Nothing to Lose: Psychotherapy, Buddhism and Living Life

In the tradition of Thomas Merton, two senior psychotherapists journey out from the Western contemplative tradition to study Buddhist contemplation as a means of deepening the spiritual life and integrating the human personality. Contemplation is now not just the preserve of people living in contemplative communities. It is for anyone who has the inclination and who understands its therapeutic value. Here two authors, psychotherapists who are also involved in training, describe how their work has evolved towards a pluralism that equally values the psychological perspectives of Western depth psychology and Buddhist mindfulness meditation. The result is a book of astonishing accessibility and freshness. For all those immersed in the traditions of Christian contemplation there is new understanding derived from the study of Buddhist traditions and the classical schools of psychotherapy. While both Freud and Jung, each in their own way, describe for us a means to expand the boundaries of the personal self, Buddhism challenges the very existence of this self, suggesting that it is the belief in its concrete existence that is at root the cause of all suffering. How then may these two radically different views find a place of meeting? The process involves 'emptying out' as expounded by the great Christian mystics - St John of the Cross, Eckhart, Julian of Norwich - and in the process the individual may be helped to cope with the stresses and pitfalls of modern living - neurotic anxiety, depression and narcissism. This book will be widely welcomed and the strong commendation from Mark Epstein will be of inestimable advantage.