Learn from the knowledge of one of the most influential spiritual icons of the twentieth century.
Alan Watts used to say that “the human being seems like a trap set to catch itself.”
And it’s true, sometimes I feel like the dog rabidly chasing its tail to bite it.
We are our greatest enemies, although we spend our lives looking for someone else to blame.
And it’s a mistake because blaming our shit on others doesn’t make things better. It’s just one more way in which we self-deceive ourselves.
And the first thing to be clear about in this life is that the truth is the way to happiness. Because when you do not deceive yourself and are humble, you can reflect, give your arm to twist, and learn what you need to progress in life.
My life would have been much easier if I had been clear about some lessons (truths) I learned from reading authors like Alan Watts.
That’s why I want to share three of those lessons that helped me take off the blindfold, stop self-deception, and walk the path of truth. The only way that makes you free and happy.
Let’s start.
On failure.
“In reality all the good and bad, the rights and wrongs of our lives are as natural and perfect as the peaks and valleys of a mountain range.”- Alan Watts
If I could travel back in time and talk to my 20-year-old self, I would tell him two things.
- The job you’re going into hasn’t been invented yet. So relax a little.
- You’re not wasting your life. Writing is also living. To live is to fill with ink the pen of experience with which you will later write.
If I hadn’t spent my youth floundering around, failing in every area of my life, what would I be able to share in my 40s? Who would my experience help?
Some people succeed fast in life, and they can write about it. And that’s fine. But there is also value in failing and sharing your experience with others so they don’t fall into the same traps you did.
And that’s a victory.
As Alan Watts says, everything that happens to us in life is necessary, and even if at the time we don’t realize it, as the years go by, we understand that the valleys of our life (our biggest screw-ups) prepared us for our most significant successes (our most giant peaks).
On success
“The mind must always be occupied or interested in something. When it is not trying to reflect on itself, the mind focuses its attention on other people or things.” — Alan Watts.
The years have shown me that successful people have no time to criticize others, and those who are unsuccessful blame, everyone.
We can conclude two disturbing but revealing lessons if we link this to Watts’ thinking.
- When the mind is busy reflecting on itself, it is not focused on others and succeeds.
- When the mind spends all day paying attention to what others are doing, it fails and suffers.
I am amazed at the many people who have yet to realize this. We live in a society of attention (not information).
Now, what counts most is attention, and whoever receives the most attention succeeds the most.
But the funny thing is that the people who get the most attention are usually those who are most focused on paying attention to themselves and being genuine.
On Wealth
“A chest full of coins or a wallet full of bills will be of no use to a castaway. What he need is a raft.”- Alan Watts.
Money is a tool. But just like a hammer, you can use it to build things or to destroy them. And by things, I mean yourself.
- In my 20s, I spent more money than I earned because I was trying to fill a vast black hole full of deficiencies in my chest. And all I did was make it bigger and hurt myself more.
- At 40, I spend less money than I earn because I finally learned to use the hammer (money) to build a life worth living. A life that closes the black hole in my chest.
Breathing, the sunrise, and thinking are everyday things, vulgar things that we don’t value. But how much would Steve Job pay to breathe again?
The most beautiful things in life are free.
If I could go back to my twenties, I would value much more all those things that in youth are free and that over the years you can only get (and not always) with money, like enjoying total health and a body without pain.
Moral: money buys you the raft, but it is not the raft. Don’t confuse the end (the raft) with the means (the money).
A virtual hug
AG
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