This is a revised version of a presentation created a year ago in tribute of my mentor and hero, Alan Watts. It's about zen, anxiety, life, and our relationship to the universe. Hope you enjoy. Design and copy by Edahn Small/Visuali.se.

1. Anxiety,
Zen,
and
Enlightenment
A brief presentation with
quotes from the
late, great Alan Watts
+EDAHN SMALL

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3. This is Alan Watts.
He was child prodigy
who was fascinated with
Zen. He wrote prolifically
and lectured around the
US, introducing people
to Eastern philosophy.

4. Some of his books, essays, and talks

5. This one
in particular
changed my life.

6. I started meditating.
I started paying
attention differently.
I moved into a Zen
Center for a short while.
…and of course, I
started a blog. ;)

7. Here’s some of what I
learned over the years.

8. We live in a world that is inherently unstable. It’s constantly changing
on both a microscopic and macroscopic level.

9. But evolution has “designed” us to seek the exact opposite:
stability, longevity, and continuity.

10. We work
to stay
alive.
To create
security
and
stability.
To make
ourselves
attractive to
potential
mates.
To reproduce
and ensure
that our
offspring will
thrive, so they
can continue
the pattern.
We wo
to sta
alive
Seeking Continuity.
And the cycle
continues…

11. But our goals are constantly undermined by the
ever-changing universe.

12. “There is a
contradiction in
wanting to be
perfectly secure in a
universe whose very
nature is
momentariness and
fluidity.” –Alan
Watts

13. So we exist against a
backdrop of anxiety and
fear, constantly fighting
to put the world
together a certain way
while the universe is
constantly shaking
things up on us. We
work harder and
harder, and start
obsessing about our
future.

14. Get to
the
choppa!
Get to the top!
Find
PurposeMeet
someo
ne
Throw
poop? Keep up!
Look good Be smart
New car?
Be smarterEat
Start saving
Get ahead
The mental chatter starts to spiral out
of control.
Get
confiden
t
Get
enlighten
ed

15. We slowly become disconnected from
ourselves and from everything
around us.

16. Is there a
solution?

17. Is there a
solution?Sorta.

18. You can’t get around
the problem of
instability because
that’s just how things
are.
:(

19. But you can give up the need to
plan,
to make progress, to achieve
something, and just let things be
for a moment.Alan called it
“Surrender”

20. Like this?

21. More like
this.

22. Zen is letting your experience be as
it is, whatever it is. When you sit
down to meditate (zazen), you’re
not trying to think positively or kill
your thoughts. Nor are you trying to
produce a feeling of tranquility.
That’s just more struggling for
progress.
You simply let things be as they
already are, however confusing or
unsettling that might be. You
surrender control.
Zen
Meditation.

23. “We could say that meditation
doesn’t have a reason or
doesn’t have a purpose. In this
respect it’s unlike almost all
other things we do.”
—Alan Watts

24. You pause the struggle against the
world and against yourself.

25. And slowly, you realize
something important.
That everything is okay.

26. And slowly, you realize
something important.
That you are fundamentally good.
That everything is okay.

27. And slowly, you realize
something important.
That you are fundamentally good.
That everything is okay.
That you have every reason to love yourself.

28. And slowly, you realize
something important.
That you are fundamentally good.
That everything is okay.
That what truly matters is love, beauty,
and goodness.
That you have every reason to love yourself.

29. And that your endless struggle against
the universe was silly, because
you are the universe.

30. BAM.

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More about Edahn and Visuali.se
Edahn Small is the lead presentation
designer at Visuali.se.
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Dedicated to my hero and mentor,
Alan Watts.