Watts’ synthesis rests first on a radical re-visioning of self and cosmos. Drawing on Advaita Vedānta, Mahāyāna Buddhism, and Daoism, he presents the individual not as a “skin‑encapsulated ego” but as a particular expression of a single, self‑organizing reality—variously named Brahman, Buddha‑nature, or Dao. This non‑dual insight is then translated into Western terms through the language of psychology, ecology, and systems theory, so that the self is seen as inseparable from its environment rather than as an isolated subject confronting an external world. Western anxiety, alienation, and the sense of existential exile are interpreted as symptoms of clinging to the illusion of a separate ego, a social and linguistic construct rather than a fixed essence. In this way, Eastern teachings on anattā and māyā are rendered intelligible as a critique of the Western self‑image and its attendant suffering.

A second strand of the synthesis concerns God, sin, and the religious imagination. Watts reinterprets the Western image of a transcendent Creator standing apart from creation through the Eastern vision of the divine as the very ground and substance of the world. The Christian narratives of fall, guilt, and redemption are approached symbolically rather than literally, and are aligned with the Eastern view that the basic human problem is ignorance or misperception rather than an ineradicable moral stain. Sin becomes a kind of mistaken identity—confusing the socially conditioned ego with the deeper reality that is never truly separate from the divine. In this light, Western myths and Eastern doctrines are treated as different symbolic vocabularies pointing toward the same non‑dual realization.

Language, logic, and method form a third axis of integration. From Buddhism and Daoism, Watts takes the insight that conceptual thought inevitably fragments a seamless reality into subject and object, mind and matter, self and world. Yet he does not simply reject Western rationality; instead, he employs Western styles of argument, scientific analogy, and psychological description to lead the reader to the very edge of what language can say. Paradox, humor, and Zen‑like reversals are woven into a discourse that remains recognizably Western in form, but Eastern in its ultimate intent: to help one “see through” conceptual divisions rather than merely rearrange them. Sanskrit and Buddhist terminology are translated into accessible English, while preserving their experiential thrust.

Finally, Watts’ synthesis is not merely theoretical but practical and ethical. He draws upon Zen meditation, mindfulness, and Taoist wu‑wei, presenting them as forms of attentive presence and effortless action that can be lived in ordinary Western life without exotic trappings. These practices are set alongside Western currents such as contemplative Christianity, existential authenticity, and modern psychology, suggesting that genuine spiritual life is less about adopting a foreign religion than about transforming one’s way of experiencing the present. From this non‑dual awareness, compassion and ecological sensitivity arise as natural expressions, challenging the Western habits of domination, hyper‑rationalism, and estrangement from nature. Eastern and Western myths alike are then read as variations on a single theme: the universe as a kind of play or drama in which the One reality explores itself through the many.