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Alan Watts

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Alan Wilson Watts (6 January 1915 – 16 November 1973) was a British-born American philosopher, writer, and speaker, best known as an interpreter and populariser of Eastern philosophy for a Western audience. Born in Chislehurst, England, he moved to the United States in 1938 and began Zen training in New York. Pursuing a career, he attended Seabury-Western Theological Seminary, where he received a master's degree in theology. Watts became an Episcopal priest in 1945, then left the ministry in 1950 and moved to California, where he joined the faculty of the American Academy of Asian Studies In San Francisco. In 1953 he began his groundbreaking public radio series, first as The Great Books of Asia and later Way Beyond the West, which began airing in Los Angeles in 1959. The radio series, along with his bestselling book, The Way of Zen, launched him into a career as a talented philosophical interpreter and a prolific public speaker, and in the 1960's he was adopted by the Counterculture movement as a spiritual figurehead. He and his peers, including Aldous Huxley, Joseph Campbell, and Gregory Bateson, helped establish the Esalen Institute, which become the epicenter for the Human Potential Movement in the late sixties and seventies. Watts travelled widely between 1965 and his passing in 1973, and his works include 25 books, 250 lectures and interviews, and over 100 workshops and television appearances. His legacy continues with the Alan Watts Org directed by his son, Mark Watts.
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Out of Your Mind

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The Best Fiction Podcasts for Listeners Who Love a Good Story

You can’t beat a good story. Luckily, humans are great at storytelling, and the best fiction podcasts are all the proof that the modern listener requires. Get the popcorn ready; it’s storytime.

Featured Article: The Best Fiction Podcasts for Listeners Who Love a Good Story

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  • You're It! cover art

    • You're It!

    • On Hiding, Seeking, and Being Found
    • Written by: Alan Watts
    • Narrated by: Alan Watts
    • Length: 12 hrs and 5 mins
    • Release date: 2010-01-15
    • Language: English
    • 5 out of 5 stars 172 ratings

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  • Just So cover art

    • 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
    • Release date: 2017-01-01
    • Language: English
    • 5 out of 5 stars 125 ratings

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  • Leave It Be cover art

    • Leave It Be

    • Alan Watts on the Art of Meditation
    • Written by: Alan Watts
    • Narrated by: Alan Watts
    • Length: 7 hrs and 49 mins
    • Release date: 2020-01-07
    • Language: English
    • 5 out of 5 stars 70 ratings

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  • Out of Your Mind cover art

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  • Become What You Are cover art

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  • The Wisdom of Insecurity cover art

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  • Four Ways to the Center cover art

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  • In My Own Way cover art

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  • Still the Mind cover art

    • Still the Mind

    • An Introduction to Meditation
    • Written by: Alan Watts
    • Narrated by: Alan Watts
    • Length: 1 hr and 18 mins
    • Release date: 2015-07-14
    • Language: English
    • 4.5 out of 5 stars 17 ratings

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  • Eastern Wisdom, Modern Life cover art

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  • The Meaning of Happiness cover art

    • 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
    • Release date: 2018-10-23
    • Language: English
    • 5 out of 5 stars 10 ratings

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  • The Power of Space and Reincarnation cover art

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  • Still the Mind cover art

    • Still the Mind

    • An Introduction to Meditation
    • Written by: Alan Watts
    • Narrated by: Alan Watts
    • Length: 1 hr and 18 mins
    • Release date: 2000-04-04
    • Language: English
    • 5 out of 5 stars 9 ratings

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  • The Book cover art

    • The Book

    • On the Taboo Against Knowing Who You Are
    • Written by: Alan Watts
    • Narrated by: John Lee
    • Length: 4 hrs and 32 mins
    • Release date: 2023-03-21
    • Language: English
    • 3.5 out of 5 stars 5 ratings

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  • Reality, Art and Illusion cover art

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  • Nature, Man and Woman cover art

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  • This Is It cover art

    • This Is It

    • And Other Essays on Zen and Spiritual Experience
    • Written by: Alan Watts
    • Narrated by: Sean Runnette
    • Length: 3 hrs and 25 mins
    • Release date: 2018-06-19
    • Language: English
    • 5 out of 5 stars 2 ratings

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  • Psychotherapy East and West cover art

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  • Thusness cover art

    • Thusness

    • Written by: Alan Watts
    • Narrated by: Alan Watts
    • Length: 3 hrs and 9 mins
    • Release date: 2014-12-17
    • Language: English
    • 5 out of 5 stars 13 ratings

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  • The Fish Who Found the Sea cover art

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