Toward a Psychology of Awakening: Buddhism, Psychotherapy, and the Path of Personal and Spiritual Transformation

by John Welwood

Overview

A guide to understanding the relationship between Western psychology and the contemplative sprituality of the East—and how one’s spiritual journey can be enriched by both
 
How can we connect the spiritual realizations of Buddhism with the psychological insights of the West? In Toward a Psychology of Awakening John Welwood addresses this question with comprehensiveness and depth, building on his innovative psychospiritual approach to health, healing, and spirituality. He covers the following topics:
 
• What can the spiritual methodologies of the East teach us about psychological health?
• What issues arise when the recognition of our larger nature challenges our very conception of individual self?
• What new directions become possible when psychological work is undertaken in a spiritual context?
• How does Western psychological understanding affect our approach to spirituality?
 
Welwood's psychology of awakening brings together three major dimensions of human existence: personal, interpersonal, and suprapersonal in one overall framework of understanding and practice.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781570628238
Publisher:	Shambhala
Publication date:	02/12/2002
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	352
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.03(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

As a psychotherapist, teacher, and author, John Welwood has been a pioneer in integrating psychological and spiritual work. Welwood has published six books, including the best-selling Journey of the Heart (HarperCollins, 1990), as well as Challenge of the Heart (Shambhala, 1985), and Love and Awakening (HarperCollins, 1996). He is an associate editor of the Journal for Transpersonal Psychology. He leads workshops and trainings in psychospiritual work and conscious relationship throughout the world.

Table of Contents

	Introduction	xi
Part 1	Integrating Psychology and Spirituality
	Introduction	3
1.	Between Heaven and Earth: Principles of Inner Work	11
2.	Personality: Path or Pathology?	22
3.	Ego Strength and Egolessness	35
4.	The Play of the Mind: Form, Emptiness, and Beyond	48
5.	Meditation and the Unconscious	58
6.	Psychological Space	77
7.	The Unfolding of Experience	87
8.	Reflection and Presence: The Dialectic of Awakening	98
Part 2	Psychotherapy in a Spiritual Context
	Introduction	133
9.	The Healing Power of Unconditional Presence	137
10.	Vulnerability, Power, and the Healing Relationship	148
11.	Psychotherapy as a Practice of Love	163
12.	Depression as a Loss of Heart	172
13.	Making Friends with Emotion	181
14.	Embodying Your Realization: Psychological Work in the Service of Spiritual Development	193
Part 3	The Awakening Power of Relationship
	Introduction	229
15.	Intimate Relationship as Transformative Path	233
16.	Dancing on the Razor's Edge	241
17.	Refining the Gold	246
18.	Love, Conditional and Unconditional	250
19.	Passion as Path	258
20.	Spiritual Authority, Genuine and Counterfeit	267
21.	Conscious Love and Sacred Community	282
	Notes	293
	Glossary	299
	Sources	309
	Bibliography	313
	Acknowledgments and Credits	319
	Index	321
	About the Author	331

Editorial Reviews

A very important book. It represents a perceptive, scholarly and at the same time highly practical attempt to see not only how Western psychology and Buddhism relate to each other but also how they complement each other. I cannot commend this book too highly.” —The Middle Way
 
“Brilliant and thought provoking. This ambitious work succeeds so well because it sheds light on the interplay between meditation, inner work, and conscious relationship as a spiritual practice.” —Spirituality & Health

“Marvelously fluent, personable, and eminently compassionate.” —NAPRA Review

“Rich, potentially transforming insights abound here. Psychotherapists and spiritual seekers alike will be enriched by this book.” —Publishers Weekly

From the Publisher

Welwood, a clinical psychologist, associate editor of the Journal of Transpersonal Psychology, and author (Love and Awakening, LJ 1/96), here offers an anthology of revised and updated versions of articles he has published over the last 25 years plus new material. The result is an original, intellectually rigorous perspective of the convergence of Buddhism and Western psychology. Welwood's brilliant use of metaphor and historical reference and his emphasis on the heart set him apart from other East/West writers like Ken Wilber (Sex, Ecology, Spirituality, Shambhala, 1995) and Alan Watts (Psychotherapy, East and West, Pantheon, 1961), who are more intellectual. Readers who enjoy Thomas Moore and can accept a more Eastern flavor will want to read this book. Highly recommended for large public libraries and academic libraries with broad psychology collections.--Madeleine Nash, York Coll. Lib., CUNY Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.\

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