The Wisdom of Insecurity

An exploration of man's quest for psychological security and spiritual certainty in religion and philosophy.

Alan W. Watts, who held both a master's degree in theology and a doctorate of divinity, is best known as an interpreter of Zen Buddhism in particular, and of Indian and Chinese philosophy in general. Standing apart, however, from sectarian membership, he has earned the reputation of being one of the most original and "unrutted" philosophers of the century. He was the author of some twenty books on the philosophy and psychology of religion, including (in Vintage Books) The Way of Zen; The Joyous Cosmology; Nature, Man, and Woman; Behold the Spirit; The Book; Does It Matter?; This Is It; The Supreme Identity; Beyond Theology; and Cloud Hidden, Whereabouts Unknown. He died in 1973.