Alan Watts--Here and Now: Contributions to Psychology, Philosophy, and Religion (SUNY Series in Transpersonal and Humanistic Psychology)

Intro Contents Acknowledgments Illustrations Introduction: A New Look at Alan Watts Curriculum Vitae On the Taboo Against Knowing Alan Watts Watts as Theologian Watts as Contemplative Mystic Watts as Zennist Watts as Philosopher Watts as Psychologist Watts as Cultural Symptom Here and Now An Emerging Legacy Notes References Chapter One: Alan Watts' Anticipation of Four Major Debates in the Psychology of Religion The Perennialist Thesis Psychedelics and Mystical Experience Eroticism And Mysticism Religion And Spirituality References Chapter Two: Alan Watts: The Immediate Magic of GodToward an Apophatic Theology Christianity Reconsidered Conclusion References Chapter Three: Phenomenological Exegeses of Alan Watts: Transcendental and Hermeneutic Strategies Transcendental Phenomenology and The Wisdom of Insecurity The Natural Attitude of Insecurity Bracketing the Natural Attitude of Insecurity The Intentionality of Insecurity The Second Bracketing Procedure Hermeneutics and The Book The Multidimensional Significance of Identity The Differentiation of Identity The Dialectic of Identity Intuitive Understanding of IdentityWhy Did Alan Watts Come from the West? Humanistic and Transpersonal Psychology Conclusion Notes References Chapter Four: The Psychedelic Adventures of Alan Watts The Adventures Begin The New Alchemy The Trip to Harvard Mutual Concerns The Ontological Status of Psychedelic Experience The Problem of Neuropolitics Life on the S. S. Vallejo In Retrospect References Chapter Five: From the Joyous Cosmology to the Watercourse Way: An Appreciation of Alan Watts Set and Setting The Joyous Cosmology Life Is a Gesture The Watercourse Way A Concluding AppreciationReferences Chapter Six: Alan Watts and the Neuroscience of Transcendence Transcendence in the Laboratory EEG Studies d'Aquili and Newburg's Neuroimaging Studies Hamer's Genetic Research Entheogenic Drug Studies Persinger's Electromagnetic Field Research Davidson's Affective Neuroscience Watts and the Nature of Transcendent Experience Watts and Neuroscience in the Twenty-First Century Notes References Chapter Seven: Listening to the Rain: Embodied Awareness in Watts Awareness Naked and Clothed Disembodied Religion and Sensual Mysticism Writing Style Enter the Mind's ElephantAre we Connecting Yet? Notes References Chapter Eight: Alan Watts on Nature, Gender, and Sexuality: A Contemporary View Watts' Three Ideas Nature and Gender Polarity of Men and Women Spirituality and Sexuality A Contemporary View Eco-Feminism Beyond Polarity Tantra and Neo-Tantra Conclusion Notes References Chapter Nine: Contributions and Conundrums in the Psychospiritual Transformation of Alan Watts Watts in Theory: An Appreciation Exposing the Myths that Guide How We See Language, Science, and Poetry Considers the contributions and contemporary significance of Alan Watts. Alan Watts—Here and Now explores the intellectual legacy and continuing relevance of a prolific writer and speaker who was a major influence on American culture during the latter half of the twentieth century. A thinker attuned to the spiritual malaise affecting the Western mind, Watts (1915–1973) provided intellectual and spiritual alternatives that helped shape the Beat culture of the 1950s and the counterculture of the 1960s. Well known for introducing Buddhist and Daoist spirituality to a wide Western audience, he also wrote on psychology, mysticism, and psychedelic experience. Many idolized Watts as a guru-mystic, yet he was also dismissed as intellectually shallow and as a mere popularizer of Asian religions (the “Norman Vincent Peale of Zen”). Both critical and appreciative, this edited volume locates Watts at the forefront of major paradigmatic shifts in Western intellectual life. Contributors explore how Watts’s work resonates in present-day scholarship on psychospiritual transformation, Buddhism and psychotherapy, Daoism in the West, phenomenology and hermeneutics, humanistic and transpersonal psychology, mysticism, and ecofeminism, among other areas. “Columbus and Rice have put together a volume that is well conceived, well written, well edited, and accessible to undergraduates as well as scholars.” — CHOICE “Watts was a stunningly brilliant writer—far better than almost anyone writing then or now; he clearly had grasped ‘the essence of Zen.’ Every essay in this book throws new light on the relevance of his ideas for today, and the ones written by those who are also historical figures in the circles Watts moved in and wrote out of offer fascinating historical tidbits. I enthusiastically recommend this book.” — Jeffrey J. Kripal, author of Esalen: America and the Religion of No Religion Peter J. Columbus is Administrator of the Shantigar Foundation in Rowe, Massachusetts. Donadrian L. Rice is Professor of Psychology at the University of West Georgia. They are also the coeditors of Psychology of the Martial Arts. Alan Watts—Here and Now: Contributions to psychology, philosophy, and religion 1 Alan Watts—Here and Now: Contributions to psychology, philosophy, and religion 4 Contents 6 Acknowledgments 8 Illustrations 10 Introduction: A New Look at Alan Watts 12 Chapter One: Alan Watts’ Anticipation of Four Major Debates in the Psychology of Religion 36 Chapter Two: Alan Watts: The Immediate Magic of God 54 Chapter Three: Phenomenological Exegeses of Alan Watts: Transcendental and Hermeneutic Strategies 70 Chapter Four: The Psychedelic Adventures of Alan Watts 94 Chapter Five: From the Joyous Cosmology to the Watercourse Way: An Appreciation of Alan Watts 114 Chapter Six: Alan Watts and the Neuroscience of Transcendence 134 Chapter Seven: Listening to the Rain: Embodied Awareness in Watts 160 Chapter Eight: Alan Watts on Nature, Gender, and Sexuality: A Contemporary View 174 Chapter Nine: Contributions and Conundrums in the Psychospiritual Transformation of Alan Watts 194 Chapter Ten: Buddhist Wisdom in the West: A Fifty-Year Perspective on the Contributions of Alan Watts 214 Chapter Eleven: Watercourse Way: Still Flowing with Alan Watts 230 Contributors 244 Index 248 Edited By Peter J. Columbus And Donadrian L. Rice. Includes Bibliographical References And Index.