June 2, 2013

The Joyous Cosmology by Alan W. Watts

The Joyous Cosmology by Alan W. Watts is the new second edition of the book that was originally published in 1962. Watts was one of the first to write about the spiritual value of psychedelic experiences, and this book allows you to explore some of the instances he experienced, without any extra side effects.


Book Description
The Joyous Cosmology is Alan Watts’s exploration of the insight that the consciousness-changing drugs LSD, mescaline, and psilocybin can facilitate “when accompanied with sustained philosophical reflection by a person who is in search, not of kicks, but of understanding.” More than an artifact, it is both a riveting memoir of Watts’s personal experiments and a profound meditation on our perennial questions about the nature of existence and the existence of the sacred.” – The Joyous Cosmology


My Thoughts
The Joyous Cosmology is a cool book. It has the 60s vibe, and reading it is like stepping back to that era (at least as far as I can imagine, as I was not alive then). It mixes the experiences of doing mind altering drugs with philosophical questions and spirituality. It brings forth many questions about life and the universe that you can contemplate on yourself, and seek answers to in your own ways. It is thought provoking and as relevant today as it was in the 1960s. It is an interesting read that no words could truly bring it justice in a review. I definitely recommend it.



* Thank you to the publisher of The Joyous Cosmology, New World Library, for providing me with a copy of this book for review. All opinions expressed are my own.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

This sounds like the perfect book to give to my aunt who was definitely a hippie!