Calm, Clear, and Loving
Welcome from jinavamsa.
..... comments invited: see email, below .....
This web site is to offer some reviews and other comments on the book by Mitchell D. Ginsberg:
Calm, Clear, and Loving:
Soothing the Distressed Mind, Healing the Wounded Heart
I will add to this page as this book becomes known to people who are interested in making comments on its qualities and interesting features, or to make other remarks.
The following reviews are available at this time.
Some comments on the book:
Mitchell exhibits the value of philosophy in multiple ways. I especially admire his efforts to apply ideas that are usually deemed pure theory to concrete therapeutic situations... Making peace with the past and being able to alter patterns that cause suffering are the central concerns of this book ... [including] the whole project of self-transformation and integration that this book aims to nurture ...
This book is heartening in the same way that some of Nietzsche's writings and the classics of Daoism are. All of these texts emphasize the on-going process and the potential for one to take matters in hand right now. One of the gifts this book offers to the reader is a sense of empowerment in the present, wherever in life one happens to be.
** Excerpted from the Foreword by Kathleen Higgins, Ph.D.,
Professor of Philosophy at the University of Texas, and author, with Robert C. Solomon, of
What Nietzsche Really Said (Schocken Books, 2000), among other published texts.
An author who covers so much with comparable mastery is like a rare flower -- his panoramic gaze is a beautiful thing to see; so I hope that, beyond its subject matter, the present volume may constitute to some extent a cultural influence remedial to our overspecialized and greedy times, when wonder has gone the way of extinct species, and when the love of knowledge is now only rarely free and disinterested.
** Excerpted from the Forword by
Claudio Naranjo, M.D., Ed.D.,
author of
Healing Civilization
(Rose Press/Gateways Books and Tapes, 2010) and numerous other books.
Calm, Clear, and Loving offers with gentle and heartfelt compassion, very pragmatic suggestions for alleviating torment in our lives. For anyone who has experienced violence, this book shows how to shift from automatic patterns of self-blame, shame, self-attacking, and fear, to a state of calm, clarity, and lovingkindness to ourselves and to others. This book teaches how to begin to live a full and vibrant life.
With an open heart, I gently invite you to embark on a journey of self-transformation through self-observation. I encourage you to take this first critical, necessary step. This book can change your life in profound ways; the time and energy of your courageous work can reap unlimited rewards. You are worth it. And now, I extend a sincere invitation to you, to read this book with your heart.
** Excerpted from the Foreword by Audrey Rachel Stevenson.
An integration of philosophy, psychology, spirituality, and poetry, Calm, Clear, and Loving is not only of relevance for the theoretical issues that it addresses; it also invites the reader to reflect on daily life experiences, shifting from blame and self-criticism to self-acceptance and love.
For long-time psychotherapists and teachers like me, Mitchell's book can be a real threat, because it challenges basic psychiatric principles and gives a "subversive" vision of what we consider psychological distress and diagnostic evidence.
This is a radical vision that brings us into a spiritual adventure in search of the essence of life, death, diseases, and therapeutic relationships. (As Carl Whitaker stated many times, the real human and professional transformation is moving from "doing therapy to being therapists.")
Mitchell describes this as the perspective of psychospirituality, which invites a paradigm shift to a totally different orientation and language from the all-too-common "quick-fix syndrome" of today and the categorizations of human psychopathology presented in the various editions of psychiatry's DSM textbook.
If we are to be able to address people in distress in a very caring and loving manner, we have to move from the language of psychiatric disorders and their diagnostic evidence to another planet of interrelating where we can experience humanity and creativity in a calm, clear, and loving context.
** Maurizio
Andolfi, M.D., Founder of the
European Family Therapy Association, Director of the
Accademia di Psicoterapia della Famiglia (Rome),
Professor at
Sapienza Universita di Roma,
author of
Family Therapy: An Interactional Approach,
Dimensions of Family Therapy,
Behind the Family Mask:
Therapeutic Change in Rigid Family Systems ,
The Myth of Atlas:
Families and the Therapeutic Story, and principal editor of
Please Help Me with This Family and
The Oaxaca Book.
For me, Mitchell’s latest wonderful, and lucidly expounded book Calm, Clear, and Loving, about soothing the distressed mind and healing the wounded heart, is one of the most inspiring and intriguing books I have ever encountered. Certainly that book represents who Mitchell is: a philosopher, a mystic, a psychotherapist, and a Vipassana Teacher in addition to being a good friend of mine and of many others.
** Dhiravamsa,
International Vipassana Meditation Master, Grand Canary Island, Spain,
author of
The Way of Non-attachment,
The Middle Path of Life,
Turning to the Source,
and
Una nueva visión del Budismo.
I was struck by the integration of psychological concepts with spiritual practice. In providing such a clear description of the different parts of experience (mind as a sixth sense), Ginsberg integrates meditation as a method of gaining self-definition that is accessible to both patients and spiritual explorers.
** Mei-I Chang, Ph.D., Clinical Psychologist, San Diego.
Calm, Clear, and Loving is an in-depth exploration of how we deal with suffering in our lives and create the possibilities of freedom. It is an impressive work, broad in its scope. Mitchell Ginsberg's insight and depth of scholarship range across a wide array of disciplines and traditions. A careful reading of this work can bring many rewards.
** Joseph Goldstein,
author
of
One Dharma: The Emerging Western Buddhism
and
A Heart Full of Peace.
Congratulations on a very impressive work of scholarship and philosophic explorations. I approach it as a fine bottle of vintage liqueur (taste, sip, and savor a chapter at a time). I think it fully qualifies for the adjective heuristic. It's both thought provoking and engaging!
** Maurice Shilling, M.D., Psychiatrist, Former staff member of The Ackerman Family Institute, NYC.
I've known Mitchell for almost 40 years. Reading now this latest book of Mitchell's, I am delighted to see some things I remember from our discussions, plus many many other ideas and concepts. Imagine walking into a bar (or maybe it's a library or a fin-de-siecle Viennese cafe). The Buddha, Wittgenstein, and Nietzsche are there. Ronnie Laing, Gregory Bateson, Aristotle, Huang Po, and Freud are at the next table, along with Thomas Szasz, Pierre Janet, Michel de Montaigne, and Jean-Paul Sartre. Wow! Holy hermeneutics! There is an intense discussion going--"Dao ... Mind ... Family ... Consciousness ... Cybernetics ... The Unconscious ... Therapy ... Love"--but they're speaking French, German, English, Chinese, Sanskrit, and Greek.
Luckily, Mitchell is there, smiling his patient, sweet smile, meticulously taking notes.
I recommend Calm, Clear, and Loving: Soothing the Distressed Mind, Healing the Wounded Heart to anyone who has interest in these topics who would enjoy deep scholarship, kindness, and wisdom.
**
Michael F. Hoyt, Ph.D., author of Some Stories Are Better than Others,
The Present is a Gift, and Brief Psychotherapies; editor of The Handbook of Constructive Therapies and
Therapist Stories of Inspiration, Passion, and Renewal: What's Love Got to Do With It?
Reviews of the book taken from various web sites, etc.:
I have had the pleasure to read Dr. Ginsberg's book over the last few weeks. I very much enjoyed the large number of topics discussed. It helped me understand how so many different fields can help one individual with life's struggles. I can recommend the book to all those who care about understanding consciousness better.
** Stephane
Claudio Naranjo wrote a nice foreword to the book that encapsulates my feelings also - he writes: "... an author who covers so much with comparable mastery is like a rare flower, and his panoramic gaze is a beautiful thing to see; and so I hope that, beyond it's subject matter, the present volume may constitute to some extent a cultural influence remedial to our overspecialized and greedy times ..."
There is a need for books like this, that speak to love and to mindfulness and beyond, to the nature of transmission and the sacred. I greatly enjoyed it and heartily recommend it.
** Lawrence Keenan
Interested in psycho-spirituality, I was drawn by the title of this book. After having read it, I can testify that Mr. Ginsberg provides the reader with insightful, non-judgmental, and practical ways of dealing with personal trauma. I highly recommend this book to those of you interested in finding more peace in your daily life as well as helping to heal past wounds.
** Juliette
This book is a great collection of extremely interesting thoughts on the world's spiritual traditions, psychology, and philosophy.
Mitchell Ginsberg, Ph.D., former Yale Philosophy Professor, is a scholar of the highest level. His work is of benefit to anyone who takes the time to read his carefully crafted books. This book is a great companion to his amazing two volume work called The Inner Palace.
His writing is clear and very carefully footnoted, and academically documented, and great care is taken to show the linguistic origins of many works and specific words and texts / writings and this adds to the interest of the book. Readers will enjoy seeing the importance of translation and the effect translation has on the interpretation of many spiritual and philosophical works.
I highly recommend this book and The Inner Palace and Mitchell Ginsberg, Ph.D.'s other publications to readers interested in spirituality, philosophy, transformation of the soul, and how to live a more effective happy life.
This book is also of interest to those who must work with the seriously mentally ill. Mitchell has experience working with the seriously mentally ill, and clinicians and doctors who help these individuals will benefit from his experience and various chapters in this book.
A great scholarly work written by a veteran from the trenches where he has worked tirelessly for decades to help others with their spiritual and psychological well being.
** Geraldine Wangmo
More reviews and perspectives to be added.
Return to top of page.
There is some more on this book presented at this time at
my Home Page.
Those interested in The Far Shore (1980; 4th edition, 2009; eBook, 2012) and The Inner Palace (2002; 6th edition, 2010; eBook, 2011) may find more on these -- including some selections -- via the Books index listing these.
Please come back soon and visit my Home Page and linked pages, as I will updating and adding to them as time permits.
Links to selections from The Far Shore
Sketch and Reviews of the book The Far Shore
The flower
We want not to see
Spiritual Development
More to be added.... visit when inspired.
email:
jinavamsa@yahoo.com
C 2012
Welcome from jinavamsa.
..... comments invited: see email, below .....
This web site is to offer some reviews and other comments on the book by Mitchell D. Ginsberg:
Calm, Clear, and Loving:
Soothing the Distressed Mind, Healing the Wounded Heart
I will add to this page as this book becomes known to people who are interested in making comments on its qualities and interesting features, or to make other remarks.
The following reviews are available at this time.
Some comments on the book:
Mitchell exhibits the value of philosophy in multiple ways. I especially admire his efforts to apply ideas that are usually deemed pure theory to concrete therapeutic situations... Making peace with the past and being able to alter patterns that cause suffering are the central concerns of this book ... [including] the whole project of self-transformation and integration that this book aims to nurture ...
This book is heartening in the same way that some of Nietzsche's writings and the classics of Daoism are. All of these texts emphasize the on-going process and the potential for one to take matters in hand right now. One of the gifts this book offers to the reader is a sense of empowerment in the present, wherever in life one happens to be.
** Excerpted from the Foreword by Kathleen Higgins, Ph.D.,
Professor of Philosophy at the University of Texas, and author, with Robert C. Solomon, of
What Nietzsche Really Said (Schocken Books, 2000), among other published texts.
An author who covers so much with comparable mastery is like a rare flower -- his panoramic gaze is a beautiful thing to see; so I hope that, beyond its subject matter, the present volume may constitute to some extent a cultural influence remedial to our overspecialized and greedy times, when wonder has gone the way of extinct species, and when the love of knowledge is now only rarely free and disinterested.
** Excerpted from the Forword by
Claudio Naranjo, M.D., Ed.D.,
author of
Healing Civilization
(Rose Press/Gateways Books and Tapes, 2010) and numerous other books.
Calm, Clear, and Loving offers with gentle and heartfelt compassion, very pragmatic suggestions for alleviating torment in our lives. For anyone who has experienced violence, this book shows how to shift from automatic patterns of self-blame, shame, self-attacking, and fear, to a state of calm, clarity, and lovingkindness to ourselves and to others. This book teaches how to begin to live a full and vibrant life.
With an open heart, I gently invite you to embark on a journey of self-transformation through self-observation. I encourage you to take this first critical, necessary step. This book can change your life in profound ways; the time and energy of your courageous work can reap unlimited rewards. You are worth it. And now, I extend a sincere invitation to you, to read this book with your heart.
** Excerpted from the Foreword by Audrey Rachel Stevenson.
An integration of philosophy, psychology, spirituality, and poetry, Calm, Clear, and Loving is not only of relevance for the theoretical issues that it addresses; it also invites the reader to reflect on daily life experiences, shifting from blame and self-criticism to self-acceptance and love.
For long-time psychotherapists and teachers like me, Mitchell's book can be a real threat, because it challenges basic psychiatric principles and gives a "subversive" vision of what we consider psychological distress and diagnostic evidence.
This is a radical vision that brings us into a spiritual adventure in search of the essence of life, death, diseases, and therapeutic relationships. (As Carl Whitaker stated many times, the real human and professional transformation is moving from "doing therapy to being therapists.")
Mitchell describes this as the perspective of psychospirituality, which invites a paradigm shift to a totally different orientation and language from the all-too-common "quick-fix syndrome" of today and the categorizations of human psychopathology presented in the various editions of psychiatry's DSM textbook.
If we are to be able to address people in distress in a very caring and loving manner, we have to move from the language of psychiatric disorders and their diagnostic evidence to another planet of interrelating where we can experience humanity and creativity in a calm, clear, and loving context.
** Maurizio
Andolfi, M.D., Founder of the
European Family Therapy Association, Director of the
Accademia di Psicoterapia della Famiglia (Rome),
Professor at
Sapienza Universita di Roma,
author of
Family Therapy: An Interactional Approach,
Dimensions of Family Therapy,
Behind the Family Mask:
Therapeutic Change in Rigid Family Systems ,
The Myth of Atlas:
Families and the Therapeutic Story, and principal editor of
Please Help Me with This Family and
The Oaxaca Book.
For me, Mitchell’s latest wonderful, and lucidly expounded book Calm, Clear, and Loving, about soothing the distressed mind and healing the wounded heart, is one of the most inspiring and intriguing books I have ever encountered. Certainly that book represents who Mitchell is: a philosopher, a mystic, a psychotherapist, and a Vipassana Teacher in addition to being a good friend of mine and of many others.
** Dhiravamsa,
International Vipassana Meditation Master, Grand Canary Island, Spain,
author of
The Way of Non-attachment,
The Middle Path of Life,
Turning to the Source,
and
Una nueva visión del Budismo.
I was struck by the integration of psychological concepts with spiritual practice. In providing such a clear description of the different parts of experience (mind as a sixth sense), Ginsberg integrates meditation as a method of gaining self-definition that is accessible to both patients and spiritual explorers.
** Mei-I Chang, Ph.D., Clinical Psychologist, San Diego.
Calm, Clear, and Loving is an in-depth exploration of how we deal with suffering in our lives and create the possibilities of freedom. It is an impressive work, broad in its scope. Mitchell Ginsberg's insight and depth of scholarship range across a wide array of disciplines and traditions. A careful reading of this work can bring many rewards.
** Joseph Goldstein,
author
of
One Dharma: The Emerging Western Buddhism
and
A Heart Full of Peace.
Congratulations on a very impressive work of scholarship and philosophic explorations. I approach it as a fine bottle of vintage liqueur (taste, sip, and savor a chapter at a time). I think it fully qualifies for the adjective heuristic. It's both thought provoking and engaging!
** Maurice Shilling, M.D., Psychiatrist, Former staff member of The Ackerman Family Institute, NYC.
I've known Mitchell for almost 40 years. Reading now this latest book of Mitchell's, I am delighted to see some things I remember from our discussions, plus many many other ideas and concepts. Imagine walking into a bar (or maybe it's a library or a fin-de-siecle Viennese cafe). The Buddha, Wittgenstein, and Nietzsche are there. Ronnie Laing, Gregory Bateson, Aristotle, Huang Po, and Freud are at the next table, along with Thomas Szasz, Pierre Janet, Michel de Montaigne, and Jean-Paul Sartre. Wow! Holy hermeneutics! There is an intense discussion going--"Dao ... Mind ... Family ... Consciousness ... Cybernetics ... The Unconscious ... Therapy ... Love"--but they're speaking French, German, English, Chinese, Sanskrit, and Greek.
Luckily, Mitchell is there, smiling his patient, sweet smile, meticulously taking notes.
I recommend Calm, Clear, and Loving: Soothing the Distressed Mind, Healing the Wounded Heart to anyone who has interest in these topics who would enjoy deep scholarship, kindness, and wisdom.
**
Michael F. Hoyt, Ph.D., author of Some Stories Are Better than Others,
The Present is a Gift, and Brief Psychotherapies; editor of The Handbook of Constructive Therapies and
Therapist Stories of Inspiration, Passion, and Renewal: What's Love Got to Do With It?
Reviews of the book taken from various web sites, etc.:
I have had the pleasure to read Dr. Ginsberg's book over the last few weeks. I very much enjoyed the large number of topics discussed. It helped me understand how so many different fields can help one individual with life's struggles. I can recommend the book to all those who care about understanding consciousness better.
** Stephane
Claudio Naranjo wrote a nice foreword to the book that encapsulates my feelings also - he writes: "... an author who covers so much with comparable mastery is like a rare flower, and his panoramic gaze is a beautiful thing to see; and so I hope that, beyond it's subject matter, the present volume may constitute to some extent a cultural influence remedial to our overspecialized and greedy times ..."
There is a need for books like this, that speak to love and to mindfulness and beyond, to the nature of transmission and the sacred. I greatly enjoyed it and heartily recommend it.
** Lawrence Keenan
Interested in psycho-spirituality, I was drawn by the title of this book. After having read it, I can testify that Mr. Ginsberg provides the reader with insightful, non-judgmental, and practical ways of dealing with personal trauma. I highly recommend this book to those of you interested in finding more peace in your daily life as well as helping to heal past wounds.
** Juliette
This book is a great collection of extremely interesting thoughts on the world's spiritual traditions, psychology, and philosophy.
Mitchell Ginsberg, Ph.D., former Yale Philosophy Professor, is a scholar of the highest level. His work is of benefit to anyone who takes the time to read his carefully crafted books. This book is a great companion to his amazing two volume work called The Inner Palace.
His writing is clear and very carefully footnoted, and academically documented, and great care is taken to show the linguistic origins of many works and specific words and texts / writings and this adds to the interest of the book. Readers will enjoy seeing the importance of translation and the effect translation has on the interpretation of many spiritual and philosophical works.
I highly recommend this book and The Inner Palace and Mitchell Ginsberg, Ph.D.'s other publications to readers interested in spirituality, philosophy, transformation of the soul, and how to live a more effective happy life.
This book is also of interest to those who must work with the seriously mentally ill. Mitchell has experience working with the seriously mentally ill, and clinicians and doctors who help these individuals will benefit from his experience and various chapters in this book.
A great scholarly work written by a veteran from the trenches where he has worked tirelessly for decades to help others with their spiritual and psychological well being.
** Geraldine Wangmo
More reviews and perspectives to be added.
Return to top of page.
There is some more on this book presented at this time at
my Home Page.
Those interested in The Far Shore (1980; 4th edition, 2009; eBook, 2012) and The Inner Palace (2002; 6th edition, 2010; eBook, 2011) may find more on these -- including some selections -- via the Books index listing these.
Please come back soon and visit my Home Page and linked pages, as I will updating and adding to them as time permits.
Links to selections from The Far Shore
Sketch and Reviews of the book The Far Shore
The flower
We want not to see
Spiritual Development
More to be added.... visit when inspired.
email:
jinavamsa@yahoo.com
C 2012
Calm, Clear, and Loving:
Soothing the Distressed Mind, Healing the Wounded Heart
I will add to this page as this book becomes known to people who are interested in making comments on its qualities and interesting features, or to make other remarks.
The following reviews are available at this time.
Some comments on the book:
Mitchell exhibits the value of philosophy in multiple ways. I especially admire his efforts to apply ideas that are usually deemed pure theory to concrete therapeutic situations... Making peace with the past and being able to alter patterns that cause suffering are the central concerns of this book ... [including] the whole project of self-transformation and integration that this book aims to nurture ...
This book is heartening in the same way that some of Nietzsche's writings and the classics of Daoism are. All of these texts emphasize the on-going process and the potential for one to take matters in hand right now. One of the gifts this book offers to the reader is a sense of empowerment in the present, wherever in life one happens to be.
** Excerpted from the Foreword by Kathleen Higgins, Ph.D.,
Professor of Philosophy at the University of Texas, and author, with Robert C. Solomon, of
What Nietzsche Really Said (Schocken Books, 2000), among other published texts.
An author who covers so much with comparable mastery is like a rare flower -- his panoramic gaze is a beautiful thing to see; so I hope that, beyond its subject matter, the present volume may constitute to some extent a cultural influence remedial to our overspecialized and greedy times, when wonder has gone the way of extinct species, and when the love of knowledge is now only rarely free and disinterested.
** Excerpted from the Forword by
Claudio Naranjo, M.D., Ed.D.,
author of
Healing Civilization
(Rose Press/Gateways Books and Tapes, 2010) and numerous other books.
Calm, Clear, and Loving offers with gentle and heartfelt compassion, very pragmatic suggestions for alleviating torment in our lives. For anyone who has experienced violence, this book shows how to shift from automatic patterns of self-blame, shame, self-attacking, and fear, to a state of calm, clarity, and lovingkindness to ourselves and to others. This book teaches how to begin to live a full and vibrant life.
With an open heart, I gently invite you to embark on a journey of self-transformation through self-observation. I encourage you to take this first critical, necessary step. This book can change your life in profound ways; the time and energy of your courageous work can reap unlimited rewards. You are worth it. And now, I extend a sincere invitation to you, to read this book with your heart.
** Excerpted from the Foreword by Audrey Rachel Stevenson.
An integration of philosophy, psychology, spirituality, and poetry, Calm, Clear, and Loving is not only of relevance for the theoretical issues that it addresses; it also invites the reader to reflect on daily life experiences, shifting from blame and self-criticism to self-acceptance and love.
For long-time psychotherapists and teachers like me, Mitchell's book can be a real threat, because it challenges basic psychiatric principles and gives a "subversive" vision of what we consider psychological distress and diagnostic evidence.
This is a radical vision that brings us into a spiritual adventure in search of the essence of life, death, diseases, and therapeutic relationships. (As Carl Whitaker stated many times, the real human and professional transformation is moving from "doing therapy to being therapists.")
Mitchell describes this as the perspective of psychospirituality, which invites a paradigm shift to a totally different orientation and language from the all-too-common "quick-fix syndrome" of today and the categorizations of human psychopathology presented in the various editions of psychiatry's DSM textbook.
If we are to be able to address people in distress in a very caring and loving manner, we have to move from the language of psychiatric disorders and their diagnostic evidence to another planet of interrelating where we can experience humanity and creativity in a calm, clear, and loving context.
** Maurizio
Andolfi, M.D., Founder of the
European Family Therapy Association, Director of the
Accademia di Psicoterapia della Famiglia (Rome),
Professor at
Sapienza Universita di Roma,
author of
Family Therapy: An Interactional Approach,
Dimensions of Family Therapy,
Behind the Family Mask:
Therapeutic Change in Rigid Family Systems ,
The Myth of Atlas:
Families and the Therapeutic Story, and principal editor of
Please Help Me with This Family and
The Oaxaca Book.
For me, Mitchell’s latest wonderful, and lucidly expounded book Calm, Clear, and Loving, about soothing the distressed mind and healing the wounded heart, is one of the most inspiring and intriguing books I have ever encountered. Certainly that book represents who Mitchell is: a philosopher, a mystic, a psychotherapist, and a Vipassana Teacher in addition to being a good friend of mine and of many others.
** Dhiravamsa,
International Vipassana Meditation Master, Grand Canary Island, Spain,
author of
The Way of Non-attachment,
The Middle Path of Life,
Turning to the Source,
and
Una nueva visión del Budismo.
I was struck by the integration of psychological concepts with spiritual practice. In providing such a clear description of the different parts of experience (mind as a sixth sense), Ginsberg integrates meditation as a method of gaining self-definition that is accessible to both patients and spiritual explorers.
** Mei-I Chang, Ph.D., Clinical Psychologist, San Diego.
Calm, Clear, and Loving is an in-depth exploration of how we deal with suffering in our lives and create the possibilities of freedom. It is an impressive work, broad in its scope. Mitchell Ginsberg's insight and depth of scholarship range across a wide array of disciplines and traditions. A careful reading of this work can bring many rewards.
** Joseph Goldstein,
author
of
One Dharma: The Emerging Western Buddhism
and
A Heart Full of Peace.
Congratulations on a very impressive work of scholarship and philosophic explorations. I approach it as a fine bottle of vintage liqueur (taste, sip, and savor a chapter at a time). I think it fully qualifies for the adjective heuristic. It's both thought provoking and engaging!
** Maurice Shilling, M.D., Psychiatrist, Former staff member of The Ackerman Family Institute, NYC.
I've known Mitchell for almost 40 years. Reading now this latest book of Mitchell's, I am delighted to see some things I remember from our discussions, plus many many other ideas and concepts. Imagine walking into a bar (or maybe it's a library or a fin-de-siecle Viennese cafe). The Buddha, Wittgenstein, and Nietzsche are there. Ronnie Laing, Gregory Bateson, Aristotle, Huang Po, and Freud are at the next table, along with Thomas Szasz, Pierre Janet, Michel de Montaigne, and Jean-Paul Sartre. Wow! Holy hermeneutics! There is an intense discussion going--"Dao ... Mind ... Family ... Consciousness ... Cybernetics ... The Unconscious ... Therapy ... Love"--but they're speaking French, German, English, Chinese, Sanskrit, and Greek.
Luckily, Mitchell is there, smiling his patient, sweet smile, meticulously taking notes.
I recommend Calm, Clear, and Loving: Soothing the Distressed Mind, Healing the Wounded Heart to anyone who has interest in these topics who would enjoy deep scholarship, kindness, and wisdom.
**
Michael F. Hoyt, Ph.D., author of Some Stories Are Better than Others,
The Present is a Gift, and Brief Psychotherapies; editor of The Handbook of Constructive Therapies and
Therapist Stories of Inspiration, Passion, and Renewal: What's Love Got to Do With It?
Reviews of the book taken from various web sites, etc.:
I have had the pleasure to read Dr. Ginsberg's book over the last few weeks. I very much enjoyed the large number of topics discussed. It helped me understand how so many different fields can help one individual with life's struggles. I can recommend the book to all those who care about understanding consciousness better.
** Stephane
Claudio Naranjo wrote a nice foreword to the book that encapsulates my feelings also - he writes: "... an author who covers so much with comparable mastery is like a rare flower, and his panoramic gaze is a beautiful thing to see; and so I hope that, beyond it's subject matter, the present volume may constitute to some extent a cultural influence remedial to our overspecialized and greedy times ..."
There is a need for books like this, that speak to love and to mindfulness and beyond, to the nature of transmission and the sacred. I greatly enjoyed it and heartily recommend it.
** Lawrence Keenan
Interested in psycho-spirituality, I was drawn by the title of this book. After having read it, I can testify that Mr. Ginsberg provides the reader with insightful, non-judgmental, and practical ways of dealing with personal trauma. I highly recommend this book to those of you interested in finding more peace in your daily life as well as helping to heal past wounds.
** Juliette
This book is a great collection of extremely interesting thoughts on the world's spiritual traditions, psychology, and philosophy.
Mitchell Ginsberg, Ph.D., former Yale Philosophy Professor, is a scholar of the highest level. His work is of benefit to anyone who takes the time to read his carefully crafted books. This book is a great companion to his amazing two volume work called The Inner Palace.
His writing is clear and very carefully footnoted, and academically documented, and great care is taken to show the linguistic origins of many works and specific words and texts / writings and this adds to the interest of the book. Readers will enjoy seeing the importance of translation and the effect translation has on the interpretation of many spiritual and philosophical works.
I highly recommend this book and The Inner Palace and Mitchell Ginsberg, Ph.D.'s other publications to readers interested in spirituality, philosophy, transformation of the soul, and how to live a more effective happy life.
This book is also of interest to those who must work with the seriously mentally ill. Mitchell has experience working with the seriously mentally ill, and clinicians and doctors who help these individuals will benefit from his experience and various chapters in this book.
A great scholarly work written by a veteran from the trenches where he has worked tirelessly for decades to help others with their spiritual and psychological well being.
** Geraldine Wangmo
More reviews and perspectives to be added.
Return to top of page.
There is some more on this book presented at this time at
my Home Page.
Those interested in The Far Shore (1980; 4th edition, 2009; eBook, 2012) and The Inner Palace (2002; 6th edition, 2010; eBook, 2011) may find more on these -- including some selections -- via the Books index listing these.
Please come back soon and visit my Home Page and linked pages, as I will updating and adding to them as time permits.
Links to selections from The Far Shore
Sketch and Reviews of the book The Far Shore
The flower
We want not to see
Spiritual Development
More to be added.... visit when inspired.
email:
jinavamsa@yahoo.com
C 2012
I will add to this page as this book becomes known to people who are interested in making comments on its qualities and interesting features, or to make other remarks.
The following reviews are available at this time.
Some comments on the book:
Mitchell exhibits the value of philosophy in multiple ways. I especially admire his efforts to apply ideas that are usually deemed pure theory to concrete therapeutic situations... Making peace with the past and being able to alter patterns that cause suffering are the central concerns of this book ... [including] the whole project of self-transformation and integration that this book aims to nurture ...
This book is heartening in the same way that some of Nietzsche's writings and the classics of Daoism are. All of these texts emphasize the on-going process and the potential for one to take matters in hand right now. One of the gifts this book offers to the reader is a sense of empowerment in the present, wherever in life one happens to be.
** Excerpted from the Foreword by Kathleen Higgins, Ph.D.,
Professor of Philosophy at the University of Texas, and author, with Robert C. Solomon, of
What Nietzsche Really Said (Schocken Books, 2000), among other published texts.
An author who covers so much with comparable mastery is like a rare flower -- his panoramic gaze is a beautiful thing to see; so I hope that, beyond its subject matter, the present volume may constitute to some extent a cultural influence remedial to our overspecialized and greedy times, when wonder has gone the way of extinct species, and when the love of knowledge is now only rarely free and disinterested.
** Excerpted from the Forword by
Claudio Naranjo, M.D., Ed.D.,
author of
Healing Civilization
(Rose Press/Gateways Books and Tapes, 2010) and numerous other books.
Calm, Clear, and Loving offers with gentle and heartfelt compassion, very pragmatic suggestions for alleviating torment in our lives. For anyone who has experienced violence, this book shows how to shift from automatic patterns of self-blame, shame, self-attacking, and fear, to a state of calm, clarity, and lovingkindness to ourselves and to others. This book teaches how to begin to live a full and vibrant life.
With an open heart, I gently invite you to embark on a journey of self-transformation through self-observation. I encourage you to take this first critical, necessary step. This book can change your life in profound ways; the time and energy of your courageous work can reap unlimited rewards. You are worth it. And now, I extend a sincere invitation to you, to read this book with your heart.
** Excerpted from the Foreword by Audrey Rachel Stevenson.
An integration of philosophy, psychology, spirituality, and poetry, Calm, Clear, and Loving is not only of relevance for the theoretical issues that it addresses; it also invites the reader to reflect on daily life experiences, shifting from blame and self-criticism to self-acceptance and love.
For long-time psychotherapists and teachers like me, Mitchell's book can be a real threat, because it challenges basic psychiatric principles and gives a "subversive" vision of what we consider psychological distress and diagnostic evidence.
This is a radical vision that brings us into a spiritual adventure in search of the essence of life, death, diseases, and therapeutic relationships. (As Carl Whitaker stated many times, the real human and professional transformation is moving from "doing therapy to being therapists.")
Mitchell describes this as the perspective of psychospirituality, which invites a paradigm shift to a totally different orientation and language from the all-too-common "quick-fix syndrome" of today and the categorizations of human psychopathology presented in the various editions of psychiatry's DSM textbook.
If we are to be able to address people in distress in a very caring and loving manner, we have to move from the language of psychiatric disorders and their diagnostic evidence to another planet of interrelating where we can experience humanity and creativity in a calm, clear, and loving context.
** Maurizio
Andolfi, M.D., Founder of the
European Family Therapy Association, Director of the
Accademia di Psicoterapia della Famiglia (Rome),
Professor at
Sapienza Universita di Roma,
author of
Family Therapy: An Interactional Approach,
Dimensions of Family Therapy,
Behind the Family Mask:
Therapeutic Change in Rigid Family Systems ,
The Myth of Atlas:
Families and the Therapeutic Story, and principal editor of
Please Help Me with This Family and
The Oaxaca Book.
For me, Mitchell’s latest wonderful, and lucidly expounded book Calm, Clear, and Loving, about soothing the distressed mind and healing the wounded heart, is one of the most inspiring and intriguing books I have ever encountered. Certainly that book represents who Mitchell is: a philosopher, a mystic, a psychotherapist, and a Vipassana Teacher in addition to being a good friend of mine and of many others.
** Dhiravamsa,
International Vipassana Meditation Master, Grand Canary Island, Spain,
author of
The Way of Non-attachment,
The Middle Path of Life,
Turning to the Source,
and
Una nueva visión del Budismo.
I was struck by the integration of psychological concepts with spiritual practice. In providing such a clear description of the different parts of experience (mind as a sixth sense), Ginsberg integrates meditation as a method of gaining self-definition that is accessible to both patients and spiritual explorers.
** Mei-I Chang, Ph.D., Clinical Psychologist, San Diego.
Calm, Clear, and Loving is an in-depth exploration of how we deal with suffering in our lives and create the possibilities of freedom. It is an impressive work, broad in its scope. Mitchell Ginsberg's insight and depth of scholarship range across a wide array of disciplines and traditions. A careful reading of this work can bring many rewards.
** Joseph Goldstein,
author
of
One Dharma: The Emerging Western Buddhism
and
A Heart Full of Peace.
Congratulations on a very impressive work of scholarship and philosophic explorations. I approach it as a fine bottle of vintage liqueur (taste, sip, and savor a chapter at a time). I think it fully qualifies for the adjective heuristic. It's both thought provoking and engaging!
** Maurice Shilling, M.D., Psychiatrist, Former staff member of The Ackerman Family Institute, NYC.
I've known Mitchell for almost 40 years. Reading now this latest book of Mitchell's, I am delighted to see some things I remember from our discussions, plus many many other ideas and concepts. Imagine walking into a bar (or maybe it's a library or a fin-de-siecle Viennese cafe). The Buddha, Wittgenstein, and Nietzsche are there. Ronnie Laing, Gregory Bateson, Aristotle, Huang Po, and Freud are at the next table, along with Thomas Szasz, Pierre Janet, Michel de Montaigne, and Jean-Paul Sartre. Wow! Holy hermeneutics! There is an intense discussion going--"Dao ... Mind ... Family ... Consciousness ... Cybernetics ... The Unconscious ... Therapy ... Love"--but they're speaking French, German, English, Chinese, Sanskrit, and Greek.
Luckily, Mitchell is there, smiling his patient, sweet smile, meticulously taking notes.
I recommend Calm, Clear, and Loving: Soothing the Distressed Mind, Healing the Wounded Heart to anyone who has interest in these topics who would enjoy deep scholarship, kindness, and wisdom.
**
Michael F. Hoyt, Ph.D., author of Some Stories Are Better than Others,
The Present is a Gift, and Brief Psychotherapies; editor of The Handbook of Constructive Therapies and
Therapist Stories of Inspiration, Passion, and Renewal: What's Love Got to Do With It?
Reviews of the book taken from various web sites, etc.:
I have had the pleasure to read Dr. Ginsberg's book over the last few weeks. I very much enjoyed the large number of topics discussed. It helped me understand how so many different fields can help one individual with life's struggles. I can recommend the book to all those who care about understanding consciousness better.
** Stephane
Claudio Naranjo wrote a nice foreword to the book that encapsulates my feelings also - he writes: "... an author who covers so much with comparable mastery is like a rare flower, and his panoramic gaze is a beautiful thing to see; and so I hope that, beyond it's subject matter, the present volume may constitute to some extent a cultural influence remedial to our overspecialized and greedy times ..."
There is a need for books like this, that speak to love and to mindfulness and beyond, to the nature of transmission and the sacred. I greatly enjoyed it and heartily recommend it.
** Lawrence Keenan
Interested in psycho-spirituality, I was drawn by the title of this book. After having read it, I can testify that Mr. Ginsberg provides the reader with insightful, non-judgmental, and practical ways of dealing with personal trauma. I highly recommend this book to those of you interested in finding more peace in your daily life as well as helping to heal past wounds.
** Juliette
This book is a great collection of extremely interesting thoughts on the world's spiritual traditions, psychology, and philosophy.
Mitchell Ginsberg, Ph.D., former Yale Philosophy Professor, is a scholar of the highest level. His work is of benefit to anyone who takes the time to read his carefully crafted books. This book is a great companion to his amazing two volume work called The Inner Palace.
His writing is clear and very carefully footnoted, and academically documented, and great care is taken to show the linguistic origins of many works and specific words and texts / writings and this adds to the interest of the book. Readers will enjoy seeing the importance of translation and the effect translation has on the interpretation of many spiritual and philosophical works.
I highly recommend this book and The Inner Palace and Mitchell Ginsberg, Ph.D.'s other publications to readers interested in spirituality, philosophy, transformation of the soul, and how to live a more effective happy life.
This book is also of interest to those who must work with the seriously mentally ill. Mitchell has experience working with the seriously mentally ill, and clinicians and doctors who help these individuals will benefit from his experience and various chapters in this book.
A great scholarly work written by a veteran from the trenches where he has worked tirelessly for decades to help others with their spiritual and psychological well being.
** Geraldine Wangmo
More reviews and perspectives to be added.
Return to top of page.
There is some more on this book presented at this time at
my Home Page.
Those interested in The Far Shore (1980; 4th edition, 2009; eBook, 2012) and The Inner Palace (2002; 6th edition, 2010; eBook, 2011) may find more on these -- including some selections -- via the Books index listing these.
Please come back soon and visit my Home Page and linked pages, as I will updating and adding to them as time permits.
Links to selections from The Far Shore
Sketch and Reviews of the book The Far Shore
The flower
We want not to see
Spiritual Development
More to be added.... visit when inspired.
email:
jinavamsa@yahoo.com
C 2012
I will add to this page as this book becomes known to people who are interested in making comments on its qualities and interesting features, or to make other remarks.
The following reviews are available at this time.
This book is heartening in the same way that some of Nietzsche's writings and the classics of Daoism are. All of these texts emphasize the on-going process and the potential for one to take matters in hand right now. One of the gifts this book offers to the reader is a sense of empowerment in the present, wherever in life one happens to be.
** Excerpted from the Foreword by Kathleen Higgins, Ph.D., Professor of Philosophy at the University of Texas, and author, with Robert C. Solomon, of What Nietzsche Really Said (Schocken Books, 2000), among other published texts.
An author who covers so much with comparable mastery is like a rare flower -- his panoramic gaze is a beautiful thing to see; so I hope that, beyond its subject matter, the present volume may constitute to some extent a cultural influence remedial to our overspecialized and greedy times, when wonder has gone the way of extinct species, and when the love of knowledge is now only rarely free and disinterested.
** Excerpted from the Forword by Claudio Naranjo, M.D., Ed.D., author of Healing Civilization (Rose Press/Gateways Books and Tapes, 2010) and numerous other books.
Calm, Clear, and Loving offers with gentle and heartfelt compassion, very pragmatic suggestions for alleviating torment in our lives. For anyone who has experienced violence, this book shows how to shift from automatic patterns of self-blame, shame, self-attacking, and fear, to a state of calm, clarity, and lovingkindness to ourselves and to others. This book teaches how to begin to live a full and vibrant life.
With an open heart, I gently invite you to embark on a journey of self-transformation through self-observation. I encourage you to take this first critical, necessary step. This book can change your life in profound ways; the time and energy of your courageous work can reap unlimited rewards. You are worth it. And now, I extend a sincere invitation to you, to read this book with your heart.
** Excerpted from the Foreword by Audrey Rachel Stevenson.
An integration of philosophy, psychology, spirituality, and poetry, Calm, Clear, and Loving is not only of relevance for the theoretical issues that it addresses; it also invites the reader to reflect on daily life experiences, shifting from blame and self-criticism to self-acceptance and love.
For long-time psychotherapists and teachers like me, Mitchell's book can be a real threat, because it challenges basic psychiatric principles and gives a "subversive" vision of what we consider psychological distress and diagnostic evidence.
This is a radical vision that brings us into a spiritual adventure in search of the essence of life, death, diseases, and therapeutic relationships. (As Carl Whitaker stated many times, the real human and professional transformation is moving from "doing therapy to being therapists.")
Mitchell describes this as the perspective of psychospirituality, which invites a paradigm shift to a totally different orientation and language from the all-too-common "quick-fix syndrome" of today and the categorizations of human psychopathology presented in the various editions of psychiatry's DSM textbook.
If we are to be able to address people in distress in a very caring and loving manner, we have to move from the language of psychiatric disorders and their diagnostic evidence to another planet of interrelating where we can experience humanity and creativity in a calm, clear, and loving context.
** Maurizio Andolfi, M.D., Founder of the European Family Therapy Association, Director of the Accademia di Psicoterapia della Famiglia (Rome), Professor at Sapienza Universita di Roma, author of Family Therapy: An Interactional Approach, Dimensions of Family Therapy, Behind the Family Mask: Therapeutic Change in Rigid Family Systems , The Myth of Atlas: Families and the Therapeutic Story, and principal editor of Please Help Me with This Family and The Oaxaca Book.
For me, Mitchell’s latest wonderful, and lucidly expounded book Calm, Clear, and Loving, about soothing the distressed mind and healing the wounded heart, is one of the most inspiring and intriguing books I have ever encountered. Certainly that book represents who Mitchell is: a philosopher, a mystic, a psychotherapist, and a Vipassana Teacher in addition to being a good friend of mine and of many others.
** Dhiravamsa, International Vipassana Meditation Master, Grand Canary Island, Spain, author of The Way of Non-attachment, The Middle Path of Life, Turning to the Source, and Una nueva visión del Budismo.
I was struck by the integration of psychological concepts with spiritual practice. In providing such a clear description of the different parts of experience (mind as a sixth sense), Ginsberg integrates meditation as a method of gaining self-definition that is accessible to both patients and spiritual explorers.
** Mei-I Chang, Ph.D., Clinical Psychologist, San Diego.
Calm, Clear, and Loving is an in-depth exploration of how we deal with suffering in our lives and create the possibilities of freedom. It is an impressive work, broad in its scope. Mitchell Ginsberg's insight and depth of scholarship range across a wide array of disciplines and traditions. A careful reading of this work can bring many rewards.
** Joseph Goldstein, author of One Dharma: The Emerging Western Buddhism and A Heart Full of Peace.
Congratulations on a very impressive work of scholarship and philosophic explorations. I approach it as a fine bottle of vintage liqueur (taste, sip, and savor a chapter at a time). I think it fully qualifies for the adjective heuristic. It's both thought provoking and engaging!
** Maurice Shilling, M.D., Psychiatrist, Former staff member of The Ackerman Family Institute, NYC.
I've known Mitchell for almost 40 years. Reading now this latest book of Mitchell's, I am delighted to see some things I remember from our discussions, plus many many other ideas and concepts. Imagine walking into a bar (or maybe it's a library or a fin-de-siecle Viennese cafe). The Buddha, Wittgenstein, and Nietzsche are there. Ronnie Laing, Gregory Bateson, Aristotle, Huang Po, and Freud are at the next table, along with Thomas Szasz, Pierre Janet, Michel de Montaigne, and Jean-Paul Sartre. Wow! Holy hermeneutics! There is an intense discussion going--"Dao ... Mind ... Family ... Consciousness ... Cybernetics ... The Unconscious ... Therapy ... Love"--but they're speaking French, German, English, Chinese, Sanskrit, and Greek. Luckily, Mitchell is there, smiling his patient, sweet smile, meticulously taking notes.
I recommend Calm, Clear, and Loving: Soothing the Distressed Mind, Healing the Wounded Heart to anyone who has interest in these topics who would enjoy deep scholarship, kindness, and wisdom.
** Michael F. Hoyt, Ph.D., author of Some Stories Are Better than Others, The Present is a Gift, and Brief Psychotherapies; editor of The Handbook of Constructive Therapies and Therapist Stories of Inspiration, Passion, and Renewal: What's Love Got to Do With It?
I have had the pleasure to read Dr. Ginsberg's book over the last few weeks. I very much enjoyed the large number of topics discussed. It helped me understand how so many different fields can help one individual with life's struggles. I can recommend the book to all those who care about understanding consciousness better.
** Stephane
Claudio Naranjo wrote a nice foreword to the book that encapsulates my feelings also - he writes: "... an author who covers so much with comparable mastery is like a rare flower, and his panoramic gaze is a beautiful thing to see; and so I hope that, beyond it's subject matter, the present volume may constitute to some extent a cultural influence remedial to our overspecialized and greedy times ..."
There is a need for books like this, that speak to love and to mindfulness and beyond, to the nature of transmission and the sacred. I greatly enjoyed it and heartily recommend it.
** Lawrence Keenan
Interested in psycho-spirituality, I was drawn by the title of this book. After having read it, I can testify that Mr. Ginsberg provides the reader with insightful, non-judgmental, and practical ways of dealing with personal trauma. I highly recommend this book to those of you interested in finding more peace in your daily life as well as helping to heal past wounds.
** Juliette
This book is a great collection of extremely interesting thoughts on the world's spiritual traditions, psychology, and philosophy.
Mitchell Ginsberg, Ph.D., former Yale Philosophy Professor, is a scholar of the highest level. His work is of benefit to anyone who takes the time to read his carefully crafted books. This book is a great companion to his amazing two volume work called The Inner Palace.
His writing is clear and very carefully footnoted, and academically documented, and great care is taken to show the linguistic origins of many works and specific words and texts / writings and this adds to the interest of the book. Readers will enjoy seeing the importance of translation and the effect translation has on the interpretation of many spiritual and philosophical works.
I highly recommend this book and The Inner Palace and Mitchell Ginsberg, Ph.D.'s other publications to readers interested in spirituality, philosophy, transformation of the soul, and how to live a more effective happy life.
This book is also of interest to those who must work with the seriously mentally ill. Mitchell has experience working with the seriously mentally ill, and clinicians and doctors who help these individuals will benefit from his experience and various chapters in this book.
A great scholarly work written by a veteran from the trenches where he has worked tirelessly for decades to help others with their spiritual and psychological well being.
** Geraldine Wangmo
More reviews and perspectives to be added.
Please come back soon and visit my Home Page and linked pages, as I will updating and adding to them as time permits.
More to be added.... visit when inspired.
Return to top of page.
There is some more on this book presented at this time at
my Home Page.
Those interested in The Far Shore (1980; 4th edition, 2009; eBook, 2012) and The Inner Palace (2002; 6th edition, 2010; eBook, 2011) may find more on these -- including some selections -- via the Books index listing these.
Links to selections from The Far Shore Sketch and Reviews of the book The Far Shore
The flower
We want not to see
Spiritual Development
email:
jinavamsa@yahoo.com
C 2012
