Toward a Psychology of Awakening

by WELWOOD, JOHN

• ISBN13: 9781570628238
• ISBN10: 1570628238
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2002-02-12
• Publisher: Shambhala

Summary

How can we connect the spiritual realizations of Buddhism with the psychological insights of the West? InToward a Psychology of AwakeningJohn Welwood addresses this question with comprehensiveness and depth. Along the way he shows how meditative awareness can help us develop more dynamic and vital relationships and how psychotherapy can help us embody spiritual realization more fully in everyday life. Welwood's psychology of awakening brings together the three major dimensions of human experience: personal, interpersonal, and suprapersonal, in one overall framework of understanding and practice.

Author Biography

John Welwood, Ph.D., has published six books, including the bestselling Journey of the Heart (HarperCollins, 1990), as well as Challenge of the Heart (Shambhala, 1985), and Love and Awakening (HarperCollins, 1996). He is a clinical psychologist and psychotherapist in San Francisco, and an associate editor of the Journal of Transpersonal Psychology.<br><br><br><i>From the Hardcover edition.</i>

Table of Contents

Introduction	xi
Part One Integrating Psychology and Spirituality
Introduction	3	(8)
Between Heaven and Earth: Principles of Inner Work	11	(11)
Personality: Path or Pathology?	22	(13)
Ego Strength and Egolessness	35	(13)
The Play of the Mind: Form, Emptiness, and Beyond	48	(10)
Meditation and the Unconscious	58	(19)
Psychological Space	77	(10)
The Unfolding of Experience	87	(11)
Reflection and Presence: The Dialectic of Awakening	98	(39)
Part Two Psychotherapy in a Spiritual Context
Introduction	133	(4)
The Healing Power of Unconditional Presence	137	(11)
Vulnerability, Power, and the Healing Relationship	148	(15)
Psychotherapy as a Practice of Love	163	(9)
Depression as a Loss of Heart	172	(9)
Making Friends with Emotion	181	(12)
Embodying Your Realization: Psychological Work in the Service of Spiritual Development	193	(40)
Part Three The Awakening Power of Relationship
Introduction	229	(4)
Intimate Relationship as Transformative Path	233	(8)
Dancing on the Razor's Edge	241	(5)
Refining the Gold	246	(4)
Love, Conditional and Unconditional	250	(8)
Passion as Path	258	(9)
Spiritual Authority, Genuine and Counterfeit	267	(15)
Conscious Love and Sacred Community	282	(11)
Notes	293	(6)
Glossary	299	(10)
Sources	309	(4)
Bibliography	313	(6)
Acknowledgments and Credits	319	(2)
Index	321	(10)
About the Author	331