Out of Your Mind (Paperback)

Tricksters, Interdependence and the Cosmic Game of Hide-and-Seek

Alan Watts

Six key lessons from Zen Buddhism by Alan Watts, the leading interpreter of Eastern philosophy and religion for Western readers

Discover what happens when you stop taking life so seriously and start enjoying it with complete sincerity

How do we come to believe 'the myth of myself' - that we are individuals separate from the world around us? How do we transcend that illusion? In order to come to your senses, Alan Watts often said, you sometimes need to go out of your mind.

For those both new and familiar with Watts, Out of Your Mind brings readers six of this legendary thinker's most engaging teachings on how to break through the limits of the rational mind, inviting us to seek Watts' favourite pathways out of the trap of conventional awareness. Offering answers to generations of spiritual seekers, Alan Watts is the voice for all who search for an understanding of their identity and role in the world.

Praise for Alan Watts:

'His is a protean, shape-shifting intellect, perhaps more relevant now than it has ever been' Jarvis Cocker

'His writings and recorded talks still shimmer with a profound and galvanizing lucidity' Erik Davis

Publication date: November 26, 2026

£10.99

ISBN: 9781806494484

Imprint: Souvenir Press

Subject: Health & Wellbeing

Out of Your Mind (Paperback)

Tricksters, Interdependence and the Cosmic Game of Hide-and-Seek

Alan Watts

Six key lessons drawn from deep study of Zen Buddhism, from the leading interpreter of Eastern philosophy and religion for a Western audience.

In order to come to your senses, Alan Watts often said, you sometimes need to go out of your mind. Out of Your Mind brings readers, for the first time, six of this legendary thinker's most engaging teachings on how to break through the limits of the rational mind.

Offering answers to generations of spiritual seekers, Alan Watts is the voice for all who search for an understanding of their identity and role in the world.

For those both new and familiar with Watts, this book invites us to delve into his favourite pathways out of the trap of conventional awareness: discover art of the "controlled accident" - what happens when you stop taking your life so seriously and start enjoying it with complete sincerity.
Embrace chaos to discover your deepest purpose.

How do 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?
Find the miracle that occurs when we stop taking life so seriously.

Publication date: July 11, 2019

£10.99

ISBN: 9781788164450

Imprint: Souvenir Press

Subject: Health & Wellbeing

Out of Your Mind (Ebook)

Tricksters, Interdependence and the Cosmic Game of Hide-and-Seek

Alan Watts

Six key lessons drawn from deep study of Zen Buddhism, from the leading interpreter of Eastern philosophy and religion for a Western audience.

In order to come to your senses, Alan Watts often said, you sometimes need to go out of your mind. Out of Your Mind brings readers, for the first time, six of this legendary thinker's most engaging teachings on how to break through the limits of the rational mind.

Offering answers to generations of spiritual seekers, Alan Watts is the voice for all who search for an understanding of their identity and role in the world.

For those both new and familiar with Watts, this book invites us to delve into his favourite pathways out of the trap of conventional awareness: discover art of the "controlled accident" - what happens when you stop taking your life so seriously and start enjoying it with complete sincerity.
Embrace chaos to discover your deepest purpose.

How do 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?
Find the miracle that occurs when we stop taking life so seriously.

Publication date: March 1, 2018

£8.49

ISBN: 9780285644090

ISBN 10 / ASIN: B078T18GGZ

Imprint: Souvenir Press

Subject: Health & Wellbeing

Reviews for Out of Your Mind

'A fine starting place to the wonderful world of Alan Watts'

Ken Wilber, author of INTEGRAL MEDITATION 

'Praise for Alan Watts: The perfect guide for a course correction in life'

Deepak Chopra 

'It's like he's unearthing thoughts that are in our collective subconscious and have always been there'

Spike Jonze 

'He was a dharma door for many: a door that you pass through that takes you into a practice or a study that enriches or opens up your life'

Roshi Joan Halifax, zen buddhist teacher and author of BEGIN WITH DYING 

'His writings and recorded talks still shimmer with a profound and galvanizing lucidity'

Erik Davis 

'An antidote to all the outrage and tribalism of the online world... his is a protean, shape-shifting intellect, perhaps more relevant now than it has ever been'

Jarvis Cocker 

'[The Book on the Taboo Against Knowing Who You Are is] the best book I've ever read on the nature of what actually is, what the world is about, and how you should behave'

 John Lloyd, Desert Island Discs

'The voice of all who seek a deeper understanding of their own identity and role in the world'

 Watkins Review

'Alan Watts found humour in the human condition, and the comic in the cosmic. We need that'

Jeremy Stockwell, director of Out of My Head – Alan Watts is Alive and Well... Dead 

Alan Watts

Alan Watts

Alan Watts published over 25 books, including The Book: On the Taboo Against Knowing Who You Are, The Way of Zen and Tao: The Watercourse Way.

He was a philosopher, academic and theologian, who wrote and spoke widely on Asian philosophy and theology. He is best known as an interpreter of Zen Buddhism in particular, and of Indian and Chinese philosophy in general. He was the author of more than twenty books on the philosophy and psychology of religion. He died in 1973.

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