lived at Rowan Tree Cottage on Holbrook Lane with his middle-class parents. His father worked for the Michelin tyre company while his mother came from a missionary family. As an only child, he learned the names of wild flowers and butterflies in the countryside. This rural upbringing fostered a deep interest in spirituality early on.
Watts later described a mystical dream he experienced as a child while ill with a fever. During this time, he was influenced by Far Eastern landscape paintings given to his mother by missionaries returning from China. These few Chinese paintings riveted him with their clarity and transparency. He wrote that they seemed to float away into space. This aesthetic fascination directed him toward Eastern philosophy before he even understood what it meant.
In 1938, Alan Watts left England to live in the United States. He became a United States citizen four years later in 1943. Before moving, he had explored Buddhism through the London Buddhist Lodge run by Christmas Humphreys. He served as the organization's secretary at age sixteen. However, he eventually chose to leave formal Zen training because the method did not suit him.
He entered Seabury-Western Theological Seminary in Evanston, Illinois, to study Christian scriptures. There he attempted to blend contemporary Christian worship with Asian philosophy. In 1951, he moved to California to join the faculty of the American Academy of Asian Studies in San Francisco. It was here that he began his long-running weekly radio program at Pacifica Radio station KPFA in Berkeley. Like other volunteer programmers, he received no payment for these broadcasts.
Alan Watts published one of his best-known books in 1957 titled The Way of Zen. At forty-two years old, he focused on philosophical explication and history. The book drew on ideas from general semantics and Norbert Wiener's early work on cybernetics. It sold well and eventually became a modern classic. This publication helped widen his lecture circuit significantly.
The text introduced Buddhist concepts to the Beat Generation and the emerging counterculture. Watts offered analogies from cybernetic principles possibly applicable to the Zen life. His lectures gave him influence on the American intelligentsia of the 1950s through the 1970s. He often described himself as not an academic philosopher but rather a philosophical entertainer when questioned by students.
In 1958, Alan Watts began experimenting with psychedelic drugs. Oscar Janiger initially gave him mescaline. He tried LSD several times with various research teams led by Keith S. Ditman and Sterling Bunnell Jr. He also tried cannabis and concluded it was useful for giving the impression of time slowing down. These chemical adventures influenced his outlook throughout the sixties.
His son Mark Watts later investigated the death and found he had planned it out meticulously. Mary Jane Watts wrote that Alan told her the secret of life is knowing when to stop. He was reported to have been under treatment for a heart condition. His father Laurence Wilson Watts died just one year after him in 1974. A personal account of his last years appears in the posthumous work Tao:
The Watercourse Way.
Van Morrison wrote a song titled Alan Watts Blues from his 1987 album Poetic Champions Compose. The track appeared after reading Watts' mountain journal Cloud-hidden, Whereabouts Unknown. Several songs by the American indie rock band STRFKR sample audio from Watts' lectures directly. The voice of Alan Watts with words from Tao of Philosophy featured in Alexander Ekman's ballet PLAY.
The 2013 Spike Jonze movie Her included an AI based on Watts. An audio clip from Out of Your Mind: The Nature of Consciousness is used in the volume three trailer for Love Death & Robots. The 2017 video game Everything contains quotes from his lectures. The generative soundscape app Endel released Wiggly Wisdom in 2021 featuring clips from World as Play and Pursuit of Pleasure.
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Common questions
When and where was Alan Watts born?
Alan Wilson Watts was born on the 6th of January 1915 in Chislehurst, Kent. He lived at Rowan Tree Cottage on Holbrook Lane with his middle-class parents.
What religious organizations did Alan Watts serve before moving to the United States?
Alan Watts served as secretary for the London Buddhist Lodge run by Christmas Humphreys at age sixteen. He later entered Seabury-Western Theological Seminary in Evanston, Illinois, to study Christian scriptures.
Which book did Alan Watts publish in 1957 that became a modern classic?
Alan Watts published one of his best-known books titled The Way of Zen in 1957. This publication drew on ideas from general semantics and Norbert Wiener's early work on cybernetics and helped widen his lecture circuit significantly.
How did Alan Watts die and what was his health condition?
Alan Watts died while under treatment for a heart condition after planning his death meticulously. His father Laurence Wilson Watts died just one year after him in 1974.
What songs or media projects reference Alan Watts in the decades following his death?
Van Morrison wrote a song titled Alan Watts Blues from his 1987 album Poetic Champions Compose. The 2013 Spike Jonze movie Her included an AI based on Watts and the 2017 video game Everything contains quotes from his lectures.