1st Edition
Alan Watts in Late-Twentieth-Century Discourse Commentary and Criticism from 1974 to 1994
This book is an anthology of commentary and criticism written within the transitional period between Alan Watts’ 1973 death and the twenty-first century intellectual horizon.
Comprised of 16 chapters written and published between 1974 and 1994, with up-to-date introductions from the essayists and other contemporary thinkers, this volume opens a window onto unexplored grounds of Alan Watts’ impact within late-twentieth-century discourse – an intermediate space where scholars reoriented their bearings through changing times and emerging academic trends. Offering varied explanations and assessments of Alan Watts, including his influence on the Beat and Hippie generations, and his popularization of Zen Buddhism in America, it tackles unaddressed questions within the milieu of late-twentieth-century America from the Reagan Revolution and religious conservatism, to paradigm shifts in Buddhist studies and the rise of post-colonial theory. Contributors’ post-mortem analyses and critiques of Watts allow for a thematic rendering of their consonance or dissonance with noted Beat, Hippie, and Zen Buddhism themes of his lifetime.
This volume will appeal to scholars and students of humanistic psychology, transpersonal psychology, the psychology of religion, comparative religion, and American studies.
List of Contributors
Preface
Acknowledgments
Introduction: Alan Watts – Then and There
Peter J. Columbus
PART 1
Commentary
1 The Vintage Alan Watts
Prefatory Note
Peter J. Columbus
The Vintage Alan Watts
Albert W. Sadler
2 The Complete Alan Watts
Prefatory Note
Peter J. Columbus
The Complete Alan Watts
Albert W. Sadler
3 Alan Watts’ Metaphysical Language: Positivity in Negative Concepts
Prefatory Note
Michael C. Brannigan
Alan Watts’ Metaphysical Language: Positivity in Negative Concepts
Michael C. Brannigan
4 The Theory of Non-Duality in the Philosophy of Alan W. Watts
Prefatory Note
Michael C. Brannigan
The Theory of Non-Duality in the Philosophy of Alan W. Watts
Michael C. Brannigan
5 Alan Watts and the Therapeutic Process
Prefatory Note
Peter J. Columbus
Alan Watts and the Therapeutic Process
Dennis T. Sibley
6 Daemon est Deus Inversus: The Androgynous Dialectics of Alan Watts
Prefatory Note
Peter J. Columbus
Daemon est Deus Inversus: The Androgynous Dialectics of Alan Watts
Alfred L. Recoulley
7 "Beyond Separation"
Prefatory Note
Juliet Bennett
"Beyond Separation"
John H. Morgan
8 Alan Watts’ Word on Myths of Polarity: Power to Women, Nature, and the Left Hand of God
Prefatory Note
Dirk Dunbar
Alan Watts’ Word on Myths of Polarity: Power to Women, Nature, and the Left Hand of God
Dirk Dunbar
PART 2
Criticism
9 The Meeting of the Twain: Alan Watts and The Supreme Identity
Prefatory Note
Peter J. Columbus
The Meeting of the Twain: Alan Watts and The Supreme Identity
O’hyun Park
10 The Mystical Philosophy of Alan Watts
Prefatory Note
Peter J. Columbus
The Mystical Philosophy of Alan Watts
Herman F. Suligoj
11 An Evaluation of Watts
Prefatory Note
David K. Clark
An Evaluation of Watts
David K. Clark
12 Alan Watts Was Sure One Strange Kinda Chinaman!
Prefatory Note
Benjamin R. Tong
Alan Watts Was Sure One Strange Kinda Chinaman!
Benjamin R. Tong
13 The Wayward Mysticism of Alan Watts
Prefatory Note
Alexander H. Catlin
The Wayward Mysticism of Alan Watts
Louis Nordstrom and Richard Pilgrim
14 A Response to Nordstrom and Pilgrim’s Critique of Alan Watts’ Mysticism
Prefatory Note
Peter J. Columbus
A Response to Nordstrom and Pilgrim’s Critique of Alan Watts’ Mysticism
Peter J. Columbus
15 Zen, Mysticism, and Counterculture: The Pilgrimage of Alan Watts
Prefatory Note
Peter J. Columbus
Zen, Mysticism, and Counterculture: The Pilgrimage of Alan Watts
Carl T. Jackson
16 The Influence of Oriental Mysticism on American Thought
Prefatory Note
Morgan Shipley
The Influence of Oriental Mysticism on American Thought
Reed M. Baird
Editor’s Conclusion: Alan Watts – Yesterday and Today
Peter J. Columbus
Biography
Peter J. Columbus is administrator of Shantigar Foundation and serves on the Board of Directors of Valley Zendo – a Soto Zen Buddhist Temple in the lineage of Kodo Sawaki and Kosho Uchiyama. He holds a PhD in experimental psychology from the University of Tennessee-Knoxville, USA.