Ideas of the world and of oneself which are social conventions and institutions are not to be confused with reality. The rules of communication are not necessarily the rules of the universe, and man is not the role or identity which society thrusts upon him. For when a man no longer confuses himself with the definition of himself that others have given him, he is at once universal and unique.
--Alan Watts
2 comments:
I'd like to send Alan Watts a note of thanks for making me think for quite a long time about something other than myself.
When I was a young man his book "The Wisdom of Insecurity" influenced my thinking more than any other.
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