Abstract

In this vigorous, popularized presentation of Vedanta, Mr. Watts attempts to shake the reader out of his hallucination that he is a "separate ego, enclosed in a bag of skin." With a great beating of drums, he reveals the prime secret, the taboo of taboos, the answer to all of the world's problems: the Ultimate Ground of Being, the Self of the World, the whole endless process of life, is you. All the conflicts and competition of life are a daring game of hide-and-seek played by the Self of the World, a game in which God pretends that he is all of the forms of life; when the game has gone on long enough, all of us will wake up, stop pretending, and remember that we are all one single Self. The book, although intended for the non-technically trained reader, is almost too earnestly written, with an awareness of at least some of the philosophic issues involved. The book is more notable, however, for the wit, the fascination with life, and the joy it communicates. There is a short bibliography.—S. A. S.