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 wisdom seekers to the spiritual and philosophical delights of Asia and India. Now, with Out of Your Mind: Essential Listening from the Alan Watts Audio Archives, you are invited to immerse yourself in twelve of this legendary thinker’s pinnacle teaching sessions on 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.
Out of Your Mind brings you six complete seminars—carefully selected from hundreds of recordings by Alan Watts’ son and archivist Mark Watts—that capture the true scope of this brilliant teacher in action. On these superb, digitally restored recordings, you will delve into Alan Watts’ favorite pathways out of “the trap of conventional awareness,” including:
• “The art of the controlled accident”—what happens when you stop taking your life so seriously and start enjoying it with complete sincerity
• How we come to believe “the myth of myself”—that we are “skin-encapsulated egos” separate from the world around us—and how to transcend that illusion
• Why we must fully embrace chaos and the Void to find our deepest purpose
• Unconventional and refreshing insights into the deeper principles of Buddhism, Hinduism, and Western philosophy, plus much, much more
Whether you’re completely new to Alan Watts or familiar with his work, here is a rare opportunity to experience him at his best—improvising brilliantly before a live audience—on Out of Your Mind: Essential Listening from the Alan Watts Audio Archives.
The Nature of Consciousness (CDs 1, 2)
Have you ever seen an “inch” or touched an “hour?” Alan Watts reveals how our idea of the “self” is no more real than these abstract concepts—and how to “untrain” ourselves from its limitations.
The Web of Life (CDs 3, 4)
The universe is an infinite and intertwined tapestry of phenomena, yet most of us experience only a few spare threads. Look more closely at the “warp and weave” of creation, suggests Watts, and you may discover an astonishing wealth of meaning.
The Inevitable Ecstasy (CDs 5, 6)
Pleasure and suffering, fear and exuberance—Watts explores the surprising relationships among these universal experiences and the “inevitable ecstasy” they lead to.
The World As Just So (CDs 7, 8)
“Any lecture on Zen will always be something of a hoax,” begins Alan Watts, “because it deals with a domain of experience that by nature cannot be talked about!” Watts then proceeds to offer us a remarkably lucid and immediate explanation of this enigmatic “pathless path.”
The World As Self (CDs 9, 10)
At the heart of Hinduism, India’s expansive spiritual world view, is the idea that we are all manifestations of one Actor “playing hide and seek” with Itself. Here, listeners explore the great unfolding drama we’ve cast ourselves in, and where the plot may be leading.
The World As Emptiness (CDs 11, 12)
This third offering in Alan Watts’ celebrated “World As” series invites us to face our fears about death—the Void that we normally run from—to discover that “we are as much the ocean as we are the individual waves on the water.”