the Book on Taboo Against Knowing Who You Are

'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 'Watts' magnum opus' Jarvis Cocker One of Alan Watts' most beloved works, this spiritual classic explores an unrecognised but mighty taboo - our tacit conspiracy to ignore who we really are We do not "come into" this world; we come out of it, as leaves from a tree. As the ocean "waves," the universe "peoples." Our goal-oriented lives leave something missing. We have become adversarial with each other and hostile to the world around us. Through our focus on ourselves and the world only as it immediately affects us, we have developed narrowed perception. As the foremost Western expert on Eastern thought, Alan Watts urges against the idea that we are separate from the world. Nowhere is this more apparent than in our cultural taboos, and the biggest taboo of all is knowing who we really are behind the mask we present to the world. Alan Watts tells us how to open our eyes and see ourselves not as coming into the world but as already a part of it. He teaches us how to know ourselves for who we really are.