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| The Book: On the Taboo Against Knowing Who You Are | 
 enlarge | Author: Alan Watts
Publisher: Vintage
Category: Book
List Price: $12.95 (30.49 RON)
Buy New: $10.36 (24.39 RON)
You Save: $2.59 (6.10 RON) (20%)
Avg. Customer Rating:  79 reviews
Sales Rank: 32486
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 176
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.5
Dimensions (in): 7.9 x 5.1 x 0.5
ISBN: 0679723005
Dewey Decimal Number: 128.3
EAN: 9780679723004
ASIN: 0679723005
Publication Date: August 28, 1989
Shipping: Eligible for Super Saver Shipping
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| Customer Reviews:
 Who Are You? May 26, 2004
158 out of 162 found this review helpful
I read this book when it was first published in 1966, re-read it after an unexpected opportunity to meet Alan Watts just before he died (in 1973), and then re-read it again recently after having recommended it highly to a close personal friend. Long ago, I became convinced that the nature and extent of any book's impact are almost entirely dependent on (a) the nature and extent of our life experiences when reading a book and (b) the nature and extent of our ability to absorb and digest whatever that book may offer. Watts's The Book: On the Taboo Against Knowing Who You Are offers an excellent case in point. Frankly, Watts's personal impact on me now is greater than were the first and second readings of his book. I immediately was aware of his stunning intellect and compelling decency. More impressive by far was a sense of his spirituality. It was most evident in his eyes and tone of voice. More then twenty years later, I re-read The Book. What follows is an admittedly clumsy attempt to share my thoughts and feelings about it.
First, with regard to the title and subtitle, Watts explains that "The Book I am thinking about [and later wrote] would not be religious in the usual sense, but it would have to discuss many things with which religions have been concerned -- the universe and man's place in it, the mysterious center of experience which we call `I myself.' the problems of life and love, pain and death, and the whole question of whether existence has meaning has meaning in [in italics] any sense of the word."
As for the subtitle, Watts explains that there is no need for a new religion or a new bible. "We need a new experience -- a new feeling of what it is to be `I.' The lowdown (which is, of course, the secret and profound view) on life is that our normal sensation of self is a hoax, or, at best, a temporary role that we are playing, or have been conned into playing -- with our own tacit consent, just as every hypnotized person is basically willing to be hypnotized. The most strongly enforced of all known taboos is the taboo against knowing who or what you really are behind the mask of your apparently separate, independent, and isolated ego."
So, that was the book Watts was thinking about writing, and, the taboo to which he devotes most of his attention (directly or indirectly) throughout the book he eventually wrote.
What do I now think of this book? First, it retains its ecumenical spirit but in ways and to an extent I did not fully appreciate years ago. Watts is very respectful of all of the major religions, at least in terms of the common values they share; however, he also suggests (and I agree) that those values have been concealed by layer-after-layer of doctrine, policy, and procedure. Watts's point: "The standard-brand religions, whether Jewish, Christian, Mohammedan, or Buddhist, are -- as now practiced -- like exhausted mines very hard to dig." Also, I am again struck by the fact that Watts suggests a mindset which is inclusive, tolerant (when appropriate, forgiving), and at all times determined to continue a process of self-discovery. It seems that he wrote this book because he had become concerned about man's alienation from himself (herself) as well as from other human beings and from the physical world within which all of us struggle to achieve (in Abraham Maslow's terms) survival, then security, and eventually self-fulfillment.
This is not a book for dilettantes. Watts is quite serious when posing questions so easily phrased but so difficult to answer responsibly. In his view, "for thousands of years human history has been a magnificently futile conflict, a wonderfully staged panorama of triumph and tragedies based on the resolute taboo against admitting that black goes with white [i.e. that diametrically opposed forces can co-exist, indeed nourish each other]. Nothing, perhaps, ever got nowhere with so much fascinating ado." Having recently re-read this book, I was reminded of what Whitman observed in Song of Myself: "Do I contradict myself? Very well, then, I contradict myself. I am large. I contain multitudes."
I am also reminded of the key concept in Ernest Becker's The Denial of Death. He acknowledges that all of us die eventually. Only the suicide decides the circumstances in which death occurs. However, Becker suggests that there is another death which CAN be denied: That which occurs when when we become totally preoccupied with fulfilling others' expectations of us.
For me, that is the essential point in The Book. Watts concludes with a quotation of James Broughton's observations:
This is It
and I am It
and You are It
and so is That
and He is It
And She is It
and It is It
and That is That.
"To come on like IT -- to play at being God -- is to play the Self as a role, which is just what it isn't. When IT plays, it plays at being everything else."
Who are you? Alan Watts offers this book which can help to answer that question. However, the inevitably perilous journey of self-discovery can only be completed by you. And that journey may require many years of your life...without any guarantee that you will reach the destination you seek. Your choice. It always is...and will be.
 Interesting Read. Sporatic at times May 2, 2004
4 out of 7 found this review helpful
While the concepts and philosophies of Alan Watts, as presented in this book, are interesting, enlightening and challening, you will find yourself re-reading whole passages. Why? The thought process of Watts is like his philosophies: they "go with the flow". Reading this book is at times like the scene in Rocky when Rocky Balboa is chasing the chickens around his backyard. You will want so to grasp ahold of the ideas, but the ideas keep running in circles.
I definately recommend reading this book. But be forewarned, you will want to read it twice, and maybe 3 times just to grasp its overall message.
The philosophy presented in "THE BOOK" at times was brilliant, but also unrealistic. Complete seperation from the ego because there is no I is the sweeping premise. We are the universe, and the universe is us. Just be you, unhindered, etc.
Some of the generalizations Watts makes are a tad too much for me. The pursuit of money is bad, striving to feed the hungry is bad, just be you, and go with the flow around you.
Sometimes the world needs you to pick up your ego and take charge. I can say this: I wouldn't want to live in a world of Watt's clones.
While there is much appreciation for the experience, it is much to idealistic of a philosophy to be a nature human pursuit. "trying on" this view could be likened to balancing a running chainsaw on your nose...it won't stay that way for long!
Watt's believes the ego, and I, do not exist. I'm not sold on this. Don't jump ship on your spirituality just yet! The Book on the Taboo Against Knowing Who You Are doesn't have much in common with the human heart, and the human reality.
Superb explanation of Eastern thought for Western minds August 31, 2003
72 out of 74 found this review helpful
A "hip" teacher lent me this book when I was 17, and I thought it was fascinating, entertaining, and thought-provoking. 20 years later, I was listening to a series of recorded lectures by the author on my local public radio station, and it finally dawned on me what he was talking about in the book I had read in 1971! This isn't even Watts' "best" book, but its the best one to start with if you have reached the intellectual dead-end, as I had as a bright teenager, of "scientific" materialism. Watts writes in plain language, using everyday examples, and is simply the best translator of Hindu, Toaist and Buddhist philosophies into language that Westerners can easily understand. He is also a witty storyteller and delightful personality. If you read this, give it 20 years to sink in before you write your review. When you finally "get" it, you'll be walking 3 inches off the ground. Of course, now that everybody you meet is either into quasi-Eastern New-Age beliefs or rutted in reactionary Fundamentalist dogma, the book may read differently. But it's more likely that Watts' genuine acceptance of human foibles, egoless wisdom, light-hearted, amused honesty and absolutely penetrating insights into the nature of reality would make "The Book" accessible to any human who likes to think.
Still simply one of the best August 28, 2003
5 out of 5 found this review helpful
I've had this book for many years but it is still one of my favorites. I think it is still one of the best books that illustrates the duality of consciousness and how it impacts our lives. This book always helps me clear the clutter in my mind whenever I am in need of it. I recently came across a book that applies this idea to relationships and human development and it is quite amazing too! It is called "The Ever-transcending spirit" by Toru Sato. If you like stuff about consciousness, you'll absolutely love these books! Guaranteed!
This book is the closest anti-religion bible there is! August 9, 2003
10 out of 12 found this review helpful
Oh God, this book is great. If you are one of those boxed in Christians, or any other weak type of person who couldn't stand to read a book that would dare consider your version of "God" to be absurd, than this book will just scare you. But otherwise you should love it. Watts is just straight genius, and is so incredibly capable of articulating his thoughts into analogies and words its unbelievable. Definitely check out this book if you are into philosophy or metaphysics.
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