The Book: On the Taboo Against Knowing Who You Are - Softcover

Alan Watts

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0679723005 ISBN 13: 9780679723004

Publisher: Vintage Books, 1989

In The Book, Alan Watts provides us with a much-needed answer to the problem of personal identity, distilling and adapting the Hindu philosophy of Vedanta.

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, Watts has crafted a revelatory primer on what it means to be human—and a mind-opening manual of initiation into the central mystery of existence.

Review:

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.

From the Inside Flap:

ck on the illusion that the self is a separate ego that confronts a universe of alien physical objects.

• Publisher: Vintage Books
• Publication date: 1989
• ISBN 10: 0679723005
• ISBN 13: 9780679723004
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 163