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Originally Posted by cardboard adolescent
the sort of "life is a game everything is jolly" pseudo-spiritual attitude really bugs me sometime,
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Yea - Watts was a product of his time for sure. Wise and contermplative as he was, he was still stuck in a certain time and place. In his case the place was in the body if a person with a talent for social skills and for earning money with his words and physical presence. It was also in mid-century America which is now so far away that Watts' gripes with the world seem practically ancient. In other words, the jolliness was pretty much expected by someone like him..and he was all but encouraged to completely forget about any real-life responsibilities. It's was a perfect scenario for him to become a functioning drunk with good connections and to live happily ever after.
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you only get to the life is a game stage when you realize that trying to make life more than a game leads to despair...
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True, and Watts certainly knew this - it's what justified his 'sensualism' I think. Did he stay drunk because he was too entrenched in his own personal history and Westernization to admit that life is a game?