Listen to Alan Watts in his own voice.
The official archive offers a route to Watts’s original lectures and seminars. Explore attention, identity and how we relate to experience through the full context of his talks.
Read the guideThe advice behind ‘Sunscreen’.
The story of Mary Schmich’s advice column, its widespread misattribution and its later musical life through Baz Luhrmann. A reminder to trace the words that move us to their real author.
Academy reading guide · Source reviewed
Why it is on the Academy shelfA question worth
A question worth
spending time with.
Use the piece to reflect on perspective, uncertainty and everyday choices. Bring one piece of advice into a discussion about what you can put into practice today.
Put the source in context
Cultural reflection, not psychic instruction. The original writing is Schmich’s, not Alan Watts’s or Kurt Vonnegut’s. No lyrics or recording are reproduced here.
A note for your journal
Which piece of everyday advice would I actually act on this week, and why?
Academy discussion prompt · not a quotation from the author.
Write your first response in your own words. Add what you observed, what you inferred and what could change your interpretation. Keep identifying details about other people out of shared notes.
Continue with an Academy exercise