From Publishers Weekly
This slim volume by noted Jungian analyst Johnson (Lying with the Heavenly Woman) and psychotherapist Ruhl (who also coauthored Balancing Heaven and Earth with Johnson) doesn't purport to have all of the answers to today's psychological ills, and therein lies its strength. While acknowledging the myriad possible reasons for our discontent, the authors present a winning argument for why we should cease to seek a fix or an answer and find deeper satisfaction in things as they are. Society may tell us to keep looking for the next purchase, person, job or feeling to fill the void, but, as the authors point out, "contentment comes from the inside." In addition to the examples Johnson and Ruhl draw from Christian, Jewish, Hindu, Taoist and other traditions, they present an extended discussion of the themes of spiritual blindness and insight in King Lear to illustrate the inward and outward examination necessary for growth. Their contemplative strategies for achieving happiness take into account the pace and complexity of modern life, and are not merely a call to simplify and reduce. Closing with a discussion of "gifts" that can be difficult to recognize (confusion, paradox, ordinariness, detachment), this small book is surprisingly weighty. Author tour.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Prominent Jungian psychotherapist Johnson and fellow therapist Ruhl, Johnson's collaborator on
Balancing Heaven and Earth (1998), take on the great question of how to find contentment while remaining alive to life's struggles. In a small set of pithy, wise essays, they argue that contentment means learning to live wholly with what we have rather than ceaselessly straining for more. This is, of course, a common theme in inspirational literature. Johnson and Ruhl add something new, however, in what they say about being content while also growing psychologically. The paradox of simultaneous contentment and growth is basic to the life quest, as exemplified in the great Shakespearean story of King Lear, who goes mad because he cannot be content with Cordelia's truthfulness. Johnson and Ruhl also cite a great Hindu story, the
Mahabharata, in which unhappiness follows happiness whenever "the well of suffering runs dry." Happiness must never be mistaken for contentedness, they say, for one can have the latter in the absence of the former.
Patricia Monaghan
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
