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The Meaning of Happiness
- The Quest for Freedom of the Spirit in Modern Psychology and the Wisdom of the East
- Narrated by: Kern Schmidt
- Length: 7 hrs and 1 min
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Publisher's summary
Deep down, most people think that happiness comes from having or doing something. Here, in Alan Watts’s groundbreaking third 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.
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This is the same book as “you’re it”
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Macmillan Audio presents In My Own Way, Alan Watts' acclaimed autobiography, published for the first time in audio.
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You're It!
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Life is the ultimate game of hide and seek... and the good news is that you're it! With the combination of playful irreverence and penetrating insight that made him a legend in Western philosophy, Alan Watts investigates the surprisingly liberating concept of "the universe as play" found at the heart of Hinduism, Zen, and other wisdom traditions.
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All the Watts you'll ever need
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Just So
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"If you were God," asked Alan Watts, "what kind of universe would you create? A perfect one free of suffering and drama? Or one filled with surprise and delight?" With Just So, the celebrated philosopher and self-described "spiritual entertainer" invites us to explore the hidden dimensions that shape both the cosmos and our personal experience of it.
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This Is It
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It Is What It Is
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It Is What It Is
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Four Ways to the Center
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Alan Watts discusses the fundamental attitudes that run through all religions or "ways of liberation," as the Far Eastern disciplines might better be described. By following these practices to the extremes of repentance, rebellion, and resignation, one may be freed from the endless cycles of reincarnation which perpetuate the human condition.
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Top Shelf Buddhism
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The Wisdom of Insecurity
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Alan Watts draws on the wisdom of Eastern philosophy and religion in this timeless and classic guide to living a more fulfilling life. His central insight is more relevant now than ever: when we spend all of our time worrying about the future and lamenting the past, we are unable to enjoy the present moment—the only one we are actually able to inhabit.
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Not a good audiobook
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Alan Watts discusses the Indian philosophy of the world as maya - under its multiple meanings as illusion, art, magic, creative power, measure, etc. Various techniques in the arts are used to illustrate the delicate and vibrational character of the material world, and to suggest a new approach to the old philosophy that the universe is "mind" only.
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Amazing
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It's good, but...
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Becoming Nobody
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This audio collection brings us five essential sessions, featured in the Ram Dass documentary film Becoming Nobody, presented here in their entirety. Each beautifully illuminates a core dimension of Ram Dass’s wisdom. Through teaching stories, true accounts, eye-opening revelations, and his one-of-a-kind sense of humor, this legendary teacher helps show us the way out of the prison of our self-identity - and into the joy of being at once “nobody” and the universal divine at play in the world.
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Can get for free on YouTube
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Behold the Spirit
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This should be taught by all catechists
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Thusness
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Alan Watts discusses the word tathata, which is translated from the Sanskrit as "suchness" or "thusness." The term is used in Mahayana Buddhism to suggest how things look to a Buddha, to one who has experienced enlightenment or liberation and is, therefore, called a Tathagata - one who comes (and goes) thus. Watts shares the sense of this nonsense in Buddhist philosophy, and its practical demonstration in Zen.
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An amazing, mind opening listen.
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Eastern Wisdom, Modern Life
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Alan Watts introduced millions of Western listeners to Zen and other Eastern philosophies, but he’s 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.
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Wise words from a broken man
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The Book
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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.
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Impossible to understand de pronunciation
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The Way of Zen
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With a rare combination of freshness and lucidity, he delves into the origins and history of Zen to explain what it means for the world today with incredible clarity. Watts saw Zen as “one of the most precious gifts of Asia to the world,” and in The Way of Zen he gives this gift to listeners everywhere.
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Just fantastic.
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Still the Mind
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Mark Watts compiled this work 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.
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Classic Alan Watts.
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The Power of Space and Reincarnation
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Space is considered to be nothingness by many. But after all it is the background in which we see everything. It is against space and within the dimension of time that we experience everything we experience. Space and time are the two basic dimensions of our world but are uncommonly illusive. We can say they are our way of thinking of the universe as being a system of patterns. And our awe at the vastness of space may be man's astonishment at himself.
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A timeless message
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By: Alan Watts
Critic reviews
“Happiness is a sense of harmony, completion, and wholeness, Watts declares in this classic work. Though first published in 1940 when he was only in his mid-twenties and reissued now by New World Library, Watts’ book remains foundational in its early impact on his later work... rewarding and even enlightening.” (Booklist)
“Novel and interesting.” (New York Times)
“This volume springs from the depths of life and learning. It is wise and practical. The author gets our attention on his very first page...The philosophy wrought from these elements of experience and thought is profound yet simple.” (New York Herald Tribune)
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What if imagination and art are not, as many of us might think, the frosting on life but the fountainhead of human experience? What if our logic and science derive from art forms rather than the other way around? In this trenchant volume, Rollo May helps all of us find those creative impulses that, once liberated, offer new possibilities for achievement. A renowned therapist and inspiring guide, Dr. May draws on his experience to show how we can break out of old patterns in our lives.
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May takes on the Creative Act
- By Lowball on 01-16-19
By: Rollo May
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The Bhagavad Gita
- A Walkthrough for Westerners
- By: Jack Hawley
- Narrated by: Jack Hawley
- Length: 5 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
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The Bhagavad Gita has been called India's greatest contribution to the world. In this audio version of his classic book The Bhagavad Gita: A Walkthrough for Westerners, Jack Hawley makes its wisdom clear to Western seekers.
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The Bhagavad Gita: A Walkthrough for Westerners
- By Tammy on 10-12-12
By: Jack Hawley
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Irrational Man
- A Study in Existential Philosophy
- By: William Barrett
- Narrated by: Paul Boehmer
- Length: 13 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
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Widely recognized as the finest definition of existentialist philosophy ever written, this book introduced existentialism to America in 1958. Irrational Man begins by discussing the roots of existentialism in the art and thinking of Augustine, Aquinas, Pascal, Baudelaire, Blake, Dostoevski, Tolstoy, Hemingway, Picasso, Joyce, and Beckett. The heart of the book explains the views of the foremost existentialists - Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, Heidegger, and Sartre. The result is a marvelously lucid definition of existentialism and a brilliant interpretation of its impact.
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heady
- By A. Antine on 07-28-22
By: William Barrett
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Buddha's Noble Eightfold Path
- By: Urgyen Sangharaskhita
- Narrated by: Kulananda
- Length: 5 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
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The Eightfold Path is the most widely known formulation of the Buddha's teaching. It is ancient, reaching back to the Buddha's very first discourse, and it is highly venerated as a unique treasury of wisdom and practical guidance. The teaching of the Eightfold Path challenges us to grasp the implications of that vision, and asks us to transform ourselves in its light. Like the teaching itself, this work covers every aspect of life.
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Excellent
- By Anthony on 06-22-07
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Buddhism Plain and Simple
- By: Steve Hagen
- Narrated by: William Hope
- Length: 4 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
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The observations and insights of the Buddha are practical and eminently down to earth, dealing exclusively with awareness in the here and now. Buddhism Plain and Simple offers listeners these fundamental teachings, stripped of cultural trappings that have accumulated around Buddhism over the past 25 centuries.
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Thrilled this Is Finally an Audiobook
- By Asha Ember on 01-28-17
By: Steve Hagen
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The Gay Science (The Joyful Wisdom)
- By: Friedrich Nietzsche
- Narrated by: Michael Lunts
- Length: 10 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
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The Gay Science (The Joyful Wisdom) is one of Nietzsche's greatest books. His wonderfully fertile mind roams over mankind, his thoughts, his emotions, his behaviour and his weaknesses with remarkable clarity, with insight - but also with humour!In this work are 383 separate paragraphs, some short, some long, but all singular observations - the epitome of his famous aphoristic style. 'Morality is the herd instinct in the individual.'
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I am now a full-fledged fan of Nietzsche
- By RS on 02-24-18
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Buddhism Is Not What You Think
- Finding Freedom Beyond Beliefs
- By: Steve Hagen
- Narrated by: Paul Heitsch
- Length: 6 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
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Best-selling author and renowned Zen teacher Steve Hagen penetrates the most essential and enduring questions at the heart of the Buddha's teachings: How can we see the world in each moment, rather than merely as what we think, hope, or fear it is? How can we base our actions on reality, rather than on the longing and loathing of our hearts and minds? How can we live lives that are wise, compassionate, and in tune with reality? And how can we separate the wisdom of Buddhism from the cultural trappings and misconceptions that have come to be associated with it?
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great message, annoying narrator
- By Pamela Radtke on 11-28-19
By: Steve Hagen
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All the Watts you'll ever need
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With Out of Your Mind: Essential Listening from the Alan Watts Audio Archives, you are invited to immerse yourself in 12 of this legendary thinker's pinnacle teaching sessions about how to break through the limits of the rational mind and begin expanding your awareness and appreciation for the Great Game unfolding all around us.
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Be careful before buying
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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.
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Impossible to understand de pronunciation
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Mark Watts compiled this work 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.
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Classic Alan Watts.
- By Dan R. on 10-24-17
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Just So
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"If you were God," asked Alan Watts, "what kind of universe would you create? A perfect one free of suffering and drama? Or one filled with surprise and delight?" With Just So, the celebrated philosopher and self-described "spiritual entertainer" invites us to explore the hidden dimensions that shape both the cosmos and our personal experience of it.
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If you've enjoyed any lecture of his on YouTube you're going to be enthralled
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All the Watts you'll ever need
- By Rich S. on 12-02-11
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Classic Alan Watts.
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Leave It Be
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"What would it be like to see all as one?" Alan Watts asks. "We hear about attaining great states of consciousness. But the only way to have a real transformation is to stop thinking about it - and simply experience it." From the 1950s to the 1970s, this seminal teacher sparked the West's love for Eastern wisdom. Now, in these rare recorded gems, he inspires a new generation of inner explorers seeking deeper insights into meditation - its myriad forms, how they work, and what happens when we practice them.
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This is the same book as “you’re it”
- By vin72 on 01-30-20
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Psychotherapy East and West
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Alan Watts examines the problem of humans in a seemingly hostile universe in ways that question the social norms and illusions that bind and constrict modern humans. Marking a groundbreaking synthesis, Watts asserts that the powerful insights of Freud and Jung, which had, indeed, brought psychiatry close to the edge of liberation, could, if melded with the hitherto secret wisdom of the Eastern traditions, free people from their battles with the self.
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Not what I have come to expect from Alan Watts works
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The Way of Zen
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With a rare combination of freshness and lucidity, he delves into the origins and history of Zen to explain what it means for the world today with incredible clarity. Watts saw Zen as “one of the most precious gifts of Asia to the world,” and in The Way of Zen he gives this gift to listeners everywhere.
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Just fantastic.
- By Amazon Customer on 02-10-23
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Behold the Spirit
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Drawing on his experiences as a former priest, Watts skillfully explains how the intuition of Eastern religion—Zen Buddhism, in particular—can be incorporated into the doctrines of Western Christianity, offering a timeless argument for the place of mystical religion in today’s world.
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This should be taught by all catechists
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The Wisdom of Insecurity
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Alan Watts draws on the wisdom of Eastern philosophy and religion in this timeless and classic guide to living a more fulfilling life. His central insight is more relevant now than ever: when we spend all of our time worrying about the future and lamenting the past, we are unable to enjoy the present moment—the only one we are actually able to inhabit.
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Not a good audiobook
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Nature, Man and Woman
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Western thought and culture have coalesced around a series of constructed ideas—that human beings stand separate from a nature that must be controlled; that the mind is somehow superior to the body; that all sexuality entails a seduction—that in some way underlie our exploitation of the earth, our distrust of emotion, and our loneliness and reluctance to love.
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Deep philosophy
- By Amazon Customer on 09-20-23
By: Alan Watts
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This Is It
- And Other Essays on Zen and Spiritual Experience
- By: Alan Watts
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- Unabridged
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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 audiobook collection.
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It Is What It Is
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By: Alan Watts
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Alan Watts Teaches Meditation
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Alan Watts has become known as the West's foremost interpreter of Eastern thought, and one of the most original philosophers of this century. Fortunately for us, he is also witty, articulate, insightful, very entertaining, and a pleasure to listen to. More from Watts.
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It's good, but...
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Eastern Wisdom, Modern Life
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Alan Watts introduced millions of Western listeners to Zen and other Eastern philosophies, but he’s 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.
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Wise words from a broken man
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By: Alan W. Watts
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Reality, Art and Illusion
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Alan Watts discusses the Indian philosophy of the world as maya - under its multiple meanings as illusion, art, magic, creative power, measure, etc. Various techniques in the arts are used to illustrate the delicate and vibrational character of the material world, and to suggest a new approach to the old philosophy that the universe is "mind" only.
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Amazing
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By: Alan Watts
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The Supreme Identity
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In this eye-opening account of "metaphysical blindness" in the West, Watts accents the dense exploration of religious philosophy with wry wit that will engage inquiring minds in search of spiritual power and wisdom.
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acceptance
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By: Alan Watts
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Cloud-Hidden, Whereabouts Unknown
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Assembled in the form of a “mountain journal,” written during a retreat in the foothills of Mount Tamalpais, CA, Cloud-Hidden, Whereabouts Unknown is Watts’s meditation on the art of feeling out and following the watercourse way of nature, known in Chinese as the Tao. Embracing a form of contemplative meditation that allows us to stop analyzing our experiences and start living in to them, the book explores themes such as the natural world, established religion, race relations, karma and reincarnation, astrology and tantric yoga, the nature of ecstasy, and much more.
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Some of Alan Watts greatest essays
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By: Alan Watts
What listeners say about The Meaning of Happiness
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Amazon Customer
- 01-27-21
Probably the most insightful philosophy meets spirituality book I’ve ever read
I have read so many philosophical and spiritually centered books that reading almost became a stumbling block in itself but this book has jostled me awake to at least a few previously unthought concepts that I have actually been able to apply to my practical reality
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- Anonymous User
- 12-07-22
Depthful
Excellent book for anyone interested in or beginning to listen to Watts. Narrator move too quick for the content, but that is because it is rich and layered. Be prepared to pause and rewind a lot to get the most out of this book!
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- Client d'Amazon
- 06-30-19
I love this guy!
The wonderment, love and humor within and behind the words is just a such a joy. Mr. Alan Watts, what a delightful entertainer.
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2 people found this helpful
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- Mr Dangerous
- 03-27-22
enjoyable...
I was worried cause Watts didn't narrate. but Schmidt did a fantastic job. A solid book from Watts.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Hugh Joiner
- 09-27-23
Alan Watts…I recently discovered this “guru” of Zen!
“Those in search of happiness shall never find it.” A rather dismal statement to start a book about the meaning of happiness with… but its the truth…happiness is already within you…searching for it is like asking your nose to smell itself…I’m learning…the “present” is all there is…through his philosophy and easy explanation of Zen and how to apply it to western and modern culture …
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- Ryan
- 04-13-20
Good Concepts Hard to Follow Along
I recommend reading the book and skipping over this audio version.
The narrator has a relaxing voice, however I felt like he was moving too fast for the concepts to sink in. Even switching between titles of chapters it was like “Is this a new chapter?” Lol. He just kept going along at an even almost monotone pace. Maybe it was just me not being able to focus, but I had to try really hard to follow along and felt like I missed most of it.
It does not compare to Alan’s masterful way of communicating. Alan speaks so fluently and I get his concepts (same concepts as in this book) easily when listening to his lectures. This narration did not do him justice and it would have been so much better if it could have been narrated by Alan himself.
That being said I didn’t mean to shit on the narrator but if you want to get into Watts then I recommend just listening to his lectures on youtube or reading the book instead so you can take your time to digest the concepts.
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4 people found this helpful
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- Norman
- 09-30-20
Rabling off topic
I did not enough in this book on the topic of happiness. More the basis of Asian foundations.
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