The most strongly enforced of all known taboos is the taboo against knowing who or what you really are behind the mask of your apparently separate independent and isolated ego the concept of i is extremely powerful and commonplace in most societies on earth and it is so fundamental to our modes of speech and thought as well as our laws . If youve ever thought that says alan watts youre right i certainly thought that as a kid society wouldnt let me be who i was i was zany and irrepressible and they would let me have none of that its the taboo against knowing who you really are its the unbearable lightness of being. The book on the taboo against knowing who you are alan watts alan watts who died in 1974 held both a masters degree in theology and a doctorate of divinity and was best known as an interpreter of zen buddhism in particular and of indian and chinese philosophy in general he was the. A revelatory primer on what it means to be human from the perfect guide for a course correction in life deepak chopra and a mind opening manual of initiation into the central mystery of existence at the root of human conflict is our fundamental misunderstanding of who we are the illusion that we are isolated beings unconnected to the rest of the universe has led us to view the outside