Listen free for 30 days
-
The Wisdom of Insecurity
- A Message for an Age of Anxiety
- Narrated by: Sean Runnette
- Length: 3 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged Audiobook
- Categories: Health & Wellness, Psychology & Mental Health
Add to basket failed.
Add to wishlist failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Listen with a free trial
Buy Now for £11.59
No valid payment method on file.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
Listeners also enjoyed...
-
Out of Your Mind
- By: Alan Watts
- Narrated by: Alan Watts
- Length: 14 hrs and 22 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
With Out of Your Mind: Essential Listening from the Alan Watts Audio Archives, you are invited to immerse yourself in 12 of this legendary thinker's pinnacle teaching sessions about how to break through the limits of the rational mind and begin expanding your awareness and appreciation for the Great Game unfolding all around us.
-
-
Life saving, and yet ending my fear of death!
- By Anthony Goodman on 29-03-16
-
You're It!
- On Hiding, Seeking, and Being Found
- By: Alan Watts
- Narrated by: Alan Watts
- Length: 12 hrs and 5 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Life is the ultimate game of hide and seek... and the good news is that you're it! With the combination of playful irreverence and penetrating insight that made him a legend in Western philosophy, Alan Watts investigates the surprisingly liberating concept of "the universe as play" found at the heart of Hinduism, Zen, and other wisdom traditions.
-
-
Watts' words chime like a bell, inexplicably clear
- By Lewis on 07-01-15
-
Leave It Be
- Alan Watts on the Art of Meditation
- By: Alan Watts
- Narrated by: Alan Watts
- Length: 7 hrs and 49 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
"What would it be like to see all as one?" Alan Watts asks. "We hear about attaining great states of consciousness. But the only way to have a real transformation is to stop thinking about it - and simply experience it." From the 1950s to the 1970s, this seminal teacher sparked the West's love for Eastern wisdom. Now, in these rare recorded gems, he inspires a new generation of inner explorers seeking deeper insights into meditation - its myriad forms, how they work, and what happens when we practice them.
-
-
A gem
- By John Davis on 19-01-20
-
Reality, Art and Illusion
- By: Alan Watts
- Narrated by: Alan Watts
- Length: 3 hrs and 30 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Alan Watts discusses the Indian philosophy of the world as maya - under its multiple meanings as illusion, art, magic, creative power, measure, etc. Various techniques in the arts are used to illustrate the delicate and vibrational character of the material world, and to suggest a new approach to the old philosophy that the universe is "mind" only.
-
-
This man is simply incredible. Listen and listen!
- By Terry on 30-01-19
-
Becoming Nobody
- The Essential Ram Dass Collection
- By: Ram Dass
- Narrated by: Ram Dass
- Length: 5 hrs and 2 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This audio collection brings us five essential sessions, featured in the Ram Dass documentary film Becoming Nobody, presented here in their entirety. Each beautifully illuminates a core dimension of Ram Dass’s wisdom. Through teaching stories, true accounts, eye-opening revelations, and his one-of-a-kind sense of humor, this legendary teacher helps show us the way out of the prison of our self-identity - and into the joy of being at once “nobody” and the universal divine at play in the world.
-
-
Listening to Ram Dass in Dec 2019
- By Jane Martin on 24-12-19
-
Thusness
- By: Alan Watts
- Narrated by: Alan Watts
- Length: 3 hrs and 9 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Alan Watts discusses the word tathata, which is translated from the Sanskrit as "suchness" or "thusness." The term is used in Mahayana Buddhism to suggest how things look to a Buddha, to one who has experienced enlightenment or liberation and is, therefore, called a Tathagata - one who comes (and goes) thus. Watts shares the sense of this nonsense in Buddhist philosophy, and its practical demonstration in Zen.
-
-
Very good!
- By Davie on 09-06-18
-
Out of Your Mind
- By: Alan Watts
- Narrated by: Alan Watts
- Length: 14 hrs and 22 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
With Out of Your Mind: Essential Listening from the Alan Watts Audio Archives, you are invited to immerse yourself in 12 of this legendary thinker's pinnacle teaching sessions about how to break through the limits of the rational mind and begin expanding your awareness and appreciation for the Great Game unfolding all around us.
-
-
Life saving, and yet ending my fear of death!
- By Anthony Goodman on 29-03-16
-
You're It!
- On Hiding, Seeking, and Being Found
- By: Alan Watts
- Narrated by: Alan Watts
- Length: 12 hrs and 5 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Life is the ultimate game of hide and seek... and the good news is that you're it! With the combination of playful irreverence and penetrating insight that made him a legend in Western philosophy, Alan Watts investigates the surprisingly liberating concept of "the universe as play" found at the heart of Hinduism, Zen, and other wisdom traditions.
-
-
Watts' words chime like a bell, inexplicably clear
- By Lewis on 07-01-15
-
Leave It Be
- Alan Watts on the Art of Meditation
- By: Alan Watts
- Narrated by: Alan Watts
- Length: 7 hrs and 49 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
"What would it be like to see all as one?" Alan Watts asks. "We hear about attaining great states of consciousness. But the only way to have a real transformation is to stop thinking about it - and simply experience it." From the 1950s to the 1970s, this seminal teacher sparked the West's love for Eastern wisdom. Now, in these rare recorded gems, he inspires a new generation of inner explorers seeking deeper insights into meditation - its myriad forms, how they work, and what happens when we practice them.
-
-
A gem
- By John Davis on 19-01-20
-
Reality, Art and Illusion
- By: Alan Watts
- Narrated by: Alan Watts
- Length: 3 hrs and 30 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Alan Watts discusses the Indian philosophy of the world as maya - under its multiple meanings as illusion, art, magic, creative power, measure, etc. Various techniques in the arts are used to illustrate the delicate and vibrational character of the material world, and to suggest a new approach to the old philosophy that the universe is "mind" only.
-
-
This man is simply incredible. Listen and listen!
- By Terry on 30-01-19
-
Becoming Nobody
- The Essential Ram Dass Collection
- By: Ram Dass
- Narrated by: Ram Dass
- Length: 5 hrs and 2 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This audio collection brings us five essential sessions, featured in the Ram Dass documentary film Becoming Nobody, presented here in their entirety. Each beautifully illuminates a core dimension of Ram Dass’s wisdom. Through teaching stories, true accounts, eye-opening revelations, and his one-of-a-kind sense of humor, this legendary teacher helps show us the way out of the prison of our self-identity - and into the joy of being at once “nobody” and the universal divine at play in the world.
-
-
Listening to Ram Dass in Dec 2019
- By Jane Martin on 24-12-19
-
Thusness
- By: Alan Watts
- Narrated by: Alan Watts
- Length: 3 hrs and 9 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Alan Watts discusses the word tathata, which is translated from the Sanskrit as "suchness" or "thusness." The term is used in Mahayana Buddhism to suggest how things look to a Buddha, to one who has experienced enlightenment or liberation and is, therefore, called a Tathagata - one who comes (and goes) thus. Watts shares the sense of this nonsense in Buddhist philosophy, and its practical demonstration in Zen.
-
-
Very good!
- By Davie on 09-06-18
-
Four Ways to the Center
- By: Alan Watts
- Narrated by: Alan Watts
- Length: 3 hrs and 3 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Alan Watts discusses the fundamental attitudes that run through all religions or "ways of liberation," as the Far Eastern disciplines might better be described. By following these practices to the extremes of repentance, rebellion, and resignation, one may be freed from the endless cycles of reincarnation which perpetuate the human condition.
-
-
Must must hear this.
- By Soundman55 on 24-08-15
-
Still the Mind
- An Introduction to Meditation
- By: Alan Watts
- Narrated by: Alan Watts
- Length: 1 hr and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Mark Watts compiled this work from his father's extensive journals and audiotapes of famous lectures he delivered, in his later years, across the country. In three parts Alan Watts explains the basic philosophy of meditation, how individuals can practice a variety of meditations, and how inner wisdom grows naturally.
-
-
Interesting take on meditation and reality.
- By Amazon Customer on 13-08-16
-
The Meaning of Happiness
- The Quest for Freedom of the Spirit in Modern Psychology and the Wisdom of the East
- By: Alan Watts
- Narrated by: Kern Schmidt
- Length: 7 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Deep down, most people think that happiness comes from having or doing something. Here, in Alan Watts’s groundbreaking third book (originally published in 1940), he offers a more challenging thesis: authentic happiness comes from embracing life as a whole in all its contradictions and paradoxes, an attitude that Watts calls the “way of acceptance.” Drawing on Eastern philosophy, Western mysticism, and analytic psychology, Watts demonstrates that happiness comes from accepting both the outer world around us and the inner world inside us,
-
-
Great book.
- By Joseph Smith on 16-03-21
-
The Untethered Soul
- The Journey Beyond Yourself
- By: Michael A. Singer
- Narrated by: Peter Berkrot
- Length: 6 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Spiritual teacher Michael A. Singer explores the question of human identity and shows how the development of consciousness can enable us all to dwell in the present moment and achieve happiness and self-realization.
-
-
One of the best I've purchased.
- By "tenerife1" on 13-02-15
-
Just So
- An Odyssey into the Cosmic Web of Connection, Play, and True Pleasure
- By: Alan Watts
- Narrated by: Alan Watts
- Length: 10 hrs and 31 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
"If you were God," asked Alan Watts, "what kind of universe would you create? A perfect one free of suffering and drama? Or one filled with surprise and delight?" With Just So, the celebrated philosopher and self-described "spiritual entertainer" invites us to explore the hidden dimensions that shape both the cosmos and our personal experience of it.
-
-
Brilliant
- By Davie on 02-09-17
-
This Is It
- And Other Essays on Zen and Spiritual Experience
- By: Alan Watts
- Narrated by: Sean Runnette
- Length: 3 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
With essays on "cosmic consciousness" (including Alan Watts' account of his own ventures into this inward realm); the paradoxes of self-consciousness; LSD and consciousness; and the false opposition of spirit and matter, This Is It: And Other Essays on Zen and Spiritual Experience is a truly mind-opening audiobook collection.
-
In My Own Way
- By: Alan Watts
- Narrated by: Jeremy Arthur
- Length: 13 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Macmillan Audio presents In My Own Way, Alan Watts' acclaimed autobiography, published for the first time in audio.
-
-
Unbearable narrator
- By Mr. K. Mckeigue on 26-03-19
-
Psychotherapy East and West
- By: Alan Watts
- Narrated by: Jeremy Arthur
- Length: 5 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Alan Watts examines the problem of humans in a seemingly hostile universe in ways that question the social norms and illusions that bind and constrict modern humans. Marking a groundbreaking synthesis, Watts asserts that the powerful insights of Freud and Jung, which had, indeed, brought psychiatry close to the edge of liberation, could, if melded with the hitherto secret wisdom of the Eastern traditions, free people from their battles with the self.
-
-
Terrible Narration
- By bertie Miller on 05-04-21
-
The Power of Space and Reincarnation
- By: Alan Watts
- Narrated by: Alan Watts
- Length: 3 hrs and 18 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Space is considered to be nothingness by many. But after all it is the background in which we see everything. It is against space and within the dimension of time that we experience everything we experience. Space and time are the two basic dimensions of our world but are uncommonly illusive. We can say they are our way of thinking of the universe as being a system of patterns. And our awe at the vastness of space may be man's astonishment at himself.
-
-
We tend to overthink things...
- By Colliedog on 08-05-17
-
The Power of Now
- A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment
- By: Eckhart Tolle
- Narrated by: Eckhart Tolle
- Length: 7 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
To make the journey into The Power of Now you need to leave your analytical mind and its false created self, the ego, behind. Access to the Now is everywhere - in the body, the silence, and the space all around you. These are the keys to enter a state of inner peace.
-
-
Nonsense for the ill informed
- By slipperychimp on 15-05-19
-
A New Earth
- Awakening Your Life's Purpose
- By: Eckhart Tolle
- Narrated by: Eckhart Tolle
- Length: 9 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Humanity now, perhaps more than in any previous time, has an opportunity to create a new, saner, more loving world. This will involve a radical inner leap from the current egoic consciousness to an entirely new one. In illuminating the nature of this shift in consciousness, Tolle describes in detail how our current ego-based state of consciousness operates. Then gently, and in very practical terms, he leads us into this new consciousness. We will come to experience who we truly are and learn to live and breathe freely.
-
-
Mind-blowing Stuff
- By Stephanie on 21-05-15
-
Waking Up
- By: Sam Harris
- Narrated by: Sam Harris
- Length: 5 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For the millions of people who want spirituality without religion, Sam Harris’s new book is a guide to meditation as a rational spiritual practice informed by neuroscience and psychology. From bestselling author, neuroscientist, and “new atheist” Sam Harris, Waking Up is for the increasingly large numbers of people who follow no religion, but who suspect that Jesus, Buddha, Lao Tzu, Rumi, and the other saints and sages of history could not have all been epileptics, schizophrenics, or frauds.
-
-
This is Important.
- By Lucas on 15-02-15
Summary
Alan W. Watts' "message for an age of anxiety" is as powerful today as it was when this modern classic was first published. We spend too much time trying to anticipate and plan for the future, too much time lamenting the past. We often miss the pleasures of the moment in our anxious efforts to ensure the next moment is as enjoyable.
Drawing from Eastern philosophy and religion, Watts argues that it is only by acknowledging what we do not and cannot know that we can find something truly worth knowing. In order to lead a fulfilling life, one must embrace the present - live fully in the now.
Elegantly reasoned and lucidly written, this philosophical achievement contains all the wisdom and spirit that distinguished Watts' long career and resonates with us still.
More from the same
What listeners say about The Wisdom of Insecurity
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Paul Williams
- 16-01-18
Still a must read for all
I first read this book 20 years ago and was struck by its clarity on the problems of being alive in this modern world. It's incredible that Alan Watts wrote this book in 1951 and his thoughts about man's predicament are still the same and maybe worse today. This is not a self help book but anyone reading it cannot help to be helped. Enjoy. Ps the reading is very very good but not sure why an English reader was not chosen as Alan Watts spoke with an English accent and it would have made it he reading more authentic, only a small gripe.
11 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- John mason
- 09-10-18
A book of wisdom!
Sometimes hard to follow but packed full of wisdom if you can stick with it!
3 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Daniel
- 19-01-19
Brings me out of my mind
I didn't understand much of it, but I feel tremendously better for having read it.
2 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Nelson Adoglio
- 19-08-18
Best book ever written
This is probably the best Philosophy book ever written, also marvellously frequently touching on Psychology and Theology. Short and sharp, not dwelling on theories - a great introduction and also conclusion from other topics explored by Watts in other works.
2 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- gillian f.
- 02-08-18
voice is jarring.
Try Watts just So lectures. This ruins the message. :/ distracting not relaxing. Ive read the book, this is poor like AI
2 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Angela
- 13-07-18
Incredible human being
Alan Watts had incredible insight...thoroughly enjoy everything by this philosopher! Comical, enquiring and calming...try it!
2 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Jay Bee
- 02-09-17
excellent
runnette has a very soothing voice that delivers the message of watts' words perfectly I loved it.
3 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Marek
- 28-05-22
Beatiful & pure
No need for words...just listen with open mind & heart. Few more words here as I wouldn't be allow to publish this review.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- laszlo
- 21-03-21
Best thing I have ever listened to.
This book is very special (to me, at least) ! Narrator is also amazing. Thank you again Alan Watts.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Anonymous User
- 24-09-20
beautiful
this is simply wonderful knowledge base of overall philosophy, age free and would recommend to everybody
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Amazon Customer
- 23-06-17
Should be required reading!
I grew up a preacher's kid, became a Vascular Surgeon, and today I am also as an Addiction Medicine physician. This concise book encompasses the things I was really seeking on this journey but did not realize I was seeking. Religion vs Science, Mind vs Body, Connection vs Separation, Self vs self. All of these and more are brilliantly stated and reconciled, not in a way to provide answers, but to bring wonder. These puzzle pieces are arranged enough to bring form and shape to big questions. I gave the performance a 4 only because I have heard tapes spoken by Alan Watts himself, and no one compares.
30 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- IW, Albuquerque
- 16-03-16
more pointed and considerate than his lectures
narrator was very good. easy to understand and pronounced words in the conventional way. Refreshing, especially if you ve only listened to Watts speak extemporaneously
20 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Amazon Customer
- 24-05-18
Can't handle Sean Runnette's voice and narrating
This book is incredible, I will have to read it.
The way it is ready by this guy Sean Runnette is So bad! I couldn't even make it past the first few minutes.
Terrible lispy, juicy S's. Pauses in all the wrong places, emphasis on the wrong words and unecessary commentary that takes you off track. Get someone who sounds Like Alan to narrate this book.
10 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Amin
- 03-12-16
Very very deep...
This was my first book by Alan Watts and I loved it so much. He explains insecurity in a whole new level of understanding, and if you think you are capable to understand, go ahead and dive.
I will definetly reread this book. This book is in a Top 10 book, that I read for the whole time, and the best book on insecurity. I Highly recommend it.
PS: I write this addition afterward reading this book after 2 weeks, and I can say, that this book have something really deep inside. I can definetly say, that it changed a lot of aspects of my life, on different levels of conciousness. I never before done rewieing afterward, but this book trully and absolutly worth it.
26 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Darren Cadora
- 24-10-17
Alan said it best.
Lacking the enthusiasm that Alan would have if he told it. Alan had a magical way of expression that would have been magnificent to hear. Sean did make me laugh and smile. The depth of this book is not easy to present but I find it was worth the price
5 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Jordan Williams
- 11-06-19
Amazing Book, Amazing Author.
One of the greatest reads of my life, I dont doubt for a second that I will listen to this book countless times over, my only complaint is that the narrator seems poorly chosen, such a monotonous and somehow miserly sounding voice does no justice to the lively firey flare and humor of Alan Watts' speeches, stories, analogies, and anecdotes. 10/10 book, worth re-narrating. Sorry Sean-Runnette I'm sure you're a cool guy.
4 people found this helpful
-
Overall

- Jah Alexander
- 09-07-17
Relief
I was raised as a Christian, my parents, both mother and father are pasters. Wisdom is the structure for successful religions, in Christianity there is much to be found, yet I can't deny that I have heard life changing wisdom outside of my own beliefs. I am at the age now where I have began to question and keep an open mind, a game of, follow the wisdom. Anxiety disorder is something I continue to fight, win and lose on a daily basis, I see as well as who I am suppose to be in my religion contributes to that anxiousness I feel.
I would be a fool and have no since of wisdom in me if I where to deny this book, it speaks to me on a level I can't deny.
9 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance

- anthony
- 19-03-21
sleepy time.
may be a great book but the reader was a professional sleep hypnosis guru. I couldn't stay focused on the book. not good if your job requires hours of driving between sites daily. I love the material and if this reader does a help you sleep meditation session I'd definitely read it. had to return. I'll look for another version.
3 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- michael norris
- 05-01-19
Absolutely awful
The material is Alan watts...so it's great, but whoever readers sounds like he's got a piece of candy and too much saliva in his mouth and every "S" sound is an irritating slurpy hiss.
Gross
Unlistenable
7 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Eugene
- 29-03-17
Good but not as mindblowing as You're It
An insightful book with many pearls of wisdom not present in Watt's lectures: "You're it" and "Out of Your Mind"
3 people found this helpful