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Out of Your Mind
- Narrated by: Alan Watts
- Length: 14 hrs and 22 mins
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Publisher's Summary
In order to come to your senses, Alan Watts often said, you sometimes need to go out of your mind. Perhaps more than any other teacher in the West, this celebrated author, former Anglican priest, and self-described spiritual entertainer was responsible for igniting the passion of countless wisdom seekers to the spiritual and philosophical delights of Asia and India.
Now, with Out of Your Mind: Essential Listening from the Alan Watts Audio Archives, you are invited to immerse yourself in 12 of this legendary thinker's pinnacle teaching sessions about how to break through the limits of the rational mind and begin expanding your awareness and appreciation for the Great Game unfolding all around us.
Whether you're completely new to Alan Watts or familiar with his work, here is a rare opportunity to experience him at his best, improvising brilliantly before a live audience on Out of Your Mind: Essential Listening from the Alan Watts Audio Archives.
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What listeners say about Out of Your Mind
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Eugene
- 10-28-16
Another great book
This book is as amazing as other Alan Watts books. However, if you already purchased "You're it" then this book is very very similar with identical talks.
92 people found this helpful
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- Alan
- 11-28-17
Cause if you let your breath go... it'll come back
These lectures are great for anyone with an open mind, from the merely curious to those seeking satori. A self proclaimed "spiritual entertainer," Alan Watts takes various concepts from eastern religions and translates them for a western audience, providing both entertainment and insight along the way. If you ever need a new perspective on the human condition try giving Alan Watts a listen.
This man passed over a decade before I was born, but his voice gives me comfort and his words bring me peace. He's helped me through some tough times, and I return to his lectures, or his writings, from time to time when I need a refresher.
"So, translated into colloquial American, nirvana is 'whew.' 'Cause if you let your breath go... it'll come back."
29 people found this helpful
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- CJRapier
- 09-24-16
A must for fans Alan Watts
Fourteen hours of wisdom from the legendary Alan Watts. I own all of the other lecture series by Watts that are available on Audible and I did not hear any repeated material from those. I thoroughly enjoyed every minute, the sound quality is excellent given the age of some of the recordings. This is a great introduction to Zen and Eastern philosophy in general. I can't recommend this highly enough, if you are a fan or just getting into this wonderful, entertaining philosopher you will not be disappointed!
24 people found this helpful
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- c.hewlett
- 12-08-15
Brilliant. & Terrific to be able to listen rather than read!
Wonderful to have the chance to not only receive the wisdom of this brilliant man, but to also actually hear the material as the original talk (& not read by a narrator). Thank you to everyone that made this possible. Fascinating material, perfect format.
42 people found this helpful
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- Jermaine McGruder
- 11-09-15
One of the Best
This collection of original speeches by Alan Watts is amazing. It very detailed and very entertaining. Alan Watts has a way of taking serious ideas and explaining them in a humorous way. If you like philosophy, get this book.
14 people found this helpful
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- james patrick
- 07-19-17
loved it
mind opening. Alan Watts has changed my life. This book helped me cope with the loss of my mother and father. so very grateful!
12 people found this helpful
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- David A. Montalvo
- 01-18-18
Overlaps with You're It
Excellent compilation but be warned - if you already have You're It, there are 3 or so talks that are in both collections.
10 people found this helpful
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- Brian
- 11-24-15
not dissapointed
Even better than "You're It" with mostly new recordings that I have never heard before
25 people found this helpful
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- Amazon Customer
- 12-25-16
Be careful before buying
If you could sum up Out of Your Mind in three words, what would they be?
Great but watchout
Any additional comments?
Be careful when buying this audio book or any audio book being packaged with Alan Watts lectures because it seems they fill these audiobooks with the same lectures so if you buy two different books you might actually be buying the same thing twice. Unfortunately there is no way to figure this out ahead of time
136 people found this helpful
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- Rip Dan Spinkle
- 08-06-18
Genius
Alan Watts is a master at reminding us to stop clinging and to enjoy life.
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- Anthony Goodman
- 03-29-16
Life saving, and yet ending my fear of death!
As a great fan of Alan Watts, I'd heard many of his talks over and over, but when I landed this compilation in my mp3 player, I was given 14 hours of his finest speech. That was originally shortly before being admitted to hospital for a stem cell transplant, a risky procedure for rebooting my immune system with healthy young bone marrow cells, while the cancerous cells destroying my bones were killed off with a massive dose of chemo poison.
I mention this to illustrate the extraordinary experience I had in being kept safe, mentally, emotionally and spiritually by Alan Watts' unarguable description of reality from the inside-out. For two weeks, Alan kept me company as my ailing immune system was destroyed and then rebooted. His words eased my fears as they described my own being and relationship with the Universe in the most simple terms.
On my way to recovery, I eventually grasped that which most people couldn't conceive. Not because it requires any great intellectual feat, but because we are not conditioned to experience the world from the inside-out, a perspective from which death cannot exist as a direct experience, anymore than birth can.
This material is profoundly capable of shifting one's perspective with repetitive listening, and Alan Watts' beautiful voice makes it a pleasure to listen to again and again. as moments of epiphanic A-Ha come thick and fast.
Get it...
138 people found this helpful
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- Beccalelia
- 09-06-18
wow.
I have listened through this 3 times now and each time I pick up something new. I had heard of Alan Watts and tried watching/listening to his work on YouTube but just wasn't for me. I got this with my monthly audio credit because I had been looking for a book about eastern philosophies and westerners who had embraced them. Alan Watts came up in the search, was a lot of hours of lectures - I figured if nothing else it might help me sleep.
Instead was amazed and found myself saddened he's no longer alive to do more lectures. A lot of the material is undeniably a bit of a shock - can't see today, him being able to be so blunt in his views on suicide. As someone who is a parent and who has been a high suicide risk to now someone who was of the mindset 'well suicide hurts those left behind. I need to put up and shut up. Life is what it is. Hopefully my kid will have a happier life, make better choices.' I was surprised to have my views challenged and to be made to think deeply about what my problem was.
I've had depression diagnosised since 18. I figured it was maybe a rogue chemical in my brain. Later I figured maybe it was because I wasn't diagnosised as ASD till late in life. I function. I endure. Having tried the whole LOA thing, tried positive thinking regimes with grinning wildly mentors, tried CBT - mean every current alternative means has been encouraged by my doctors. The problem they see is im too aware of society. I figured was just me, who wondered how much damage "pay for your funeral" ads "take this painkiller" ads do. Instead I found in these lectures someone pointing out how far as a species we go to avoid pain, to avoid conversations on death, to avoid understanding why someone has had enough of life and insist on them living in pain and suffering even when terminally ill, bedridden and with no chance - many years before I was thought of. It helped me a lot frankly that someone had seen what was happening and said it as it was.
It did not magically cure me of any illness. Alan Watts did not reach from beyond the grave transform radically my world view. It did however make me wonder why his lectures aren't on repeat on tv. It would do a lot more good i think personally than repeating hourly how horrible the world is on the news. Will it change my life, probably not, it did make me think harder about adding to the stereotypes of life is suffering between cradle and grave. Really interesting man with an interesting life that I'm sure makes it easy to criticise or villainse if that's your thing. Personally, after researching I just saw a man with an unusual mind, not pretending or caring about appearing "perfect" or "good".
Enjoyed is wrong word. So is inspired. Somewhere between intrigued, challenged and fascinated by what he had to say is more accurate. Hopefully taking time to write what I really thought will help someone else, who like me, gets bored the second someone claims such and such is a great guru or mind. I found an intelligent human being with an interesting take on life which was helpful. Maybe you will to.
15 people found this helpful
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- Head Coach
- 12-20-16
Very accessible way into Zen thought
Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?
Yes, because i had such a deep experience listening to Watts talking. Years ago I read some of his books which were clear and helpful but seemed a bit quirky. Having now listened (twice) to 14 hours of him explaining Eastern thought in real depth I realise he was a deeply wise person who was really effective at putting across the unexplainable. On these 50 year old tapes he speaks directly to me today.
Any additional comments?
Just now and again he makes a remark that would have seemed normal in 1966 but seems a bit non PC today. These came as a surprise because it reminded me that he wasn't in the room with me!
14 people found this helpful
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- Jo
- 06-28-16
Beware
This is the same set of lectures and anecdotes as You're It - almost identical. I sent it back.
111 people found this helpful
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- Mr. J. Alliban
- 07-30-16
Mind expanding
As an introduction to Eastern philosophy for a Western mind this was incredibly eye opening. It has changed the way I think about many aspects of reality and helped to strengthen my spiritual understanding. I am excited to read more of Watts' material and to discover more Eastern spiritual thought.
The delivery was intelligent and witty although I felt that the structure was a little random and that many of the parts ended a bit abruptly. In his defence however, this was a lecture series and not a book.
Part of me felt a little robbed that I had to wait until my 37th year to discover such ideas. It's both interesting and rather frustrating that this way of thinking is almost entirely missing from our culture. A culture in which competition and hierarchy are such important aspects...
26 people found this helpful
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- Jtolan
- 11-30-16
Excellent wisdom that helps in daily life
these lectures are fantastic! the way Alan watts presents is the best interpretation of of eastern philosophy for a western audience I have ever heard. he simplifies methods for meditation and spiritual development so they no longer seem arduous long-winded processes involving tons of work and practice. I feel happier after listening.
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- Terry
- 12-04-16
I love Alan Watts.
Really great if like me you are new to Alan Watts. He is a great speaker full of wisdom. I feel aware after listening to him. Like an artist opens your eyes to a subject so to does Alan open the heart to many ideas. Brilliant.
9 people found this helpful
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- Jamie Blakeway
- 01-29-17
Loved it. listening for a second time now.
Loved it. listening for a second time now. Alan Watts is unique in that he doesn't ever sound like he's preaching and has a soothing calminv voice and great sense of humor. Really good.
16 people found this helpful
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- caho
- 07-24-17
Disappointing
I read a lot of Alan Watts in my teens and found it fascinating and his books at the time upgraded my world view. Since then I've read spiritual texts by realised masters from the Buddhist and Hindu traditions and have had some experiences of the reality they talk about. I thought I'd revisit him as I'd enjoyed his works so much before. He does not compare to the texts by individuals who are permanently spiritually awakened, or the preciseness of great spiritual classics. He gets a lot of people interested but he's just at the gateway. I now see his works as a mish-mash of his own inconsequential thoughts and interpretations mixed with some interesting information. As long as he sticks to the subject of Zen and general spirituality he gets close to something, helps the reader get close, but the rest of it..... what an accepting, fawning audience, asking for no references or checks to the validity of what he is saying. I feel he would get a different experience these days. Rather than the unquestioning acceptance. The endless mansplaining is hard to take at times and nothing to do with anything. Rather muddy and muddled. I do believe he has the power to flip his readers into a spiritual state, which is quite an achievement. But as we now have access to many more spiritual texts, we can go straight to pure source. He's a mixed bag but has my gratitude.
48 people found this helpful
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- Benvenuto
- 02-27-16
Wonderful.
Alan Watts had the most beautiful way of drifting us listeners to the serenity that is our pleasure of listening to his lectures. I would recommend this to anyone who takes a moment to glance at this review... You won't regret listening to this... :) The journey through this title is a funny one, much humour making the listening all that easier as well as taking in all the lessons :) - enjoy!
16 people found this helpful
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- Amazon Customer
- 12-28-19
Could be so much better
The lectures in this audio book are basically copied from material freely available elsewhere. Somebody has simply and randomly downloaded some of this material and presented it here. There has been no effort to edit the material into any sort of meaningful order. They have added a bit of “funky” guitar and a female narrator who introduces each section. Some of the sections in this audiobook just peter out, almost mid sentence. There is so much missing material here. It is a shame because the work of Alan Watts was truly significant. Many of his ideas still resonate today. If you want to study the social and cultural upheaval of the 1960’s you need to study this man and his writings. He was massively influential. His material also resonates very strongly with today’s Millenials who see in his philosophy a way of reshaping the political and social materialism that has ensnared their generation. If audible wish to cash in on the work of Alan Watts they need to at least re-edit the material and remove the infamous background noise of watts’ lapel microphone. They should also pay an editor to put the material into some kind of thematic order. Finally, Watts actually wrote several books as well as recording his lectures and interviews and these would benefit from being produced in an audiobook format. I’d certainly buy them if they had a decent narrator. The material in this ‘audiobook’ should be seen as a taster of the total work produced by Alan Watts during his lifetime. Don’t let the dreadful quality and complete absence of editing herein discourage you from finding out more about the material generated by this remarkable and visionary man.
16 people found this helpful
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- Steven Di Pietro
- 03-23-18
I’ve listened 10 times
The best book I’ve ever listened to. Best book ever.
I think I’ve listened 10 times.
I can randomly turn it on anytime and it blows my mind.
4 people found this helpful
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- Anonymous User
- 11-06-18
starting point
this is a fantastic starting point for alan watts admirers and studiers of his philosophy
2 people found this helpful
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- Anonymous User
- 10-14-18
Entertainment and mentoring
i struggled to stop listening every time I started! this lecture series have a life changing power.
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- ron pulman
- 12-15-19
Annoying interruptions
Loved Watts' lectures. Hated the section announcements accompanied by that same guitar music. If there could be a version that does not have these interludes, that would be preferable.
1 person found this helpful
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- Ved
- 02-02-17
One of the only things you'll ever need to hear
One of the only things you'll ever need to hear. Right up there with 'you look great in those jeans'.
2 people found this helpful
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- Dirk Schmitt
- 10-09-16
Zen, Buddhism and Hindu Philosophy done well
Alan Watts is wonderful to listen to and his style of presentation is just brilliant. He treats the subject matter with great humour and insight. Listening to him speak is also a joy and I have gained much from this particular work of his.
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- J S Nunn
- 01-11-22
excellent and timeless
Although quite some time since recording them, Alan Watt's words remain timeless. Fantastic, humorous wisdom.
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- Amazon Customer
- 11-12-20
Simply a surprising, amazing philosophy!
Alan Watts at his best: Clever, ingenious but also entertaining and amusing at times. I believe this is frankly one of the best ways to get gently introduced to the Zen and overall budhist philosophy and traditions, much needed being such a departure from familiar "western" way of pondering about all that make up 'reality'. He excels at making that contrast evident and more amenable to inquiry.
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- Benjamin
- 03-03-20
I think this lecture series has changed me.
I wish I'd read this earlier in life. For once a perspective-changing book that is 100% compatible with atheism.