Showing results by narrator "Alan Watts" in All Categories

In order to come to your senses, Alan Watts often said, you sometimes need to go out of your mind. Perhaps more than any other teacher in the West, this celebrated author, former Anglican priest, and self-described spiritual entertainer was responsible for igniting the passion of countless...

The legendary author, speaker, and self-described "philosophical entertainer" Alan Watts delights us on audio with a wealth of illuminations into the spirit and art of meditation, spanning many traditions. "What would it be like to see all as one?" Alan Watts asks. "We hear about attaining great...

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...

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.

Do you do it — that is, are you really in charge of your intentions, emotions, and actions? Or, as Alan Watts suggests, is the universe doing you — manifesting the grandeur and wonder of the cosmos through the astonishing phenomenon known as "you"? On Do You Do It or Does It Do You?...

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.

Alan Watts became famous first as a brilliant intellectual and then as a serious student of Buddhism and meditation. In the 1970s, the last years of his life, he retreated to a small, isolated cabin deep in the woods. He meditated every morning and then wrote. Still the Mind consists of several talks he gave in his later years, recorded and edited by his son, Mark Watts, and then published as a book. His speaking shows a maturity and wisdom that can only come after years of meditation.

The Universe Is Playing Hide and Seek—and You’re It! Imagine you’re climbing a mountain path that will lead you to a paradise where all your needs are met and your questions answered. What do you find when you reach the top? A mirror. This is the great cosmic game, reveals Alan...

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.

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.

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.

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.

Have you ever seen an inch or touched an hour? In The Holographic Web, Alan Watts reveals how our idea of the "self" is no more than these abstract concepts—and how to untrain our selves from their limitations. Join this self-proclaimed "spiritual entertainer" for an intriguing investigation...

It is often difficult if not impossible to assimilate certain new ideas, especially if they come from an entirely different culture and time. In Playing Hide and Seek, the incomparable Alan Watts invites us to consider the mind-blowing truth of the total interdependence of everything in the...