Alan Watts–Here and Now

Alan Watts–Here and Now
Author: Peter J. Columbus
Publisher: SUNY Press
Total Pages: 265
Release: 2012-06-01
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1438441991

Considers the contributions and contemporary significance of Alan Watts.

This Is It

This Is It
Author: Alan Watts
Publisher: Vintage
Total Pages: 160
Release: 2011-09-28
Genre: Body, Mind & Spirit
ISBN: 0307784320

Six revolutionary essays from "the perfect guide for a course correction in life, away from materialism and its empty promise" (Deepak Chopra), exploring the relationship between spiritual experience and ordinary life—and the need for them to coexist within each of us. With essays on “cosmic consciousness” (including Alan Watts’ account of his own ventures into this inward realm); the paradoxes of self-consciousness; LSD and consciousness; and the false opposition of spirit and matter, This Is It and Other Essays on Zen and Spiritual Experience is a truly mind-opening collection.

The Collected Letters of Alan Watts

The Collected Letters of Alan Watts
Author: Alan Watts
Publisher: New World Library
Total Pages: 634
Release: 2018-12-11
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 1608686094

Philosopher, author, and lecturer Alan Watts (1915–1973) popularized Zen Buddhism and other Eastern philosophies for the counterculture of the 1960s. Today, new generations are finding his writings and lectures online, while faithful followers worldwide continue to be enlightened by his teachings. The Collected Letters of Alan Watts reveals the remarkable arc of Watts’s colorful and controversial life, from his school days in England to his priesthood in the Anglican Church as chaplain of Northwestern University to his alternative lifestyle and experimentation with LSD in the heyday of the late sixties. His engaging letters cover a vast range of subject matter, with recipients ranging from High Church clergy to high priests of psychedelics, government officials, publishers, critics, family, and fans. They include C. G. Jung, Henry Miller, Gary Snyder, Aldous Huxley, Reinhold Niebuhr, Timothy Leary, Joseph Campbell, and James Hillman. Watts’s letters were curated by two of his daughters, Joan Watts and Anne Watts, who have added rich, behind-the-scenes biographical commentary. Edited by Joan Watts & Anne Watts

Become What You Are

Become What You Are
Author: Alan Watts
Publisher: Shambhala Publications
Total Pages: 145
Release: 2024-07-16
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1645472868

Discover the path to your authentic self and embrace your true identity with these insightful teachings from celebrated author and spiritual luminary Alan Watts. In this collection, Watts displays the intelligence, playfulness of thought, and simplicity of language that has made him so perennially popular as an interpreter of Eastern thought for Westerners. He draws on a variety of religious traditions and covers topics such as the challenge of seeing one’s life “just as it is,” the Taoist approach to harmonious living, the limits of language in the face of ineffable spiritual truth, and the psychological symbolism of Christian thought. Throughout, he shows how our true self is never to be found anywhere other than this very life and this very moment.

Out of Your Mind

Out of Your Mind
Author: Alan Watts
Publisher: Souvenir Press
Total Pages: 207
Release: 2018-03-01
Genre: Body, Mind & Spirit
ISBN: 0285644092

In order to come to your senses, Alan Watts often said, you sometimes need to go out of your mind. Out of Your Mind brings readers, for the first time, six of this legendary thinker's most engaging teachings on how to break through the limits of the rational mind. Offering answers to generations of spiritual seekers, Alan Watts is the voice for all who search for an understanding of their identity and role in the world. For those both new and familiar with Watts, this book invites us to delve into his favourite pathways out of the trap of conventional awareness: discover art of the "controlled accident" - what happens when you stop taking your life so seriously and start enjoying it with complete sincerity. Embrace chaos to discover your deepest purpose. How do we come to believe "the myth of myself" - that we are skin-encapsulated egos separate from the world around us-and how to transcend that illusion? Find the miracle that occurs when we stop taking life so seriously.

The Tao of Philosophy

The Tao of Philosophy
Author: Alan Watts
Publisher: Tuttle Publishing
Total Pages: 136
Release: 1995
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN:

Featuring the edited transcripts of eight lectures delivered by Alan Watts from 1960 to 1973. The Tao of Philosophy offers a rich introduction to the wit and wisdom of one of the foremost philosophers of the twentieth century.

Still the Mind

Still the Mind
Author: Alan Watts
Publisher: New World Library
Total Pages: 130
Release: 2010-10-05
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1577313291

Mark Watts compiled this book from his father's extensive journals and audiotapes of famous lectures he delivered in his later years across the country. In three parts, Alan Watts explains the basic philosophy of meditation, how individuals can practice a variety of meditations, and how inner wisdom grows naturally.

Alan Watts - In the Academy

Alan Watts - In the Academy
Author: Alan Watts
Publisher: SUNY Press
Total Pages: 392
Release: 2017-04-25
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 1438465556

Explores language and mysticism, Buddhism and Zen, Christianity, comparative religion, psychedelics, and psychology and psychotherapy. To commemorate the 2015 centenary of the birth of Alan Watts (1915–1973), Peter J. Columbus and Donadrian L. Rice have assembled a much-needed collection of Watts’s scholarly essays and lectures. Compiled from professional journals, monographs, scholarly books, conferences, and symposia proceedings, the volume sheds valuable light on the developmental arc of Watts’s thinking about language and mysticism, Buddhism and Zen, Christianity, comparative religion, psychedelics, and psychology and psychotherapy. This definitive collection challenges Watts’s reputation as a “popularizer” or “philosophical entertainer,” revealing his concerns to be much more expansive and transdisciplinary than is suggested by the parochial “Zen Buddhist” label commonly affixed to his writings. The editors’ authoritative introduction elucidates contemporary perspectives on Watts’s life and work, and supports a bold rethinking of his contributions to psychology, philosophy, and religion. “This excellent volume is important in establishing Watts as perhaps the most important Western thinker and writer on Eastern religions and philosophy, as well as comparative religions, of the twentieth century.” — John W. Traphagan, author of Rethinking Autonomy: A Critique of Principlism in Biomedical Ethics

The Meaning of Happiness

The Meaning of Happiness
Author: Alan Watts
Publisher: New World Library
Total Pages: 282
Release: 2018-07-17
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 1608685403

Deep down, most people think that happiness comes from having or doing something. Here, in Alan Watts’s groundbreaking second book (originally published in 1940), he offers a more challenging thesis: authentic happiness comes from embracing life as a whole in all its contradictions and paradoxes, an attitude that Watts calls the "way of acceptance." Drawing on Eastern philosophy, Western mysticism, and analytic psychology, Watts demonstrates that happiness comes from accepting both the outer world around us and the inner world inside us — the unconscious mind, with its irrational desires, lurking beyond the awareness of the ego. Although written early in his career, The Meaning of Happiness displays the hallmarks of his mature style: the crystal-clear writing, the homespun analogies, the dry wit, and the breadth of knowledge that made Alan Watts one of the most influential philosophers of his generation.

Eastern Wisdom, Modern Life

Eastern Wisdom, Modern Life
Author: Alan Watts
Publisher: New World Library
Total Pages: 258
Release: 2006
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 1577311809

Alan Watts introduced millions of Western readers to Zen and other Eastern philosophies. But he is also recognized as a brilliant commentator on Judeo-Christian traditions, as well as a celebrity philosopher who exemplified the ideas — and lifestyle — of the 1960s counterculture. In this compilation of controversial lectures that Watts delivered at American universities throughout the sixties, he challenges readers to reevaluate Western culture's most hallowed constructs. Watts treads the familiar ground of interpreting Eastern traditions, but he also covers new territory, exploring the counterculture's basis in the ancient tribal and shamanic cultures of Asia, Siberia, and the Americas. In the process, he addresses some of the era's most important questions: What is the nature of reality? How does an individual's relationship to society affect this reality? Filled with Watts's playful, provocative style, the talks show the remarkable scope of a philosopher at his prime, exploring and defining the sixties counterculture as only Alan Watts could.