Psychoanalytic and Buddhist reflections on gentleness : sensitivity, fear and the drive towards truth
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Bibliographic Information
Psychoanalytic and Buddhist reflections on gentleness : sensitivity, fear and the drive towards truth
Routledge, 2019
- : pbk
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Note
Includes bibliographical references and index
Description and Table of Contents
Description
Inspired by Buddhist teachings and psychoanalytic thought, this book explores gentleness as a way of being and a developmental achievement. It offers reflections on the unique position of "gentle people", as well as certain gentle layers of the psyche in general, as they meet the world. Examining the perceptual-sensory-conscious discrepancy that often exists between a gentle person and their surroundings, it follows the intricate relationship between sensitivity and fear, the need for self-holding, and the possibility of letting go.
Incorporating theoretical investigation, clinical vignettes, and personal contemplation, the book looks into those states of mind and qualities of attention that may compose a favorable environment, internal and interpersonal, where gentleness can be delicately held. There, it is suggested, gentleness may gradually shed the fragility, confusion, and destructiveness that often get entangled with it, and serve as a valuable recourse.
Offering a unique perspective on a topic rarely discussed, the book has broad appeal for both students and practitioners of psychoanalysis and psychotherapy, as well as Buddhist practitioners and scholars.
Table of Contents
Chapter One: On Gentleness
To Be in the World Unheld
The Gap
Sensitivity and Gentleness
Gentleness, Violence and the Drive toward the Good
Chapter Two: The Path of Gentleness
Behavior, Meditation, and Wisdom
The Necessary Equipment
Gentleness and Destructiveness
Nina: An Unconscious Struggle between the Gentleness of Mind and Internalized Social Norms
Beyond Mindfulness
Some Reflections on the Attitude to Truth
Chapter Three: Between Pain and Pleasure
Khanasutta: The Opportunity
The Mind's Substrate
The Good Object
A Good Environment
Nourishment
Holding a Gentle Baby
Louise: A Choreography of Nuances
Necessary Goodness and Instinctual Gratification
The Adult Mind
From Prince to Ascetic
Sensation and Thirst
The Mind that Sees Itself
The Objects of Desire
Subtle Pleasantness
Chapter Four: A Home in the Universe
Becoming, Separation, and Fear
The Big Bang
Truth and Faith: Following the Signs of Existence
Some Words about Memory, Desire, and Knowledge
Faith as a Scientific State of Mind
Saddha: Sober Faith
Holding and Surrender
Non-Clinging
Dwelling in the Unsettled Space of Not-Knowing
Chapter Five: Attention as an Environment
Conditioned Arising: Self-Environment Relations
Associating: Examining the Elements in the Environment
A Sense of Environmental Toxicity
Discord and Harmony
Two Species of Accuracy
Inner Attentional Environment: The Mental Space
The Interpersonal Attentional Environment: Quiet Love and Openness to Truth
Marina: To Lend an Ear to the Feeble, To See the Hidden Through a Veil
Holding and Letting Go
Non-Clinging and Movement
Instrumental vs Non-Instrumental Thinking
Rigidity, Flexibility and Dissolution
Giving up on a Sense of Expertise
Out of Chaos, Form Arises
Conditioned Arising: An Environment within the Self within the Environment
Epilogue: Reflections on Time and Space
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