The Meaning of Happiness: The Quest for Freedom of the Spirit in Modern Psychology and the Wisdom of the East

“Pathbreaking.”
— Maria Popova, Brain Pickings

“Happiness is a sense of harmony, completion, and wholeness, Watts declares in this classic work. Though first published in 1940 when he was only in his mid-twenties and reissued now by New World Library, Watts’ book remains foundational in its early impact on his later work. . . . rewarding and even enlightening.”
— Booklist

“Novel and interesting.”
— New York Times

“This volume springs from the depths of life and learning. It is wise and practical. The author gets our attention on his very first page. . . . The philosophy wrought from these elements of experience and thought is profound yet simple.”
— New York Herald Tribune

“[Watts] has the ability to focus our attention on the really fundamental aspects of the human situation. This is what has made him the most interesting advocate of Eastern mysticism.”
— Mountain Path

“This volume is suggestive and refreshing in that it recognizes happiness as the elusive and intangible reality which it is. Here one will find no neat formulas and disciplines for successful and happy living. . . . Here, in truth, is stronger meat for the more serious student, gathered from the wisdom of both East and West.”
— G.W. Davis, Crozier Quarterly

Alan Watts, the author of more than twenty books and a countercultural icon, was also a spiritual philosopher, scholar of Eastern spirituality, Anglican minister, and chaplain at Northwestern University. He died in 1973.