The Book On the Taboo Against Knowing Who You Are explores an unrecognised but mighty taboo - our tacit conspiracy to ignore who, or what, we really are. Alan Watts, key thinker of Western Zen Buddhism, explains how to reconsider our relationship with the world.
Alan Watts was central in introducing Eastern philosophical and religious thought to Western readers. He was a philosopher, academic and theologian, who wrote and spoke widely on Asian philosophy and theology. He became a cult figure in the 60s and 70s, lecturing and presenting radio shows in San Francisco and the Bay Area. His ideas especially gained a following in counter-cultural circles, including among the Beat generation. He is best known as an interpreter of Zen Buddhism in particular, and of Indian and Chinese philosophy in general. He was the author of more than twenty books on the philosophy and psychology of religion including Behold the Spirit, The Way of Zen, and Cloud-Hidden, Whereabouts Unknown: A Mountain Journal. He died in 1973.
The best book I've ever read on the nature of what actually is,
what the world is about, and how you should behave
*Desert Island Discs*
No words can describe just how profoundly perspective-shifting The
Book On the Taboo Against Knowing Who You Are is in its entirety,
and with what exquisite stickiness it stays with you for a
lifetime
*Brain Pickings*
Watts' magnum opus
*Jarvis Cocker*
Offering spiritual answers to the problems of a materialistic
lifestyle, alienated from the natural world, Watts is the voice of
all who seek a deeper understanding of their own identity and role
in the world
*Watkins Review*
For a new generation of readers... look at this ancient philosophy
from a modern counter-cultural standpoint. Alan Watts explores the
subject in concrete terms, using current idioms and expressions
which will also appeal to the younger reader
*Vedanta*
Reminds us how Watts presented complex theories and views in a
subtle yet straightforward fashion... Still an iconic figure... he
made great breakthroughs in stretching our philosophical
horizons
*Beat Scene*
Praise for Alan Watts: It's like he's unearthing thoughts that are
in our collective subconscious and have always been there
*Spike Jonze*
He was a dharma door for many: a door that you pass through that
takes you into a practice or a study that enriches or opens up your
life
*Roshi Joan Halifax, zen buddhist teacher and author of BEGIN WITH
DYING*
Watts is a mega-star... Could Alan even be something of an antidote
to all the outrage and tribalism of the online world?
*Jarvis Cocker*
Alan Watts found humour in the human condition, and the comic in
the cosmic. We need that
*Jeremy Stockwell, director of Out of My Head – Alan Watts is Alive
and Well... Dead*
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