Alan Watts – Religion & Sexuality (Part 1)

“I don’t think I need to tell you that in a very special and peculiar way, Western man is hung up on sex. The major reason for this is that he has his religious background, quite unique among the religions of the world. I mean specifically Christianity, and in a secondary way, Judaism, insofar as Judaism in Europe and the United States is strongly influenced by Christianity. Christianity is, of all religions in the world, the one uniquely preoccupied with sex, more so than priapism, more so than tantric yoga, more so than any kind of fertility cult that has ever existed on the face of the earth. There has never been a religion in which sexuality was so important..” ~ Alan Watts

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.