Transforming Scrooge : Dickens' Blueprint for a Spiritual Awakening [Paperback]

Joseph D. Cusumano (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1, 1996

Most people are not aware that Charles Dickens provided a model for psycho spiritual therapy well before the advent of psychology as a recognized science. "A Christmas Carol" is not just a seasonal offering; it is a message of hope and change to anyone stuck in an ego-driven life. This book is a psychological analysis of the tale, and it identifies the "wounded inner child", revealing what happens to a society that abuses and abandons its children. Actually two books in one, the text includes the original classic and Dr. Cusumano's analysis of the story.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Transforming Scrooge brings Dickens' powerfully relevant message of ego death and spiritual rebirth back to us full-force. No one will ever think of Scrooge in the same way after this clear, thoughtful work. It is truly a book for all seasons." --John Bradshaw, author of Bradshaw On: The Family

"An illuminating and penetrating psychospiritual analysis of Dickens' classic story of human redemption. Cusumano's revisioning of this classic tale is loaded with suprising insights that enable us not only to see it with new eyes, but also to appreciate its special significance for this critical time in humanity's evolution toward higher consciousness." --Kenneth Ring, Ph.D., author of Heading Toward Omega and Lessons From the Light

"Transforming Scrooge takes us to the farthest reaches of our own nature. Like astronauts walking on the moon, Cusumano shows us that we, too, are capable of giant evolutionary steps." --Barbara Harris Whitfield, author of Full Circle and Spiritual Awakenings

"This powerfully reflective book by an author, psychotherapist and lecturer is about life's great truths. This book will assist you to be more free about your own spiritual advancement." Vital Signs, Elizabeth Fenske, Ph.D. -- Vital Signs, Elizabeth Fenske, Ph.D.

About the Author

Joseph D. Cusumano, Ph.D. (Midwestern United States) is a licensed therapist who runs a private practice mental health office specializing in psychospiritual growth. He also teaches literature in a high school setting.

Product Details

• Paperback: 300 pages
• Publisher: Llewellyn Publications; 1st edition (October 1, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1567181988
• ISBN-13: 978-1567181982
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 6 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,347,845 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

26 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars From the Heart of A Christmas Carol, January 1, 1999

By 

Paul Patterson (Winnipeg, MB Canada) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Transforming Scrooge : Dickens' Blueprint for a Spiritual Awakening (Paperback)

Joe Cusumano. Transforming Scrooge: Dickens' Blueprint for a Spiritual Awakening. Minneapolis: Llewellyn Publications, 1995.

A distinction should be made between the actual story of A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens and the interpretation of the story, the Carol "canon" (from the word measurement). The story is there for us, unchanged, to be read year after year, but the fit, the measurement of the Carol's meaning is constantly changing. Joe Cusumano provides a creative and inspiring measurement for Dickens' famous tale, as well as placing the original story in the appendix.

While acknowledging the traditional meanings of the story and providing an excellent historical background, Cusumano filters A Christmas Carol through the novel lens of spiritual experiences and Clinical Psychology. Disconcerting as his suggestions are to the standard literary approach, Cusumano in Transforming Scrooge opens the story up to fresh and vital interpretation. It is difficult to envision the 19th Century Father of Christmas, Charles Dickens, as having nightly visitations by the greys and blacks of sci-fi fame, but the parallels between his ghosts and modern accounts of close encounters are startlingly similar. The bright light and chaotic effect of the Ghost of Christmas Past mirrors the kind of psychological experience as recorded in movies such as Close Encounters of the Third Kind and Fire in the Sky.

Ebenezer undoubtedly needed a psycho-spiritual jolt to rock him from his heartless materialism. The use of fantasy literary technique allowed Charles Dickens to condense a complex, long process into a single evening. Alien abduction and Near Death experiences have the same intensive effect. Leaving aside the literal proof or validation of such experiences, Cusumano focuses on their transformative effects, showing how human hearts can be softened when open to the healing imagery of life review, in depth perception of reality and prophetic warning.

Scrooge is revolutionized both from within and without in A Christmas Carol. Transforming Scrooge compares Scrooge's experience to that of one undergoing counselling. Releasing repression, built up pockets of energetic resistance located in the chakra points, according to Kundalini yoga, allowed Scrooge to change from being "as solitary as an oyster" into being "the Father of Tiny Tim." Cusumano, using a variety of therapeutic metaphors, shows how the release might take place in us modern Scrooges.

Released from the bondage of blockage, Scrooge discovered the roots of his own miserliness in the abuse that he suffered as a child at the hands of his perfectionistic father. Uncovering his own pain, he was prepared for the prophetic statement of the Ghost of the Future who predicted the social effects of child hatred on society. "Beware of Want and Ignorance!" is a mantra for the new millennium, as much as for the Industrial Revolution. The way we treat the child is the litmus test of our society; the havoc we inherit through street gangs, thugs and dictators is the price we pay for our treatment of the innocent.

The Goodnews of A Christmas Carol is that doom is not inevitable but that an openness to the spiritual and psychological experiences of healing can sponge away the death knell of our insensitivity. As Cusumano says, "Dickens was letting us know that this is not really just a Christmas Story. More importantly, it is an Easter Story, one of resurrection." The measure of A Christmas Carol for our lives is the extent to which we participate in this heart opening resurrection. Transforming Scrooge by Joe Cusumano speaks to the heart from the heart of that message.