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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
- Categories: Politics & Social Sciences, Philosophy
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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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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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"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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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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- On the Taboo Against Knowing Who You Are
- Written by: Alan Watts
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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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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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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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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 Power of Space and Reincarnation
- Written by: Alan Watts
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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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In My Own Way
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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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- Narrated by: Alan Watts
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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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Great but incomplete
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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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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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WOW!!!
- By Daniel Toews on 2020-10-09
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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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The Perennial Philosophy
- Written by: Aldous Huxley
- Narrated by: Matthew Lloyd Davies
- Length: 12 hrs and 33 mins
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With great wit and stunning intellect - drawing on a diverse array of faiths, including Zen Buddhism, Hinduism, Taoism, Christian mysticism, and Islam - Huxley examines the spiritual beliefs of various religious traditions and explains how they are united by a common human yearning to experience the divine. The Perennial Philosophy includes selections from Meister Eckhart, Rumi, and Lao Tzu, as well as the Bhagavad Gita, Tibetan Book of the Dead, Diamond Sutra, and Upanishads, among many others.
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Fantastic Eastern Philosophy
- By Jake L.S. on 2019-03-02
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Willpower
- Rediscovering the Greatest Human Strength
- Written by: Roy F. Baumeister, John Tierney
- Narrated by: Denis O'Hare
- Length: 9 hrs and 6 mins
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Pioneering research psychologist Roy F. Baumeister collaborates with New York Times science writer John Tierney to revolutionize our understanding of the most coveted human virtue: self-control. Drawing on cutting-edge research and the wisdom of real-life experts, Willpower shares lessons on how to focus our strength, resist temptation, and redirect our lives. It shows listeners how to be realistic when setting goals, monitor their progress, and how to keep faith when they falter.
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The real key for success
- By Amazon Customer on 2020-07-02
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.
What the critics say
“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 listeners say about The Meaning of Happiness
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- Ryan
- 2020-04-13
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.
3 people found this helpful
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- Client d'Amazon
- 2019-06-30
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.
2 people found this helpful
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- Amazon Customer
- 2021-01-27
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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- Norman
- 2020-09-30
Rabling off topic
I did not enough in this book on the topic of happiness. More the basis of Asian foundations.