Does It Matter?: Essays on Man's Relation to Materiality

Overview
Alan Watts gathers a series of provocative, accessible essays that probe the assumptions of materialist modernity and the human relationship to objects, technology, and wealth. The tone ranges from witty polemic to contemplative meditation, moving smoothly between cultural critique and spiritual reflection. The collection refuses simple condemnation or prescription; instead, it teases apart habits of perception that make consumption and accumulation seem necessary and inevitable.
Watts frames materiality not merely as the sum of things but as a set of lived relations that shape identity, value, and purpose. He challenges the prevailing narrative that equates progress with increased control over nature and argues for a reconsideration of what it means to live well when the technological and economic imperatives dominate public life. The essays draw on Eastern philosophical traditions, Western psychology, and everyday observation to sketch alternatives to a narrowly instrumental view of the world.

Central Themes
A recurring theme is the critique of the "more is better" mindset that underlies consumer culture. Watts questions the psychological and spiritual costs of defining success through possession and status, portraying the consumer as trapped in a treadmill of desire that never yields lasting satisfaction. Linked to this is an account of alienation: modern people experience themselves as isolated observers of material reality rather than as participants in a web of living relations.
Complementing the critique is an exploration of experiential awareness as an antidote to objectifying materiality. Watts borrows from Zen, Taoism, and Vedanta to emphasize direct perception, playfulness, and the dissolving of rigid self-other boundaries. He suggests that seeing the world as alive and interpenetrating reduces the compulsion to dominate and commodify, inviting instead practices of appreciation, humility, and creative engagement.

Style and Approach
The prose is conversational, often laced with irony and anecdote, making complex philosophical and psychological points accessible to a general reader. Watts uses metaphors drawn from Eastern cosmologies and from commonplace life to illuminate abstract issues, moving seamlessly between scientific and spiritual idioms. Rather than offering systematic theory, the essays present a mosaic of insights meant to unsettle habitual thinking and to open possibilities for different modes of living.
Argumentation alternates between sharp cultural diagnosis and warm pastoral counsel. At times the voice is forensic, dissecting the logic of capitalist rationality; at other moments it is more meditative, coaxing readers into immediate experiential experiments, pauses of attention, playful reversals of priorities, or reframings of common desires. The result is a text that both challenges and invites, combining intellectual rigor with practical sensitivity.

Enduring Relevance
Although rooted in the social and technological context of its time, the collection anticipates contemporary debates about sustainability, consumerism, and the limits of growth. The critique of reductionism and the call for a renewed sense of participation in the world continue to resonate amid ecological crisis and pervasive commodification. Watts's insistence on cultivating attention and embodied awareness remains a useful corrective to solutions that treat social and environmental problems as merely technical challenges.
Ultimately, the essays encourage a shift from measuring life by acquisition to valuing the quality of presence and relationship. That shift is presented not as moralizing austerity but as a liberation from the anxious striving that drives much modern behavior. The book invites readers to reconsider what really matters, proposing that a richer engagement with materiality is possible when things are seen as part of a living unfolding rather than as instruments of an isolated self.