Nothing To Lose: Psychotherapy, Buddhism and Living Life

by Wellings, Nigel; McCormick, Elizabeth Wilde

• ISBN13: 9780826473400
• ISBN10: 0826473407
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2005-07-01
• Publisher: Bloomsbury USA Academic

Summary

For all those immersed in the traditions of Christian contemplation there is new understanding derived from the study of Buddhist traditions and the classical schools of psychotherapy. While both Freud and Jung, each in their own way, describe for us a means to expand the boundaries of the personal self, Buddhism challenges the very existence of this self, suggesting that it is the belief in its concrete existence that is at root the cause of all suffering. How then may these two radically different views find a place of meeting? The process involves "emptying out" as expounded by the great Christian mystics--"St. John of the Cross, Eckhart, Julian of Norwich--"and in the process the individual may be helped to cope with the stresses and pitfalls of modern living--"neurotic anxiety, depression, and narcissism.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements	viii
Foreword	xi
Introduction: Starting Out	1	(24)
1. On Personal Stories and Waking Up	25	(25)
2. Changing Rooms	50	(22)
3. Descent and Death	72	(25)
4. A Fallow Chaos	97	(23)
5. Tranquillity and Seeing Clearly	120	(29)
6. The Marketplace	149	(25)
7. The Bodhisattva's Shout	174	(21)
Forum for Contemplative Studies	195	(1)
Appendix: On Buddhist Traditions	196	(3)
Notes and References	199	(6)
Glossary	205	(7)
Suggested Further Reading	212	(5)
Index	217