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The Book
On the Taboo Against Knowing Who You Are
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Narrated by:
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John Lee
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Written by:
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Alan Watts
About this listen
A revelatory primer on what it means to be human and a mind-opening manual of initiation into the central mystery of existence, by “perhaps the foremost interpreter of Eastern disciplines for the contemporary West" (Los Angeles Times).
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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What the critics say
“Perhaps the foremost interpreter of Eastern disciplines for the contemporary West, Watts had the rare gift of ‘writing beautifully the unwritable.’”—Los Angeles Times
"[Watts is] the perfect guide for a course correction in life." —Deepak Chopra
What listeners say about The Book
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
- Laval
- 2023-03-28
Bla, bla, bla
I couldn’t finish this book. A lot of words, a lot of opinions, but zero value.
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Overall
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Performance
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- Feiy
- 2023-11-21
Mostly nonsensical
Alan has a great way with words, and is very articulate. However, his arguments for self, the universe, science, and pretty much everything else are largely nonsensical. Most of his references to scientific matters are not accurate to what they actually portray, and his view on what and how the scientific community think are, frankly, laughable.
Over all, the quotes you find online about this books are often great for contemplating things, but the depth of everything else in the book can be entirely skipped.
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