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A review by bittersweet_symphony
Out of Your Mind: Tricksters, Interdependence, and the Cosmic Game of Hide and Seek by Alan Watts
5.0
Reading Alan Watts is an experience in osmosis for me. The themes and approach in each of his books are similar, straightforward, in a way, but a bit tricky; each time I encounter one of his books—or lectures—I breathe in a new way of liberation, a little bit deeper. I walk away more aware, less rigid, more open.
Zen manifests in surprising ways. Insights can take years to uncover, if we're struggling too much with them, or they can be ever-present, mere moments away—once we stop seeking them.
Watts is a spiritual entertainer to the core, not a guru. You won't find dogma within these pages. He's merely offering us some things to consider—always sincere but never serious. His ability to use metaphor to convey dynamic truth always impresses. Zen cannot be captured in written word, or spoken word for that matter, but Out of Your Mind offers another way by which we can reorient our way of being, to train our minds; what matters is not the words themselves but the fact that they enable us to accept the world & ourselves (for we are the universe experiencing itself), and more easily flow with it.
He's a delight. Warm. Erudite. Full of life.
Zen manifests in surprising ways. Insights can take years to uncover, if we're struggling too much with them, or they can be ever-present, mere moments away—once we stop seeking them.
Watts is a spiritual entertainer to the core, not a guru. You won't find dogma within these pages. He's merely offering us some things to consider—always sincere but never serious. His ability to use metaphor to convey dynamic truth always impresses. Zen cannot be captured in written word, or spoken word for that matter, but Out of Your Mind offers another way by which we can reorient our way of being, to train our minds; what matters is not the words themselves but the fact that they enable us to accept the world & ourselves (for we are the universe experiencing itself), and more easily flow with it.
He's a delight. Warm. Erudite. Full of life.