On GK Chesterton | Alan Watts

“I want you to have in mind an enormously fat man wearing a black cloak and a rather large, wide-brimmed hat, with pince-nez secured to his nose, and prevented from destruction by a large, black, long ribbon fastened around his neck, who speaks—as fat men do—with a certain luxurious voice rather like Charles Laughton, only with a slightly grieved tone in everything he says… ”

 

Alan Wilson Watts was a British philosopher, writer, and speaker, best known as an interpreter and populariser of Eastern philosophy for a Western audience. Born in England in 1915, Alan was an Episcopalian priest who became the spokesperson for Eastern religions during the late 1950s and tumultuous 60s. His first book, The Spirit of Zen, however, was written in the 30s when Watts was just 20 years old. He went on to write more than twenty other books. He died in 1973.