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Title: Psychotherapy, East and West by Alan Watts, Alan Wilson Watts ISBN: 0-394-71609-4 Publisher: Vintage Books USA Pub. Date: 01 April, 1973 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $10.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 5 (4 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Classic Comparison of Two Roads to One Destination
Comment: The ultimate goal is freedom, self-expression, & authenticity in the world we occupy. Alan W. Watts compares the Chinese/Buddhist approach and modern Western psychological techniques for developing a clear consciousness and insight into behavior, life, and relationships. The psychological double-bind is examined via the roles and expectations of society. Buddhist techniques for liberation and Western psychological techniques are explored ... most telling is the discourse that one needs "to escape the therapist's trap" [p. 184, c.1961 Pantheon Books] plus, "social authority contains a contradiction from which natural authority is free, and self-contradiction so basic that its perpetuation must destroy society and drive men to madness". Yet, Watts acknowledges that separation from society, with emphasis on individual uniqueness, is to a great extent, a mistake. The more one explores human behavior, the discovery is made that the individual is connected with and part of the whole be it society, the world, or LIFE. The interconnectedness of everything becomes apparent. It is the relationship of patterns which makes a person a whole human being. This recognition of belonging, helps dissolve the boundaries of the ego and makes a person feel less trapped and free. The ultimate parodox is ... the individual obtains freedom, by the awakening that he/she belongs ... Classic Buddhist conundrums are viewed through the author's eyes. Emotional traps set by Western society are explored. Alan W. Watts provides an excellent discourse on the paths to liberation and the emotional ties which bind people into feeling limited, and unfulfilled as well as a methodology to escape the traps. Erika Borsos (erikab93)
Rating: 5
Summary: His Best Work.
Comment: Vastly underrated and tragically out of print, _Psychotherapy East and West_ is Alan Watts' greatest work, and is one of the greatest works of psychology/philosophy of the twentieth century written in English. This book is also an ideal introductory course to the psychology of Carl G. Jung. Anyone who wants to read Jung should read this first (even though it came later) because it encompasses all of Jungs key concepts in an ultra-concentrated yet remarkably readable form. That is not to say that Jung is unreadable, because he most certainly is a great, easily translatable writer. But Alan Watts had the advantage of writing in English, and for this reason I believe _Psychotherapy East and West_ is THE ULTIMATE introduction to psychology for the Anglo-American reader. It represents the new wave of fusion psychology/philosophy/religious Asian cusine. No longer should all these fields be separated. Alan Watts and Carl Jung together have succeeded in combining the fields of psychology, philosophy, theology, and anthropological mythology. This is the new wave of generalized spiritual enlightenment which is also unbiased, critical, sceptical and truthful. It has spawned such other great authors as Julian Jaynes and Terrance McKenna. The best thing about this new kind of psychotherapy is that it is not cold and pretentious with regard to religion, but is tolerant and advocating of any type of belief system which enhances people's well being and mental health. Because it is nevertheless rigorous in uncovering the truth, it resembles Eastern Buddhism. Keep in mind that Buddhism makes no firm and unverifiable claims regarding the existence of God or an afterlife; it is simply a stategy for living one's life in the most enjoyable way possible, and _Psychotherapy East and West_ does an excellent job in making this way of life accessable to Americans. This book is the ultimate alliance of belief, spirtuality, psychotherapy, and mental well-being on the one hand, and truthful, critical philosophy on the other. It does not wish to insulate people from spiritual crises and keep them suspended in naive belief, but introduces us to a new wave of spiritualism that is hardened by scepticism and impervious to doubt. While some philosophy might pride itself on debunking unverifiable beliefs, it does not provide a solution to man's broken and neurotic psychological condition due to his lost spirituality. _Psychotherapy East and West_, on the other hand, is respective of truth, critical and sceptical, yet provides firm answers as to how we can avoid the neuroses and depression that might result from an upending of our spiritual beliefs. Unconditionally recommended. One of my top five books of all time, of any genre.
Rating: 5
Summary: Be spontaneous!
Comment: Alan W. Watts' excellent looks into the world of psychotherapy, in particular those dealing with schizophrenia, and a world of Eastern religion; Hindu, Buddhist, Zen, Tao. The main topic of psychotherapy the author reaches is on the subject of the "double-bind" where one is forced to do two things at once. And the only way a human can do two things at once is to split into two people. Thus we have the psychological break. Discussing the writings of such known authors as Norman O. Brown, Wittgenstein, Freud as well as J. Haley, Erickson, Laing, Reich, Watzlawick, and Greagory Bateson. Noting mainly that the result of psychotherapy is that of the East in their liberation. Liberation and a successful therapeutic treatment are one in the same. The individual is free from binds, either double or singular, yet, now and again able to relate to the others world, as well as the world of the self. Watts "dances" about saying that to be therapeutic, one must also initate a double-bind so the patient can struggle to break it by "being himself." In which, as the subject refers to, to "be spontaneous" (which is in itself a paradox, as if someone were controlling you to do something without thinking). Watts concludes in his classic style discussing the liberation from the self in which words are constantly changing no matter where you are going or coming from. Vernaculars and lexicons are part of the moment, not something to be restricted in time; like all things to be - live in the moment. Reccomended for the theoretical psychologist as well as the Eastern frame of mind reader.
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Title: The Book: On the Taboo Against Knowing Who You Are by Alan Watts ISBN: 0679723005 Publisher: Vintage Books USA Pub. Date: 01 August, 1989 List Price(USD): $10.95 |
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Title: Behold the Spirit; A Study in the Necessity of Mystical Religion by Alan Wilson Watts ISBN: 0394717619 Publisher: Vintage Books USA Pub. Date: 01 March, 1972 List Price(USD): $11.00 |
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Title: The Wisdom of Insecurity by Alan Wilson Watts ISBN: 0394704681 Publisher: Vintage Books USA Pub. Date: 01 June, 1951 List Price(USD): $8.95 |
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Title: The Way of Zen (Vintage Spiritual Classics) by Alan Watts ISBN: 0375705104 Publisher: Vintage Books USA Pub. Date: 01 February, 1999 List Price(USD): $12.00 |
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Title: Nature, Man and Woman by Alan W. Watts ISBN: 0679732330 Publisher: Vintage Books USA Pub. Date: 01 March, 1991 List Price(USD): $12.00 |
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