48 pages • 1 hour read
Alan W. WattsA modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Watts diagnoses 1950s America as plagued by anxiety. Whose anxiety is Watts specifically describing? Whom does he leave out and why? Does his diagnosis still resonate today? Why or why not?
According to Watts, what is the relationship between suffering and time? How is human consciousness affected by its openness to the future? Why?
For Watts there is a strong difference between the symbolic and the real. Compare his version of these concepts to the philosophical notion of the Platonic ideal. How do they differ? How are they the same?