The Book
On the Taboo Against Knowing Who You Are
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4.6 • 229 Ratings
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- $5.99
Publisher Description
A revelatory primer on what it means to be human and a mind-opening manual of initiation into the central mystery of existence, by “perhaps the foremost interpreter of Eastern disciplines for the contemporary West" (Los Angeles Times).
At the root of human conflict is our fundamental misunderstanding of who we are. The illusion that we are isolated beings, unconnected to the rest of the universe, has led us to view the “outside” world with hostility, and has fueled our misuse of technology and our violent and hostile subjugation of the natural world. To help us understand that the self is in fact the root and ground of the universe, Alan Watts provides us with a much-needed answer to the problem of personal identity, distilling and adapting the Hindu philosophy of Vedanta.
Customer Reviews
See AllA great read on what “I” really is
Alan Watts never ceases to amaze me with his lectures, essays, and books. His combination of Zen Buddhism, Taoism, Hinduism, Christianity, and general understanding of the eastern thought form his own beliefs, which some may agree with and some may not. He is able to combine all of these things into something relatively easy to understand for the average person, albeit he may use some unfamiliar sophisticated vocabulary. Another great read.
Not much here
More of an angry old man’s rant into the wind than a compendium of eaten thoughts. Some ideas still apply to 2025 America but his fatalist attitude reminiscent of my grandfather has not come to fruition- we gradually grow more enlightened of our toxic materialism and junk values while our adolescent society struggles towards the adulthood of Europe and the grandparent-hood of the East. Skim this if needed but better to read an old Zen
Master of the same era
Alan Watts The Book
Great read!