Muddy water is best cleared by leaving it alone.

Few people did more to popularize Eastern philosophy in the West than the British writer, speaker, and philosopher Alan Watts. From the late 1930s through to the 1970s, Watts wrote more than 20 books and published numerous articles that helped interpret and popularize Buddhist, Taoist, and Hindu philosophiesy among a wider Western audience. He became particularly popular in the 1960s, especially among members of the emerging hippie counter culture. In 1957, Watts published his book “The Way of Zen,” from which this quote comes. “It is hard to see how the world can be improved by keeping still,” he wrote. “Yet it should be obvious that action without wisdom, without clear awareness of the world as it really is, can never improve anything.” As Watts points out, sometimes the best way to deal with a go-go-go world is simply to take a break and think deeply rather than acting rashly.