How is it possible that a being with such sensitive jewels as the eyes, such enchanted musical instruments as... — Alan Watts

How is it possible that a being with such sensitive jewels as the eyes, such enchanted musical instruments as the ears, and such fabulous arabesque of nerves as the brain can experience itself anything less than a god.

Author: Alan Watts

Insight: Most of us move through our days barely noticing the extraordinary equipment we're operating. We check our phones instead of really looking at a sunset. We half-listen to people we love. We treat our capacity to think, feel, and perceive like it's something ordinary—or worse, like it's a problem to be managed. But Watts is pointing at something real: the sheer improbability of consciousness itself. Your eyes don't just receive light; they create the experience of color. Your ears don't just catch vibrations; they birth music into existence. Your brain doesn't just process information; it somehow generates the felt sense of being alive. The weird part is that recognizing this miraculous nature of our own existence isn't arrogant or delusional—it's actually more honest than the deflating materialism we often adopt. When we act like our perceptions are boring or unreliable, we're doing ourselves a quiet injury. We're treating a gift like a burden. This doesn't mean we need to become starry-eyed about everything, but there's something between cynicism and delusion: paying genuine attention to what it feels like to be here, right now, in this impossible body with these impossible senses. That awareness alone shifts something.

Source: The Book: On the Taboo Against Knowing Who You Are