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Reality, Art and Illusion
- Narrated by: Alan Watts
- Length: 3 hrs and 30 mins
- Categories: Religion & Spirituality, Other Religions, Practices & Sacred Texts
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- Written by: Alan Watts
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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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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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Great insights
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The Power of Space and Reincarnation
- Written by: Alan Watts
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- Length: 3 hrs and 18 mins
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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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Leave It Be
- Alan Watts on the Art of Meditation
- Written by: Alan Watts
- Narrated by: Alan Watts
- Length: 7 hrs and 49 mins
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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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The best
- By Michael J. Boyce on 2020-02-19
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Just So
- An Odyssey into the Cosmic Web of Connection, Play, and True Pleasure
- Written by: Alan Watts
- Narrated by: Alan Watts
- Length: 10 hrs and 31 mins
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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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Alan Watts was a marvellous being
- By Cassandra on 2020-01-26
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You're It!
- On Hiding, Seeking, and Being Found
- Written by: Alan Watts
- Narrated by: Alan Watts
- Length: 12 hrs and 5 mins
- Original Recording
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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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love it
- By Shawn on 2018-07-15
-
Thusness
- Written by: Alan Watts
- Narrated by: Alan Watts
- Length: 3 hrs and 9 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
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.
-
Four Ways to the Center
- Written by: Alan Watts
- Narrated by: Alan Watts
- Length: 3 hrs and 3 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
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.
-
-
Great insights
- By Michael J. Boyce on 2019-08-15
-
The Power of Space and Reincarnation
- Written by: Alan Watts
- Narrated by: Alan Watts
- Length: 3 hrs and 18 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
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.
-
Leave It Be
- Alan Watts on the Art of Meditation
- Written by: Alan Watts
- Narrated by: Alan Watts
- Length: 7 hrs and 49 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
"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.
-
-
The best
- By Michael J. Boyce on 2020-02-19
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Just So
- An Odyssey into the Cosmic Web of Connection, Play, and True Pleasure
- Written by: Alan Watts
- Narrated by: Alan Watts
- Length: 10 hrs and 31 mins
- Original Recording
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Overall
-
Performance
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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.
-
-
Alan Watts was a marvellous being
- By Cassandra on 2020-01-26
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You're It!
- On Hiding, Seeking, and Being Found
- Written by: Alan Watts
- Narrated by: Alan Watts
- Length: 12 hrs and 5 mins
- Original Recording
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Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
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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-
love it
- By Shawn on 2018-07-15
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Man, Nature, and the Nature of Man
- Written by: Alan W. Watts
- Narrated by: Alan W. Watts
- Length: 1 hr and 23 mins
- Abridged
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Drawn from hundreds of hours of rare archival recordings from the personal collection of his son, Mark Watts, this program presents the essential message of Alan Watts. Here is Alan Watts, recorded live in seminars conducted in America and Japan, personally explaining how the Eastern view of man and his place in the world can be made meaningful to the contemporary Westerner.
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The Book
- On the Taboo Against Knowing Who You Are
- Written by: Alan Watts
- Narrated by: Sean Runnette
- Length: 4 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
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Modern Western culture and technology is inextricably tied to the belief in the existence of a self as a separate ego, separated from and in conflict with the rest of the world. In this classic book, Watts provides a lucid and simple presentation of an alternative view based on Hindu and Vedantic philosophy.
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Out of Your Mind
- Written by: Alan Watts
- Narrated by: Alan Watts
- Length: 14 hrs and 22 mins
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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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Defrag my mind
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Still the Mind
- An Introduction to Meditation
- Written by: Alan Watts
- Narrated by: Alan Watts
- Length: 1 hr and 18 mins
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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.
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In My Own Way
- Written by: Alan Watts
- Narrated by: Jeremy Arthur
- Length: 13 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
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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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The Way of Zen
- Written by: Alan W. Watts
- Narrated by: Sean Runnette
- Length: 7 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
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Discover how the understanding and practice of Zen can bring peace and enlightenment into your daily life in this classic work. Narrated by Sean Runnette, this audio program presents Alan Watts's classic bestseller, introducing Western listeners to Zen Buddhism and elaborating on the key concepts including: The history of Zen, the principles and practice of Zen, the tradition of Za-Zen (meditation) and the Koan, and the integration of Zen into every aspect of life. The Way of Zen presents an understandable, inspirational, and spiritually rewarding exploration of Zen Buddhism.
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Smooth and Packed
- By MrCanadad on 2019-12-18
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Psychotherapy East and West
- Written by: Alan Watts
- Narrated by: Jeremy Arthur
- Length: 5 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
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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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The Meaning of Happiness
- The Quest for Freedom of the Spirit in Modern Psychology and the Wisdom of the East
- Written by: Alan Watts
- Narrated by: Kern Schmidt
- Length: 7 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
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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,
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The Wim Hof Method
- Activate Your Full Human Potential
- Written by: Wim Hof, Elissa Epel PhD
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- Length: 7 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
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Wim Hof has a message for each of us: “You can literally do the impossible. You can overcome disease, improve your mental health and physical performance, and even control your physiology so you can thrive in any stressful situation.” With The Wim Hof Method, this trailblazer of human potential shares a method that anyone can use - young or old, sick or healthy - to supercharge their capacity for strength, vitality, and happiness.
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Not as inspirational as I had hoped
- By Brett Webster on 2020-10-31
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The Wisdom of Insecurity
- A Message for an Age of Anxiety
- Written by: Alan Watts
- Narrated by: Sean Runnette
- Length: 3 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
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Alan W. Watts' "message for an age of anxiety" is as powerful today as it was when this modern classic was first published. We spend too much time trying to anticipate and plan for the future, too much time lamenting the past. We often miss the pleasures of the moment in our anxious efforts to ensure the next moment is as enjoyable. Drawing from Eastern philosophy and religion, Watts argues that it is only by acknowledging what we do not and cannot know that we can find something truly worth knowing.
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Memories, Dreams, Reflections
- Written by: C. G. Jung
- Narrated by: James Cameron Stewart
- Length: 16 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
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In 1957, four years before his death, Carl Gustav Jung, psychiatrist and psychologist, began writing his life story. But what started as an exercise in autobiography soon morphed into an altogether more profound undertaking.
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Strange, tedious at times, but captivating in parts and overall worthwhile
- By Anonymous User on 2019-11-03
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Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind
- Informal Talks on Zen Meditation and Practice
- Written by: Shunryu Suzuki
- Narrated by: Peter Coyote
- Length: 2 hrs and 58 mins
- Abridged
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In the beginner's mind there are many possibilities, but in the expert's there are few. So begins this most beloved of all American Zen works. Seldom has such a small handful of words provided a teaching as rich as this famous opening line of Shunryu Suzuki's classic. In a single stroke, the simple sentence cuts through the pervasive tendency students have of getting so close to Zen as to completely miss what it's all about. An instant teaching in the first minutes. And that's just the beginning.
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Enlightening read
- By Pierce on 2018-12-06
Publisher's Summary
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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What listeners say about Reality, Art and Illusion
Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Michael J. Boyce
- 2020-01-15
Great but incomplete
Amazing insight. Entertaining presentation by Watts. This “book” is an excerpted recording from what may have been retreat of sorts - perhaps a weekend course. As such it has been edited. It is also interrupted periodically by the “publisher” of this recording. So the production and conception of this presentation has some faults. But it is worth it for to hear some of what Alan Watts said.
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- Jonathan
- 2015-01-21
Amazing
I feel that Alan Watts has explained everything that has to do with anything else.
8 people found this helpful
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- sam
- 2015-09-05
welcome to reality
loved it. life changing . one of the best lectures by alan watts. a must
3 people found this helpful
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Overall
- Jacob Ermete
- 2020-07-06
One for revisiting and fast listen through
As someone who enjoys Eastern spirituality and art, I love the clairvoyance Watts brings to how art is an extension of the universe playing. I find myself revisiting this recording whenever I'm feeling creatively uninspired.
2 people found this helpful
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- Lamar
- 2016-01-27
Good Infornation
Some info here that is not in Essential Lectures.
A Few long pauses as usual, but also some volume issues in places. Very good perspectives though :-)
2 people found this helpful