The Book by Alan Watts

I originally bought this book because I thought its title was clever. Underneath The Book is a subtitle that adds On the Taboo Against Knowing Who You Are. Recently I re-read it and found it still very compelling. Watts' theory is that humans suffer from the illusion that we are somehow separate and distinct from our environment and from each other. This idea is deeply imbued in our common sense, hammered into us by our childhood caretakers and by language itself. He argues that humans are not separate persons, but (like everything else) are focal points at which the universe expresses itself. For "universe" you can substitute "God" or whatever term expresses wholeness and unity for you. "For every individual is a unique manifestation of the Whole, as every branch is a particular outreaching of the tree."

Parts of Watts' arguments got a little beyond me, but on the whole The Book is highly readable, and I enjoy the author's tongue-in-cheek humor. Watts (1915-1973) had a master's degree in theology and a doctorate of divinity. He spent about four years as an Episcopal priest and many more years in academia, but he was essentially a free-lance philosopher living on his output of books and lectures. He had a large following but also many critics. When questioned by some, he asserted that he was not an academic philosopher but rather "a philosophical entertainer."