The Book: On the Taboo Against Knowing Who You AreA 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. |
Contents
INSIDE INFORMATION | 3 |
THE GAME OF BLACKANDWHITE | 25 |
HOW TO BE A GENUINE FAKE | 53 |
Copyright | |
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ALAN WATTS balls basic become behavior biological bits body brain Buddhist called cause Chinese comes conscious attention death double-bind electronic enemies energy environment eternal everything exis existence experience eyes fact fascinating feel G. K. Chesterton galaxies Game of Black-and-White goes happen Hindus hoax human hypnotized ical illusion individual inside James Broughton kind language light living look Ludwig Wittgenstein metaphysical mind Model moving myth nature neurons never Oaxaca one-upmanship oneself organism ourselves pantheism particles patterns Paul Tillich penicillin personal ego philosophy physical play poles problem question rainbow realize religions rience seems sensation sense separate ego simply situation skin social society someone soul sound space taboo tence things and events thought tion trying ture understand universe Upanishads Vedanta vibration vision wave whole wiggle words Zen Buddhism