Table Of Content-
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VINTAGE BOOKS
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A DivisoifRao nnd omH
0>11se
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ac.,
Copyri1�t. 1951, by Pantheon
All right, racned under lntanational and Pan-Amerk:an
Copyright Convmt:ion1. Publilhed in New York by Pantheon
• Book1, a division of Random Hou.e, Inc. and in Canada by
Random Houae of Canada l,haited, Toronto.
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I Ma,au/«tu,wt ht the Vmud S,.,a o/ dnaerb
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CON1'ENTS
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9
Preface
15
The Age of Anxiety
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• 19
Pain and Time
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m The Great Strearn 59
The Wisdom of the lk>dy .. 55
IY
75
y On Being Aware •
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The Marvelous Moa1ent
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The Tnnsfo1111ation. of Life· 5
YU
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Creative Morality
YID '
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• 15
lleligioo R.eriewed 5
IX
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- PB!EFACE
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• I haw always be fAscinated "1 the In, of f'evnsetJ
en
eDon. Sometimes I call it the ., bacltwards law.• Wh
en
,au try to stay on the su,tace of the watn, 1ou sinlt; but
' wh ,ou try to sinl 1•e>U /loal. Wh 1ou hold 1our
en en
.. bf'ealh 1ou lose it which immediatel1 calls to mind an
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ancient and much negle.,ted sa,ing, 11Whosoevn would
ave his soul shall lose it. . •
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This bool is an expl01ralion of this In, in relation to
man's quest for psycholo,gical securit1, and to his eDons
to find spiritual and in,t�llectual cntaint1 in religion .
and philosoph,. It is umitten in the conviction that no
theme could be mOTe app�opriate in a time wh human
en
li/e seems to be so peculi:arl1 insecure and uncertain. II
maintains that this inseci,rit1 is the result of trying to be
,
ucure, and that, contrariiwise, salvation and sanit1 con
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sist in the most radical rercognition thal we haw no wa,
of saving ourselves.
This begins to sounci lilte something from Ali
ce
Through the is00king Glass, of which this bool is a sort
of philosophical equiwu'ent. For the f'eadn will fre
quentl1 find himself in • topsy-tun,y world in which the
nonnal ordn o/ things se,ems to be completel1 revnsed,
and common sense tume,d inside out and upside down. · ·
Those who have read sonae of m1 foman bools, such as
Behold the Spirit and Tl1e Supreme Identity, will find
.things thal seem to be total contradictions o/ much that
l haw said be/ore. This, however, is true onl1 in some
.
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THE WISDOl� OP INSECURITY
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minoT respects. FOT I h"roe discovered that the essence
and crux of what I was trying to say in those boolts was
seldom understood; the· frameworlt. and the context of
my thought of ten hid tht� meaning. My intention hne is
to approach the same rriaeaning from entirely diDerent
;remises, and in ternas which do not con/we thought
with the multitude of in�elevant associations_ which time
and tradition have hung.upon them.
In those boolts I was conce,, aed to vindicate certain
;,inciples of religion, l>hilosophy, and metaphysic b1
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reinterpreting them. This was, I thinlt., lilt.e putting legs
on a snalte-unneces.sa,y and con/wing, becawe onl1
doubt/ ul truths need d,e/ense. This boolt., however, is
in the spirit of the Chiniese sage T-00-tzu, that -master of
the law· of reversed eD01rt who declared that those who
1
jwti/y themselves do nc,t convince, that to lcnow truth
one mwt get rid of lt.notA1Jledge, and that nothing is more
powerful and creative tla1an emptiness-from which men
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shrinlt.. Here, then, m:, aim is to show-baclt.wards
/ashion that those essiential realities of religion and
metaphysic are vindicated in doing without them, and
manifested in being destroyed.
It is my haptr, duty tio aclt.nC'wledge that the frtepara
tion of this boolt. has bt�en made possible by the gener
osity of the Foundation established by the late Franlt.lin
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]. Matchette of New Yo,rlc, a man who devoted much of
his life to the ;roblenas 1of science and metaphysic, being
one of those somewhat rare bwineu men who are not
wholly absorbed in the vicious circle of malt.ing money
to malt.e money to malt.e· money. The Matchette Founda-
tion is the,:e/OTe dedicated to the pursuit of metaph,si-
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l»R.EFACE • r •
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caslt udiaensdn,,e edlteosa� 1,,i tis tom ea s igonfi •
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sigahntdi maginaotiti,aho enpi arr tth atth ehya ve been
.
willitnoig n tertehsetn uelvseo"s c oinnt raanrya •t>-
roactho m etapihca.ltln owledge.
ys
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• ALAN\ V• WAJIS.
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