Conclusion: Part One
As is true of all who have ever lived, Alan Watts’ time on earth was punctuated with paradoxes and enigmas.
He was a narcissist, but also - according to many - deeply humble. He preached living for the day, but he thirsted for success in the future. He was an extrovert who was deeply shy.
Could he really be at the same time be spiritually enlightened and a raging drunk? How could someone who was plainly such a self-confessed egotist preach egolessness?
Perhaps the central mystery of Watts’ life was framed by himself in his autobiography ‘In My Own Way’.
“ Some people expect me to be their guru or messiah or exemplar and are extremely disappointed when they discover my ‘wayward spirit’ or element of irreducible rascality and say to their friends, ‘How could he possibly be a genuine mystic and be so addicted to nicotine and alcohol? Or have the occasional shudders of anxiety? Or be sexually interested in women? Or lack enthusiasm for physical exercise? Or have any need for money?”
His children, Joan and Mark, both attempt to answer these questions:
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