In My Own Way: An Autobiography

In My Own Way: An Autobiography

In this new edition of his acclaimed autobiography — long out of print and rare until now — Alan Watts tracks his spiritual and philosophical evolution from a child of religious conservatives in rural England to a freewheeling spiritual teacher who challenged Westerners to defy convention and think for themselves. From early in this intellectual life, Watts shows himself to be a philosophical renegade and wide-ranging autodidact who came to Buddhism through the teachings of Christmas Humphreys and D. T. Suzuki. Told in a nonlinear style, In My Own Way wonderfully combines Watts’ own brand of unconventional philosophy and often hilarious accounts of gurus, celebrities, psychedelic drug experiences, and wry observations of Western culture. A charming foreword written by Watts’ father sets the tone of this warm, funny, and beautifully written story of a compelling figure who encouraged readers to “follow your own weird” — something he always did himself, as his remarkable account of his life shows. “Enthralling . . . a most engrossing autobiography . . . unlike anything you’ve ever read . . . Those who like myself have found the solution to at least one momentous riddle of the universe inside each of Mr. Watts’s memorable books will be enlightened beyond expectations by this chronicle of the web of interlacing experiences and ideas which have constituted his inner life.” ― Henry A. Murray, MD, Harvard University “Exuberant . . . It is possible to categorize Watts’s autobiography as merely a diverting, candid, brilliantly written egocentric memoir of one’s man’s expeditious use of philosophy, religion, even science and the arts, to achieve name, fame, a good living and a secure niche in the current cultural scene. Actually In My Own Way cannot be dismissed in quite such simplistic terms, for it is the account of an exceptional man’s search for the basic truth of his own nature. . .” ― Nancy Wilson Ross, New York Times Book Review “A beautiful presentation as only the old master could do it.” ― John C. Lilly “A thoroughly entertaining book.” ― Publisher’s Weekly In My Own Way An Autobiography, 1915-1916 By Alan Watts New World Library Copyright © 1972 Alan Watts All rights reserved. ISBN: 978-1-57731-584-1 Contents Foreword by Laurence W. Watts, Preface, Prologue, 1. The Stoned Wood, 2. Tantum Religio, 3. I Go to the Buddha for Refuge, 4. On Being Half-Miseducated, 5. My Own University, 6. Dawn in the Western Sky, 7. The Sunwise Turn, 8. Paradox Priest, 9. Interlude, 10. Journey to the Edge of the World, 11. Beginning a Counterculture, 12. Other Selves, 13. Breakthrough, 14. The Soul-Searchers, 15. The Sound of Rain, Index, About the Author, CHAPTER 1 THE STONED WOOD Topophilia is a word invented by the British poet John Betjeman for a special love for peculiar places. It sounds almost like a disease or a perversion, but it comes close to the Japanese aware, which signifies a sophisticated nostalgia. One may love special places either for their beauty, or for their fascinating ugliness, or for their inability to be described. In the first class put the Swiss-Italian lake district and Big Sur, California; in the second put residential North London, Philadelphia, or Baltimore; in the third put Chislehurst, which means a stoned or stony (or even astonished) wood. It is an area on a well-forested and flat-topped hill to the southeast of London, its soil abounding in round and grey-surfaced stones, some of which contain pockets of crystals, and some which, when broken, reveal an image of dark blue sky, dense with clouds. Large sections of this area are commons or public parks, wild and left generally to themselves. In the interstices lie palatial mansions, affluent suburban residences, three small shopping areas, seven churches, seven amiable pubs, and two respectable slums. Even today it hasn't been too objectionably improved. Indeed, many of the mansions are now schools, offices, or service-flats, and a number of boxy, red-brick, quiet-desperation homes have filled up the old rural lanes. But the Royal Parade, the one-block-long principal shopping center, is almost exactly what it was fifty years ago. I was back there in June 1970 to celebrate my father's ninetieth birthday at the Tiger's Head pub on the village green, across from the ancient parish church of Saint Nicholas — and incidentally, it isn't so widely known that English pubs (as distinct from restaurants) can provide magnificent feasts. But there was the village center in its original order, though ownerships had changed. Close to the prosperous-looking Bull Inn are Miss Rabbit's original sweet shop, and opposite, the incredible Miss Battle is still running the bakery. I can't account for her; she is a young woman about seventy years old. Mr. Walters (Junior) is still running the book, stationery, and greeting-card shop, though Mr. Coffin's excellent grocery has been taken over by a