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The Joyous Cosmology: Adventures in the Chemistry of Consciousness
The Joyous Cosmology is Alan Watts’s exploration of the insight that the consciousness-changing drugs LSD, mescaline & 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 & a profound meditation on our perennial questions about the nature of existence & the existence of the sacred.
100 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1962
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About the author
Alan W. Watts
255 books8,061 followersAlan Wilson Watts was a British philosopher, writer and speaker, who held both a Master's in Theology and a Doctorate of Divinity. Famous for his research on comparative religion, he was best known as an interpreter and popularizer of Asian philosophies for a Western audience. He wrote over 25 books and numerous articles on subjects such as personal identity, the true nature of reality, higher consciousness, the meaning of life, concepts and images of God and the non-material pursuit of happiness. In his books he relates his experience to scientific knowledge and to the teachings of Eastern and Western religion and philosophy.
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May 19, 2015
Alan Watts, the student of comparative religions and exponent of Zen to the West, was originally reluctant to equate some of the experiences readily afforded by the psychedelics to those obtained through long yogic disciplines. He changed his views after some experiences with the drugs and this book is his contribution to the discussion, a contribution specifically focusing on the emotional and religious aspects of the experience.
I had a similar experience in college. For some months a Buddhist monk from China lived on the Grinnell campus, conducting group meditations characterized by chanting. I participated in these sessions and befriended the fellow. Among our many discussions, we debated the relative merits of his preferred method to that preferred by most of the students at the college. Not having had the experience, he tried 500 micrograms of LSD.
Afterwards, in the North Lounge of the Student Forum, he told me that the experience had, one, caused him to revise his originally negative opinion of the drug and, two, made him aware of having been conceited about his own spiritual achievement. I was quite impressed by his honest humility.
I had a similar experience in college. For some months a Buddhist monk from China lived on the Grinnell campus, conducting group meditations characterized by chanting. I participated in these sessions and befriended the fellow. Among our many discussions, we debated the relative merits of his preferred method to that preferred by most of the students at the college. Not having had the experience, he tried 500 micrograms of LSD.
Afterwards, in the North Lounge of the Student Forum, he told me that the experience had, one, caused him to revise his originally negative opinion of the drug and, two, made him aware of having been conceited about his own spiritual achievement. I was quite impressed by his honest humility.
March 26, 2024
The Joyous Cosmology: Adventures in the Chemistry of Consciousness is such an upbeat and exciting title, it certainly doesn’t sound like it would be a flat or boring book. I mean, Alan Watts didn’t write boring books, did he? Yet it often seemed as if all the effervescence was missing from this one. That signature Watts’ trickster twinkle is largely AWOL here, replaced by a style that often comes across as clinical, or even pedantic. The tone was set in the forward by Timothy Leary and Richard Albert (both still in their Harvard professor hats, not yet moved on to pop culture trickster gurus they would later become). It almost seemed like everyone was trying very hard to make sure all readers would understand that this was a most serious subject.
That doesn’t mean that the book is without value. Just considered as a historical object it is important. Watts was the chief popularizer of mysticism and Eastern thought in the West — brilliant at synthesizing Eastern concepts into modes digestible within Western culture. Having a document where he not only takes on the idea of psychedelic drugs as a useful tool toward mystical experience, but actually documents his own trips with those drugs is significant. The fact that such trips are notoriously difficult to capture in words doesn’t distract from the value of Watts’ experiment.
Watts opened the book with both a preface and a prologue where he attempted to define both the challenge faced, and to defend the use of psychedelic drugs as a legitimate tool for approaching mystical experience. Here he defined the challenge:
The greatest of all superstitions is the separation of the mind from the body. This does not mean that we are being forced to admit that we are only bodies; it means that we are forming an altogether new idea of the body. As yet we have no proper word for a reality that is simultaneously mental and physical.
And here he explained why he had come to see (he took some convincing to get there) psychedelics as a legitimate tool for attempting mystical experience:
Mystical insight is no more in the chemical itself than biological knowledge is in the microscope. There is no difference, in principle, between sharpening perception with an external instrument, such as a microscope, and sharpening it with an internal instrument, such as one of these three drugs.
After establishing these things, he moved on to the heart of his text — what he called the Joyous Cosmology. This is where he attempted to document his own experiments using psychedelics as tools to reaching mystical states. He explained in his prologue and reiterated in his epilogue that while presented as a single trip —
This is a record, not of one experiment with consciousness changing drugs, but of several, compressed for reasons of poetic unity into a single day.
In this main section, he records ideas and thoughts moving through him during the experiences. Here some of Watts trickster twinkle breaks through, yet I feel that like all others who have attempted to record these experiences he mainly succeeded in showing how difficult doing so actually is. For instance, in this section of his mid trip ideas and thoughts he includes an attributed quote, which just seemed odd. Rather than try to describe it any further, I give you quotes from it that particularly struck me.
We are, and always have been One. We acknowledge the marvelously hidden plot, the master illusion whereby we appear to be different. The shock of recognition; in the form of everything most other, alien and remote — the ever receding galaxies, the mystery of death, the terrors of disease and madness, the foreign feeling, goose flesh world of sea monsters and spiders, the queasy labyrinth of my own insides in all these forms I have crept up on myself and yelled “Boo!”
I am moved to marvel at the ingenuity with which divinity hides in order to seek itself, at the lengths to which this cosmic joie de vivre will go in elaborating its dance…I can see people just pretending not to see that they are avatars of Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva, that the cells of their bodies aren’t millions of gods, that the dust isn’t the haze of jewels. How solemnly they would go through the act of not understanding me if I were to step up and say, “Who do you think you’re kidding? Come off it Shiva you old rascal! It’s a great act, but it doesn’t fool me.”
”Self conscious man thinks he thinks. This has long been recognized as to be an error, for the conscious subject who thinks he thinks is not the same as the organ which does the thinking. The conscious person is one component only of a series of transitory aspects of the thinking person.”
L.L. White, The Unconscious Before Freud
Watts used the Epilogue to make conclusions about the nature of his trips:
To try to get rid of what isn’t there is only to prolong confusion. On the whole, it is better to try to be aware of ones ego than to get rid of it. We can then discover that the knower is no different from the sensation of the known, whether the known be external objects or internal thoughts and memories.
Instead of knowers and knowns, there are simply knowings, instead of doers and deeds, simply doings.
He also addressed the reasons why Western culture is uncomfortable with mystical experience, and therefore why there is such hostility to tools like psychedelics that could be used to bring these experiences to a much larger populace:
The content of the mystical experience is thus inconsistent with both the religious and secular components of traditional Western thought. Moreover, mystical experiences often result in attitudes that threaten the authority not only of established churches but also of secular society. Unafraid of death and deficient in worldly ambition, those who have undergone mystical experiences are impervious to threats and promises. Moreover, their sense of the relativity of good and evil arouses the suspicion that they lack both conscience and respect for the law.
There is a lot of valuable information in The Joyous Cosmology. I would encourage anyone with more than a passing interest in the use and/or history of psychedelics to add it to their reading. If you are a fan of Alan Watts work, I would caution you, however, to not come expecting the same flair you may be used to in his other volumes. This book easily rates three and a half stars, but I am rounding down rather than up to distinguish it from his other books that have had a greater impact on me.
That doesn’t mean that the book is without value. Just considered as a historical object it is important. Watts was the chief popularizer of mysticism and Eastern thought in the West — brilliant at synthesizing Eastern concepts into modes digestible within Western culture. Having a document where he not only takes on the idea of psychedelic drugs as a useful tool toward mystical experience, but actually documents his own trips with those drugs is significant. The fact that such trips are notoriously difficult to capture in words doesn’t distract from the value of Watts’ experiment.
Watts opened the book with both a preface and a prologue where he attempted to define both the challenge faced, and to defend the use of psychedelic drugs as a legitimate tool for approaching mystical experience. Here he defined the challenge:
The greatest of all superstitions is the separation of the mind from the body. This does not mean that we are being forced to admit that we are only bodies; it means that we are forming an altogether new idea of the body. As yet we have no proper word for a reality that is simultaneously mental and physical.
And here he explained why he had come to see (he took some convincing to get there) psychedelics as a legitimate tool for attempting mystical experience:
Mystical insight is no more in the chemical itself than biological knowledge is in the microscope. There is no difference, in principle, between sharpening perception with an external instrument, such as a microscope, and sharpening it with an internal instrument, such as one of these three drugs.
After establishing these things, he moved on to the heart of his text — what he called the Joyous Cosmology. This is where he attempted to document his own experiments using psychedelics as tools to reaching mystical states. He explained in his prologue and reiterated in his epilogue that while presented as a single trip —
This is a record, not of one experiment with consciousness changing drugs, but of several, compressed for reasons of poetic unity into a single day.
In this main section, he records ideas and thoughts moving through him during the experiences. Here some of Watts trickster twinkle breaks through, yet I feel that like all others who have attempted to record these experiences he mainly succeeded in showing how difficult doing so actually is. For instance, in this section of his mid trip ideas and thoughts he includes an attributed quote, which just seemed odd. Rather than try to describe it any further, I give you quotes from it that particularly struck me.
We are, and always have been One. We acknowledge the marvelously hidden plot, the master illusion whereby we appear to be different. The shock of recognition; in the form of everything most other, alien and remote — the ever receding galaxies, the mystery of death, the terrors of disease and madness, the foreign feeling, goose flesh world of sea monsters and spiders, the queasy labyrinth of my own insides in all these forms I have crept up on myself and yelled “Boo!”
I am moved to marvel at the ingenuity with which divinity hides in order to seek itself, at the lengths to which this cosmic joie de vivre will go in elaborating its dance…I can see people just pretending not to see that they are avatars of Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva, that the cells of their bodies aren’t millions of gods, that the dust isn’t the haze of jewels. How solemnly they would go through the act of not understanding me if I were to step up and say, “Who do you think you’re kidding? Come off it Shiva you old rascal! It’s a great act, but it doesn’t fool me.”
”Self conscious man thinks he thinks. This has long been recognized as to be an error, for the conscious subject who thinks he thinks is not the same as the organ which does the thinking. The conscious person is one component only of a series of transitory aspects of the thinking person.”
L.L. White, The Unconscious Before Freud
Watts used the Epilogue to make conclusions about the nature of his trips:
To try to get rid of what isn’t there is only to prolong confusion. On the whole, it is better to try to be aware of ones ego than to get rid of it. We can then discover that the knower is no different from the sensation of the known, whether the known be external objects or internal thoughts and memories.
Instead of knowers and knowns, there are simply knowings, instead of doers and deeds, simply doings.
He also addressed the reasons why Western culture is uncomfortable with mystical experience, and therefore why there is such hostility to tools like psychedelics that could be used to bring these experiences to a much larger populace:
The content of the mystical experience is thus inconsistent with both the religious and secular components of traditional Western thought. Moreover, mystical experiences often result in attitudes that threaten the authority not only of established churches but also of secular society. Unafraid of death and deficient in worldly ambition, those who have undergone mystical experiences are impervious to threats and promises. Moreover, their sense of the relativity of good and evil arouses the suspicion that they lack both conscience and respect for the law.
There is a lot of valuable information in The Joyous Cosmology. I would encourage anyone with more than a passing interest in the use and/or history of psychedelics to add it to their reading. If you are a fan of Alan Watts work, I would caution you, however, to not come expecting the same flair you may be used to in his other volumes. This book easily rates three and a half stars, but I am rounding down rather than up to distinguish it from his other books that have had a greater impact on me.
March 1, 2018
Alan Watts Effs the inEffable: Part 435
April 16, 2008
This book does an incredible job at explaining the many thoughts that cross the minds of people who are fortunate enough to really explore their inner self while under the influence of certain chemicals. There is no way to explain what happens to consciousness during these experiences but Alan Watts does an incredible job at giving an idea.
One of the virtues of this book in comparison to something like The Doors of Perception (Huxley) is that Watts does not hesitate to express the sentiments that come about which aren't wholly...enjoyable. He talks about the really frightening things that pass through your head once your subconscious mind has led you in a certain direction. I would suggest taking this book camping and reading a few pages at a time...then a break...then a few more. Some will certainly not be able to relate. Very good.
One of the virtues of this book in comparison to something like The Doors of Perception (Huxley) is that Watts does not hesitate to express the sentiments that come about which aren't wholly...enjoyable. He talks about the really frightening things that pass through your head once your subconscious mind has led you in a certain direction. I would suggest taking this book camping and reading a few pages at a time...then a break...then a few more. Some will certainly not be able to relate. Very good.
March 1, 2015
I sometimes feel as though some of Alan Watts's descriptions of his cosmology can't possibly be improved upon. He is at once very succinct and very poetic - his language is communicative and engaging without ever coming across as obtuse or obnoxious. I would have loved to have seen Watts write fiction, because his use of metaphor and analogy is inspiring.
Ostensibly this is a book about a philosopher taking psychedelic drugs. While his views on drugs are interesting and probably ahead of his time, that's not the centrepiece of this book for me. For me, what makes this a great read is that the universe is being described by somebody who seems to be in both perfect understanding and absolute awe of it. A lot of people who want to understand the universe start with popular science books; in my opinion they'd be better off starting here.
Ostensibly this is a book about a philosopher taking psychedelic drugs. While his views on drugs are interesting and probably ahead of his time, that's not the centrepiece of this book for me. For me, what makes this a great read is that the universe is being described by somebody who seems to be in both perfect understanding and absolute awe of it. A lot of people who want to understand the universe start with popular science books; in my opinion they'd be better off starting here.
October 31, 2016
Alan Watts is arguably one of the more important writers of the past century. He brings all of his theological experience to bear in this book.
This book follows in the steps of Aldous Huxley's The Doors of Perception, but goes to a whole new elevation. Watts held a doctorate in Divinity and a Masters in Theology, and was well versed in religions of East and West. The search for and acceptance of the self, as well as the spiritual way, permeate his work. This work, dealing with his epiphanies and drudgeries while taking perception enhancing psychedelics, is necessary reading for any who wish to understand these drugs as a whole.
This book follows in the steps of Aldous Huxley's The Doors of Perception, but goes to a whole new elevation. Watts held a doctorate in Divinity and a Masters in Theology, and was well versed in religions of East and West. The search for and acceptance of the self, as well as the spiritual way, permeate his work. This work, dealing with his epiphanies and drudgeries while taking perception enhancing psychedelics, is necessary reading for any who wish to understand these drugs as a whole.
August 30, 2020
psychedelics are a difficult topic to write about for anyone as it pertains to personal experience. This short book also struggles with this topic but may be part of an introduction with other works
May 30, 2012
Seldom before have I read 30 pages of printed .pdf so tightly packed with meaning. A lot of it was profound, written in a time when psychedelic substances were a new unexplored area of the human experience. Research was being done on their medical and other properties (with Watts being sceptical about whether the proper environment for relative experimentation really was research laboratories and clinics). It was an innocent time, before the powers that be had really found out about what a gaping hole into their walls of modern vices their initial allowance of the use of LSD and mushrooms had blown.
"The active and the passive are two phases of the same act. A seed, floating in its white sunburst of down, drifts across the sky, sighing with the sound of a jet plane invisible above. I catch it by one hair between thumb and index finger, and am astonished to watch this little creature actually wriggling and pulling as if it were struggling to get away. Common sense tells me that it is the "intelligence" of the seed to have just such delicate antennae of silk that, in an environment of wind, it can move. Having such extensions, it moves itself with the wind. When it comes to it, is there any basic difference between putting up a sail and pulling an oar? If anything, the former is a more intelligent use of effort than the latter. True, the seed does not intend to move itself with the wind, but neither did I intendo to have arms and legs."
Descriptions of powerful and deep insights only possible during a psychedelic trip are what the meat and potatoes of The Joyous Cosmology is. It's a journey with the aid of these substances to planes of thought and existence impossible before to reach, far away from the egoistic mind and squarely in the consciousness behind the thinking mind. It's a story of a temporarily selfless being experiencing the world.
It's very hard to describe actually. I'm not at all sure if anything from this book stuck with me for good, but I'm not even sure if it's supposed to, in the same way that powerful psychedelic trips are fleeting and strong cosmological realisations during them feel like dreams after the trip is over. Tim Leary warns in the foreword that this is a difficult book. Perhaps a couple of powerful entheogenic experiences are indeed the correct required "reading" for tackling it. The fact that the substances needed for having these experiences are almost ubiquitously illegal says much more about the laws, the lawmakers behind them and their intentions, than it does about the substances themselves.
"The active and the passive are two phases of the same act. A seed, floating in its white sunburst of down, drifts across the sky, sighing with the sound of a jet plane invisible above. I catch it by one hair between thumb and index finger, and am astonished to watch this little creature actually wriggling and pulling as if it were struggling to get away. Common sense tells me that it is the "intelligence" of the seed to have just such delicate antennae of silk that, in an environment of wind, it can move. Having such extensions, it moves itself with the wind. When it comes to it, is there any basic difference between putting up a sail and pulling an oar? If anything, the former is a more intelligent use of effort than the latter. True, the seed does not intend to move itself with the wind, but neither did I intendo to have arms and legs."
Descriptions of powerful and deep insights only possible during a psychedelic trip are what the meat and potatoes of The Joyous Cosmology is. It's a journey with the aid of these substances to planes of thought and existence impossible before to reach, far away from the egoistic mind and squarely in the consciousness behind the thinking mind. It's a story of a temporarily selfless being experiencing the world.
It's very hard to describe actually. I'm not at all sure if anything from this book stuck with me for good, but I'm not even sure if it's supposed to, in the same way that powerful psychedelic trips are fleeting and strong cosmological realisations during them feel like dreams after the trip is over. Tim Leary warns in the foreword that this is a difficult book. Perhaps a couple of powerful entheogenic experiences are indeed the correct required "reading" for tackling it. The fact that the substances needed for having these experiences are almost ubiquitously illegal says much more about the laws, the lawmakers behind them and their intentions, than it does about the substances themselves.
September 14, 2025
Psychedelic prose poetry. I'm glad this exists so I never have to take hallucinogens myself.
Read
December 23, 2020It was an interesting read.
The very last footnote got too much of my attention - it is legal to grow deadly mushrooms (which look very similar to edible mushrooms), but there is criminal penalty for the possession/cultivation of psychedelics. Although the conversation throughout the book is pro-psychedelic (making it very one-sided), this argument with all the thoughts/sentences (don't want to quote it all here) surrounding it was something I had not really thought about (very obvious one, I know - but on a deeper level) when considering legalization/decriminalization of these drugs.
I guess the reason is quite simple - people don't go around dying from some deadly mushrooms (another example - a person can legally buy rope with which it is possible to commit suicide, which some people do, and then it does negatively affect the society as well, it is just that people have researched (I guess) that the pros of legally selling rope outweigh the cons .. also - one cannot penalize the misuse of a deadly mushroom or rope), but might possibly become addicted/negatively influence society using psychedelics. Which again would be misuse of them - which again should be what the laws should penalize - the misuse.
I guess this is where the questions (which may/may not have answers) like:"Would you rather have 10 persons maybe using it wrong or 1000 persons maybe using it right?" start to appear.
The very last footnote got too much of my attention - it is legal to grow deadly mushrooms (which look very similar to edible mushrooms), but there is criminal penalty for the possession/cultivation of psychedelics. Although the conversation throughout the book is pro-psychedelic (making it very one-sided), this argument with all the thoughts/sentences (don't want to quote it all here) surrounding it was something I had not really thought about (very obvious one, I know - but on a deeper level) when considering legalization/decriminalization of these drugs.
I guess the reason is quite simple - people don't go around dying from some deadly mushrooms (another example - a person can legally buy rope with which it is possible to commit suicide, which some people do, and then it does negatively affect the society as well, it is just that people have researched (I guess) that the pros of legally selling rope outweigh the cons .. also - one cannot penalize the misuse of a deadly mushroom or rope), but might possibly become addicted/negatively influence society using psychedelics. Which again would be misuse of them - which again should be what the laws should penalize - the misuse.
I guess this is where the questions (which may/may not have answers) like:"Would you rather have 10 persons maybe using it wrong or 1000 persons maybe using it right?" start to appear.
February 4, 2025
Really enjoyed this one! I'm preparing for a guided mushroom trip and this felt like a good one to read. I way preferred this to The Psychedelic Experience by Leary Et al. Using art/music/nature imagery to communicate the details of a psychedelic experience is so much more effective and interesting to me than trying to use the Tibetan Book of the Dead as a way to "make sense" of something that transcends reasoning. Also felt very distinct from other Alan Watts I've read which is nice since it can all start to blur together.
August 25, 2017
(Čeština níže)
Alan Watts had to be a great man. I would like to sit with him on the grass, observe the surrounding nature and contemplate the workings of this world. After all, how it would look like can be found by listening to his recordings or reading his books.
The book The Joyous Cosmology surprised me above all opinions that you will not hear, or you will not see anywhere else. Alan Watts by beautiful playing with words allowed me to get into a completely different world, whether it was physical or the world Mr Watts was trying to introduce to us, the world that for most of our population is hidden.
A book full of thoughts, for example, "What if we could remove our barriers and return to our roots?" Or "Why there is such a big difference between a friendship and relationship with our" love?"
As a whole, the book was great, but I should read it in my native language because by reading such a book in a language you do not know as a native speaker you will probably miss a lot of important details as I did and you will not be able to understand the whole context of the book.
____________________________
Alan Watts musel být skvělý člověk. Přál bych si sedět s ním na trávě, pozorovat okolní přírodu a rozjímat nad světem. Ostatně jak by to asi vypadalo se dá zjistit už jen při poslechu jeho nahrávek, anebo při čtení jeho knih.
Kniha The Joyous Cosmology mě překvapila především názory, které jen tak nikde jinde neuslyšíte, nebo neuvidíte, anebo krásným hraním si se slovy, které mě již v krátkém odstavci dokázali přenést do úplné jiného světa, ať už toho našeho fyzického, anebo toho pro většinu populace skrytého, který se nám pan Watts snažil tak představit.
Kniha plná myšlenek k zamyšlení, například “Co kdybychom dokázali odstranit naše zábrany a vrátili bychom se k naším kořenům?”, anebo “Proč je mezi kamarádstvím a vztahem s naší “láskou” takový rozdíl?”
Jako celek byla kniha skvělá, akorát jsem měl knihu číst v mém rodném jazyce, jelikož číst takovouto knihu v jazyce, který neumíte jako rodilý mluvčí vás připraví o mnohé důležité detaily, kvůli kterým občas nepochopíte celý kontext již tak složité knihy.
Alan Watts had to be a great man. I would like to sit with him on the grass, observe the surrounding nature and contemplate the workings of this world. After all, how it would look like can be found by listening to his recordings or reading his books.
The book The Joyous Cosmology surprised me above all opinions that you will not hear, or you will not see anywhere else. Alan Watts by beautiful playing with words allowed me to get into a completely different world, whether it was physical or the world Mr Watts was trying to introduce to us, the world that for most of our population is hidden.
A book full of thoughts, for example, "What if we could remove our barriers and return to our roots?" Or "Why there is such a big difference between a friendship and relationship with our" love?"
As a whole, the book was great, but I should read it in my native language because by reading such a book in a language you do not know as a native speaker you will probably miss a lot of important details as I did and you will not be able to understand the whole context of the book.
____________________________
Alan Watts musel být skvělý člověk. Přál bych si sedět s ním na trávě, pozorovat okolní přírodu a rozjímat nad světem. Ostatně jak by to asi vypadalo se dá zjistit už jen při poslechu jeho nahrávek, anebo při čtení jeho knih.
Kniha The Joyous Cosmology mě překvapila především názory, které jen tak nikde jinde neuslyšíte, nebo neuvidíte, anebo krásným hraním si se slovy, které mě již v krátkém odstavci dokázali přenést do úplné jiného světa, ať už toho našeho fyzického, anebo toho pro většinu populace skrytého, který se nám pan Watts snažil tak představit.
Kniha plná myšlenek k zamyšlení, například “Co kdybychom dokázali odstranit naše zábrany a vrátili bychom se k naším kořenům?”, anebo “Proč je mezi kamarádstvím a vztahem s naší “láskou” takový rozdíl?”
Jako celek byla kniha skvělá, akorát jsem měl knihu číst v mém rodném jazyce, jelikož číst takovouto knihu v jazyce, který neumíte jako rodilý mluvčí vás připraví o mnohé důležité detaily, kvůli kterým občas nepochopíte celý kontext již tak složité knihy.
June 7, 2018
Having read the, Doors of Perception, by Aldous Huxley, I have a baseline for consideration of, Joyous Cosmology. Both are outstanding and merit the accolades afforded by so many readers. If pressed for time I recommend Joyous Cosmology as an extremely efficient and beautifully written depiction of psychedelic states of mind and the associated critical observations by eminent authorities. Much is to be gained with the literary exploration of such naturally and chemically induced states of mind. There can be great advantage to vicariously explore alternate realms and let the imagination work its magic. The practical benefits of natural plant based psychoactive substances and micro-dosing LSD are proven regarding addiction and depression. Once draconian and politically expedient penalties are removed we will have powerful tools to fight the current tragic opioid crisis and epidemic depression in our world today.
January 10, 2019
It's Alan Watts in 1962 correctly predicting today. He describes psychedelics being used with meditation to bring us closer to a real reality and peace in consciousness. In the ways the promises of religion and capitalism and politics have not. So current yet so far ahead of his time and our time even today. Predicted our struggle of technology trying to dominate nature instead of working with it. An honest attempt (successful) in trying to communicate what these psychedelic medicines are like and what they can do for us and for all conscious beings. Quick, fascinating read.
March 21, 2021
A joyous read. Five stars.
February 27, 2024
“The culmination of civilization in monumental heaps of junk is seen, not as thoughtless ugliness but as self caricature. As the creation of phenomenally absurd collages and abstract sculptures in deliberate but kindly mockery of our own pretensions.”
April 28, 2023
‘For now that we have time to look at each other, we become timeless’
August 6, 2022
Alan Watts articulates things you can only imagine.
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June 29, 2021Interesting read but don't know yet what to make of it.
February 6, 2019
At a time where much of the world, and especially North America, is making great strides in ending the insane prohibition on Cannabis, its cohort of banned “mind-manifesting” substances remains a few steps behind in both understanding and acceptance. There is certainly a new wave of social progress with federally approved medicinal research programs from orgs like MAPS and bestseller mainstream books from those like Michael Pollan. Yet this slim, half century-old volume is no less relevant to our contemporary societal concerns.
For the psychedelic neophyte, the main attraction here may be the novelty of the attempt at describing the state of altered perceptions. This is the bulk of the book, and is cobbled together from Watts’ multiple experiences into a singular, somewhat cohesive representation of an insightful psychedelic experience.
For those who have studied altered perceptions, the epilogue and appendix may be equally if not more valuable. Watts shares his ideas in their most succinct form, many of which will be familiar to those who have listened to his many recorded lectures. He integrates discussion of the subjective experience, popular culture, religious contradictions, East vs West attitudes/ethics, the naive political climate of the 60s (which mostly persists to this day), and scientific ignorance (ditto).
Regardless of the reader’s topical knowledge going into this, the introduction should not be skipped or glossed over. Just one rhetorical highlight:
“There is no difference in principal between sharpening perception with an external instrument, such as a microscope, and sharpening it with an internal instrument, such as one of these drugs. If they are an affront to the dignity of the mind, the microscope is an affront to the dignity of the eye and the telephone to the dignity of the ear. Strictly speaking, these drugs do not impart wisdom at all, any more than the microscope alone gives knowledge. They provide the raw materials of wisdom, and are useful to the extent that the individual can integrate what they reveal into the whole pattern of his behavior and the whole system of his knowledge.”
For the psychedelic neophyte, the main attraction here may be the novelty of the attempt at describing the state of altered perceptions. This is the bulk of the book, and is cobbled together from Watts’ multiple experiences into a singular, somewhat cohesive representation of an insightful psychedelic experience.
For those who have studied altered perceptions, the epilogue and appendix may be equally if not more valuable. Watts shares his ideas in their most succinct form, many of which will be familiar to those who have listened to his many recorded lectures. He integrates discussion of the subjective experience, popular culture, religious contradictions, East vs West attitudes/ethics, the naive political climate of the 60s (which mostly persists to this day), and scientific ignorance (ditto).
Regardless of the reader’s topical knowledge going into this, the introduction should not be skipped or glossed over. Just one rhetorical highlight:
“There is no difference in principal between sharpening perception with an external instrument, such as a microscope, and sharpening it with an internal instrument, such as one of these drugs. If they are an affront to the dignity of the mind, the microscope is an affront to the dignity of the eye and the telephone to the dignity of the ear. Strictly speaking, these drugs do not impart wisdom at all, any more than the microscope alone gives knowledge. They provide the raw materials of wisdom, and are useful to the extent that the individual can integrate what they reveal into the whole pattern of his behavior and the whole system of his knowledge.”
June 16, 2018
I feel like it would be impossible to review this book without comparing it to The Doors of Perception. Watts himself mention the book in the first sentence of the preface and he then write that "...the time is ripe for an account of some of the deeper , or higher, levels of insight that can be reached through these consciousness-changing drugs..." Unfortunately I feel like Watts fail in this task. The main body of the work, while occasionally poetic and beautifully written, is rambling and frivolous. Unlike Huxley's sharp description of his experience Watts convey the feeling of someone on drugs, not someone who've reached a higher understanding. There's no shortage of interesting ideas presented in the preface, prologue and epilogue but many of them either go to far or does not say anything that I have not already been said.
When reading this book in 2018 it's both fascinating and a little sad to read about how Watts envisioned people using these drugs, the contrast to how they are viewed in society today is enormous. In conclusion The Joyous Cosmology is absolutely worth reading, but The Doors of Perception does basically the same thing and does it better.
It's worth mentioning that this review is written from a perspective of someone who have not experienced what the author is trying to describe. He might be spot on.
When reading this book in 2018 it's both fascinating and a little sad to read about how Watts envisioned people using these drugs, the contrast to how they are viewed in society today is enormous. In conclusion The Joyous Cosmology is absolutely worth reading, but The Doors of Perception does basically the same thing and does it better.
It's worth mentioning that this review is written from a perspective of someone who have not experienced what the author is trying to describe. He might be spot on.
September 27, 2016
In modern times the use of psychedelics is at a premium. But in most cases people suffer from having no frame of reference for the experience they have during psychedelics. It is usually only those people who have already embarked on the spiritual journey prior to a psychedelic experience that have the most insights to bring back for the rest of us to learn from. Alan Watts is one such individual. His life was dedicated to the mystery of life and the exploration of consciousness. In this book he explains his experience in a very lucid but profound way. His history and depth of knowledge with the Eastern wisdom traditions helped him assimilate the psychedelic experience like no other.
February 17, 2009
Another from Alan Watts, creator rest his soul, that is just unbelievably well done. This book further opened my eyes to things I had already seen, but had never understood, or connected. I wouldn't say this book really "taught" me anything, but it was more of a reaffirmation of many of my beliefs. I would highly recommend this to anyone who has had a positive experience with LSD.
December 23, 2018
Kurde, chyba jestem za stary na czytanie trip reportów. Co gorsza, ziomka mocno zabrało i pomyliła mu się podróż na kwasie z filozofią Wschodu. Następnie tą błędną ścieżką poszła za nim spora część psychonautów lat 60. Last, bu not least, Watts jest strasznym bucem - wcześniej nie dawało mi się to aż tak we znaki, ale tutaj jego megalomania jest nie do wytrzymania.
March 20, 2025
Required reading, bitches.
February 5, 2023
It really is joyous, awe-inspiring reading material.
December 30, 2022
A sublime ode to experience itself.
"Perhaps there is no other knowing than the mere competence of the act. If, at the heart of one’s being, there is no real self to which one ought to be true, sincerity is simply nerve; it lies in the unabashed vigor of the pretense."
"You poor baby! And yet—you selfish little bastard! As I try to find the agent behind the act, the motivating force at the bottom of the whole thing, I seem to see only an endless ambivalence. Behind the mask of love I find my innate selfishness. What a predicament I am in if someone asks, “Do you really love me?” I can’t say yes without saying no, for the only answer that will really satisfy is, “Yes, I love you so much I could eat you! My love for you is identical with my love for myself. I love you with the purest selfishness.” No one wants to be loved out of a sense of duty.
So I will be very frank. “Yes, I am pure, selfish desire and I love because you make me feel wonderful—at any rate for the time being.” But then I begin to wonder whether there isn’t something a bit cunning in this frankness. It is big of me to be so sincere, to make a play for her by not pretending to be more than I am—unlike the other guys who say they love her for herself. I see that there is always something insincere about trying to be sincere, as if I were to say openly, “The statement that I am now making is a lie.” There seems to be something phony about every attempt to define myself, to be totally honest. The trouble is that I can’t see the back, much less the inside, of my head. I can’t be honest because I don’t fully know what I am. Consciousness peers out from a center which it cannot see—and that is the root of the matter."
"Transforming itself endlessly into itself, the pattern alone remains."
"Perhaps there is no other knowing than the mere competence of the act. If, at the heart of one’s being, there is no real self to which one ought to be true, sincerity is simply nerve; it lies in the unabashed vigor of the pretense."
"You poor baby! And yet—you selfish little bastard! As I try to find the agent behind the act, the motivating force at the bottom of the whole thing, I seem to see only an endless ambivalence. Behind the mask of love I find my innate selfishness. What a predicament I am in if someone asks, “Do you really love me?” I can’t say yes without saying no, for the only answer that will really satisfy is, “Yes, I love you so much I could eat you! My love for you is identical with my love for myself. I love you with the purest selfishness.” No one wants to be loved out of a sense of duty.
So I will be very frank. “Yes, I am pure, selfish desire and I love because you make me feel wonderful—at any rate for the time being.” But then I begin to wonder whether there isn’t something a bit cunning in this frankness. It is big of me to be so sincere, to make a play for her by not pretending to be more than I am—unlike the other guys who say they love her for herself. I see that there is always something insincere about trying to be sincere, as if I were to say openly, “The statement that I am now making is a lie.” There seems to be something phony about every attempt to define myself, to be totally honest. The trouble is that I can’t see the back, much less the inside, of my head. I can’t be honest because I don’t fully know what I am. Consciousness peers out from a center which it cannot see—and that is the root of the matter."
"Transforming itself endlessly into itself, the pattern alone remains."
April 30, 2018
This is a strange little book. The main portion comprises a stream-of-cosciousness essay on man’s place in the universe. Watts wrote most of it while on drugs. The tone varies along a spectrum from Harvard-intellectual to childlike wisdom. The essay is punctuated by trippy pictures that would be even more impressive if they were in full color rather than black and white. This builds on Huxley’s Doors of Perception and uses Watts characteristic perspicacity and lyricism to dig even deeper.
There are some interesting passages of a page or two that make for good stand-alone recitation pieces. And Watts is always quotable. There are lots of vivid metaphors and poetic turns. This book was probably groundbreaking in the 60s. The collection of trippy pictures seems less impressive now that a similar or better collection could be found on the internet with an easy search. Still, this is a great piece of historical and psychedelic interest. While reading this, I kept thinking of the scene from Wolfe’s Electric Kool Aid Acid Test when the Pranksters invide the Leary-Watts compound in Boston and find out what utter squares they all are. There are clear traces of that in this book as well, but in the end there is also a pitch for the power of meditation and mindfulness, both of while remain undervalued tools in the cultivation of perceptive consciousness.
There are some interesting passages of a page or two that make for good stand-alone recitation pieces. And Watts is always quotable. There are lots of vivid metaphors and poetic turns. This book was probably groundbreaking in the 60s. The collection of trippy pictures seems less impressive now that a similar or better collection could be found on the internet with an easy search. Still, this is a great piece of historical and psychedelic interest. While reading this, I kept thinking of the scene from Wolfe’s Electric Kool Aid Acid Test when the Pranksters invide the Leary-Watts compound in Boston and find out what utter squares they all are. There are clear traces of that in this book as well, but in the end there is also a pitch for the power of meditation and mindfulness, both of while remain undervalued tools in the cultivation of perceptive consciousness.
January 12, 2026
Why do I keep stumbling upon books that are what I would categorize as druggy books? Like, even if we had legal healing centers with trained professionals or whatever you want to call them guide you through your trip(s), I would still probably not go. And I certainly can't be arsed to travel to another country just to have experiences like this. Like, I don't even go to the regular doctor. I'm reluctant to take a pill even if I'm sick. How do you think I would be inclined to take any other kind of foreign substance that are uncontrolled? Just to... enter the fast lane on the path to meditation. To me, these are just cheat codes. All these hallucinogens or drugs or substances that alter your consciousness. They feel unnecessary. I can live a perfectly happy and fine life without these things. I've been taught by my mom that don't take these because they will permanently alter your brain chemistry and she might have had some truth in that. Because even this book cites some kind of effect of LSD that is altering chromosomes (that has since been debunked I guess).
I'm sure those people who are interested in this topic will find the book very interesting and useful. I've accidentally read too much on this subject and I'm just still not interested and I have no idea how these keep sneaking into my reading lists. I guess the name Alan Watts might have something to do with it. But I should have stopped after listening to his lectures or recordings of his voice because those were the good ones. I'm in a period or era in my life where I'm binging Alan Watts' books, but they are less and less useful it feels like.
I'm sure those people who are interested in this topic will find the book very interesting and useful. I've accidentally read too much on this subject and I'm just still not interested and I have no idea how these keep sneaking into my reading lists. I guess the name Alan Watts might have something to do with it. But I should have stopped after listening to his lectures or recordings of his voice because those were the good ones. I'm in a period or era in my life where I'm binging Alan Watts' books, but they are less and less useful it feels like.
June 6, 2022
Alan Watts is a known figure for people dabbling in psychedelic substances or consciousness altering drugs. After reading this book, it wasn’t hard to guess why.
This book is a summary of his experiences with said drugs or medicines wonderfully articulated. Psychedelics are considered alien and harmful mainly because of the fear of unknown. In no way, am I promoting drugs but given their presence in our civilization and cultures across time, the author did an outstanding job of de-mystifying and condensing the experience using the inadequate verbal communication we have as humans.
Not many books have resonated with me or left a lasting expression. He puts across his experience and the ‘revelations’ or ‘understandings’ gained from such experiences in a simple and digestible manner. Philosophical musings sometimes tend to be overly complicated, this isn’t the case with the joyous cosmology. The epilogue gives the conclusion and brings everything together, like looking at the city from a top building after exploring its streets.
My suggestion to any reader would be to get the physical copy for reading. The pictures that are not included in the general pdfs or other e-copies miss out on what the author wanted to communicate. Looking at those pictures and reading the pages provided deeper meaning to those words.
This book is a summary of his experiences with said drugs or medicines wonderfully articulated. Psychedelics are considered alien and harmful mainly because of the fear of unknown. In no way, am I promoting drugs but given their presence in our civilization and cultures across time, the author did an outstanding job of de-mystifying and condensing the experience using the inadequate verbal communication we have as humans.
Not many books have resonated with me or left a lasting expression. He puts across his experience and the ‘revelations’ or ‘understandings’ gained from such experiences in a simple and digestible manner. Philosophical musings sometimes tend to be overly complicated, this isn’t the case with the joyous cosmology. The epilogue gives the conclusion and brings everything together, like looking at the city from a top building after exploring its streets.
My suggestion to any reader would be to get the physical copy for reading. The pictures that are not included in the general pdfs or other e-copies miss out on what the author wanted to communicate. Looking at those pictures and reading the pages provided deeper meaning to those words.
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