Customer Reviews

Head Off Stress: Beyond the Bottom Line (Arkana)

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I have read all of Douglas's books, and this may be my favorite, It is funny profound, and logical. It is not so much a teaching as it is a pointing to your true nature. The other reviewer has missed the point entirely, Douglas never said anything about belief and as C.S. Lewis said in the introduction to one of Harding's books, it is wisdom of the highest nature.

Douglas Harding developed a simple method for seeing that you are a timeless awareness without boundary. The method needs no preparation, takes only a few minutes, and is compatible with any kind of belief system. Harding explained his insight in different ways over the years, but this is probably my favourite of all his books.

D.E.Harding was a man of faith who believed in the 'ultimate reality' underpinning our universe, our world and ourselves, the 'perfect freedom' the mystics report they have personally experienced.

The man of faith, however, and the true mystic, have very different approaches to ascertaining this reality. The mystic will not settle for anything less than complete self-knowledge through total 'transcendence of self', total 'loss of self'. He will not accept anybody's 'proof', however convincing, that perfect freedom exists - he must find out for himself. The believer wants knowledge of the self without the pain of self-loss. He wants the insights of transcendence without the trials from which these insights arise.

Harding uses perspective-shifting techniques to reveal our essential, incorruptible nature. All you have to do, for example, is 'see' that you cannot see your own face (if you point at it and ask what it is you are pointing at), that you are 'seeing' instead the permanent, unchanging, totally non-material, unstained and pure 'source' or 'essence' of all things, and believe this proves the ultimate reality of the universe - and of 'you' - is the freedom the mystics describe. That is all there is to it. No hard work involved at all.

Secondly, rather than trying to fight your problems, you must totally accept they are what 'you' really, really want - after all, 'you' and 'freedom', which is one and the same thing, 'created' them. When you do this you see there is no way out except through utter joyful submission to the suffering and stress in your life, that you should never want removed or changed.

People who use Harding's techniques may experience a brief, though superficial, glimpse of the highest truth, though he claims 'mystical' insights are the exact opposite of the 'nothing special' he wants us to realise. But, either way, this 'seeing reality', as a method for people striving to get back control of their lives - especially when combined with the suffering-Christian attitude Harding advocates - is hopelessly inadequate.

The idea of taking responsibility for our own well-being, and doing simple things such as relaxation exercises to reduce stress, is totally contrary to what Harding believes. He wants us to gladly accept our wretchedness and suffering the way Christ carried his cross, with total faith in the higher reality, that we may achieve the 'glory' Jesus did, which in this instance is the reward of entering (seeing) an always available heaven (perfect freedom).

I disagree entirely with this kind of thinking. Our 'glory', our humanity, is attained when we find the strength to change the behaviour that has resulted in our lives being filled with pain and misery. To do this we must be honest and admit how much we ourselves are responsible for creating the stress we are suffering from, through the choices and decisions we have made and are making. The ability to be honest with ourselves gives us back control of our lives, enabling us to choose to live increasingly in freedom - the ultimate reward of which is mystical experience.

To fully realise freedom is to know it is inseparable from attachment, the two options - each containing within it the seed of the other - we are ceaselessly choosing between.

Harding acknowledges any realm of freedom separated from our normal, everyday world must be 'unreal, uninhabitable, abstract' (p.129). The contradiction between this and the idea of a freedom that is 'pure' and 'unstained' disappears when you realise that Harding's faith is a heterodox form of Christianity, a religion which believes the transcendent is wholly above nature, while at the same time personal, natural and non-abstract.

Harding believed so fervently 'to be free of the world and it's troubles it is by being them' (p.130) that his mind was closed to the truth that to choose to transcend the world is essential if freedom is to be a total experience. He was too much in thrall to the image of a cross-bearing Christ.

In the end, for Harding, it was all about faith. Freedom is the underlying supernatural reality of everything which, when believed in, gives us the faith to cope with whatever life hands out. The emphasis he placed on the terrors and pains of the human condition was only to underline our thorough dependence on an unreachable and untouchable 'source'. For him, freedom was not a difficult path we all must tread, let alone a goal to be attained in this life.

Harding thought he 'knew' perfect freedom. The fact is, he only believed in it.