Psychedelic experience is only a glimpse of genuine mystical insight, but a glimpse which can be matured and deepened by the various ways of meditation in which drugs are no longer necessary or useful. If you get the message, hang up the phone. For psychedelic drugs are simply instruments, like microscopes, telescopes, and telephones. The biologist does not sit with eye permanently glued to the microscope, he goes away and works on what he has seen. – Alan Watts

Alan Watts (1915-1973) was one of the foremost interpreters and popularizer of Zen, eastern and western philosophy and psychedelics. A poet, an ex-priest, a modern mystic and a close friend of Aldous Huxley. He was a critic of modern society, especially with regards to its infinite feeble attempts to bring everything under its control. He always saw the big joke of it all, continually making fun of institutions and gurus, and thereby also himself. He labelled himself a philosophical entertainer and with his clarity of thought and masterful use of prose he inspired many to re-think their way of life. His famous “if you get the message, hang up the phone” was certainly meant to be applicable to every external crutch.

1. – Atheist Spirituality

2. – A Conversation With Myself

3. – Fear of Enlightenment

4. – Alan Watts Discusses Nothing

5. – The Way of Waking Up

6. – Bonus: Alan Watts’ book on his psychedelic experiences –

For more info, check out the best two books by Watts:

Do you have a favorite Watts talk? Please share it in the comments!