Sep 23, 2026 · 9 min · 4 segments
Alan Wilson Watts (6 January 1915 – 16 November 1973) was a British and American writer, speaker, and self-styled "philosophical entertainer", known for interpreting and popularising Buddhist, Taoist…
Before trying to explain what this is, and you know the funny thing is it really can't be explained because it has to be felt, because it's a transformation of one's basic feeling, one's basic consciousness of life.
But I should mention first that it is characteristic of Eastern philosophy to be based on experience rather than ideas.
You see, philosophy in the Western world, especially as it's taught in our universities and academies, is mainly a matter of thinking.
It's a matter of trying to arrive at certain clear, positive ideas about the nature of man, the nature of the universe, and so on and so forth.
And also, religion in the West is somewhat similar because religion is largely concerned with belief in certain ideas.
And this might be called, as it is here, the void, demonstrated by this circle.
Because it is not a void which is just emptiness.
This isn't the idea that there are people in the backward worlds of Asia who think that the universe is ultimately nothing at all.
It is rather that the void represents complete emptiness spiritual freedom.
Or you might say, if you don't like the word spiritual, complete psychological freedom.
And therefore, I want to try, if I can, to communicate to you, to give you some idea of what this experience is.
Before trying to explain what this is, and you know the funny thing is it really can't be explained because it has to be felt, because it's a transformation of one's basic feeling, one's basic consciousness of life.
But I should mention first that it is characteristic of Eastern philosophy to be based on experience rather than ideas.
You see, philosophy in the Western world, especially as it's taught in our universities and academies, is mainly a matter of thinking.
It's a matter of trying to arrive at certain clear, positive ideas about the nature of man, the nature of the universe, and so on and so forth.
And also, religion in the West is somewhat similar because religion is largely concerned with belief in certain ideas.
And this might be called, as it is here, the void, demonstrated by this circle.
Because it is not a void which is just emptiness.
This isn't the idea that there are people in the backward worlds of Asia who think that the universe is ultimately nothing at all.
It is rather that the void represents complete emptiness spiritual freedom.
Or you might say, if you don't like the word spiritual, complete psychological freedom.
And therefore, I want to try, if I can, to communicate to you, to give you some idea of what this experience is.
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