Why Awakened People Are Disappearing from Society – Alan Watts

Quick Overview

Awakened people disappear from society because realizing the illusion of separation and societal constructs causes them to withdraw into silence and solitude as an act of survival and to preserve their perception, which ultimately serves humanity by incubating a higher consciousness that subtly transforms the collective field.

Key Points: Awakening involves seeing through the illusion of separation, realizing that societal agreements like success, identity, and morality are not absolute reality. The awakened feel a quiet distance forming because society rewards conformity and consciousness is often misunderstood, leading them to 'no longer pretend to be asleep within it.' Silence becomes a sacred refuge for the awakened, as stillness is mistaken for laziness in the modern age, prompting withdrawal to nature or solitude. Alan Watts stated, "We do not come into this world. We come out of it as leaves from a tree," emphasizing that awakened individuals return to the source. Carl Jung described this process as individuation, a journey that often leads to alienation because few people accept confronting the shadows beneath comfortable illusions. This withdrawal is a deep love for humanity, allowing awakened individuals to preserve perception purity so they can eventually return and share their findings, akin to the hermit or sage. The disappearance is not a loss but a quiet reorganization of consciousness, transforming society from the inside out by refusing participation in its illusions.

Context: The video explores the wisdom of Alan Watts, alongside references to Carl Jung and Jidu Krishna Morty, to explain why individuals who achieve genuine spiritual or philosophical awakening often withdraw or seem to vanish from mainstream society. This context centers on the realization that conventional societal goals—success, status, and identity—are collectively agreed-upon illusions, making the awakened individual feel like a stranger in a world designed for distraction.