Sunday, October 27, 5-7pm
Callejón Blanco 4
Free

Alan Watts - book

The Meditation Center of San Miguel will host a free reading from the recently published Collected Letters of Alan Watts.

Philosopher, author, and lecturer Alan Watts (1915–1973) popularized Zen Buddhism and other Eastern philosophies for the counterculture of the 1960s. Through his widely popular books and lectures and radio talk shows, Alan Watts did more to introduce Eastern philosophy and religion to Western minds than any figure before or since.

Watts touched the lives of many. He was a renegade Zen teacher, an Anglican priest, a lecturer, an academic, an entertainer, a leader of the San Francisco renaissance, and the author of more than thirty books, including The Way of Zen, Psychotherapy East and West and The Spirit of Zen.Today, new generations are finding his writings and lectures online, while faithful followers worldwide continue to be enlightened by his teachings. The Collected Letters of Alan Watts reveals the remarkable arc of Watts’s colorful and controversial life, from his school days in England to his priesthood in the Anglican Church as chaplain of Northwestern University to his alternative lifestyle and experimentation with LSD in the heyday of the late sixties. His engaging letters cover a vast range of subject matter, with recipients ranging from High Church clergy to high priests of psychedelics, government officials, publishers, critics, family, and fans.

They include C.G. Jung, Henry Miller, Gary Snyder, Aldous Huxley, Reinhold Niebuhr, Timothy Leary, Joseph Campbell, and James Hillman. Watts’s letters were curated by two of his daughters, Joan Watts and Anne Watts, who have added rich, behind-the-scenes biographical commentary.

Myra Krien, granddaughter of Alan Watts and great-granddaughter of
Ruth Fuller-Sasaki, will read from The Collected Letters of Alan Watts, share stories and
impressions of her life and lineage, answer questions and sign books. Director and Founder
of Pomegranate Studios, Pomegranate SEEDs Youth Mentorship Program for Social
Change, Mosaic Dance Company and Persephone Transformative Clothing for Women,
Krien works and lives in Santa Fe, NM and tours internationally as a director,
choreographer and dance educator.

All presentations at the Meditation Center are offered free of charge. Donations are gratefully accepted.