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Book Description
'The Only Way Out is In' builds bridges between psychology and spirituality. The author draws on his 20 years of experience as a psychotherapist and his own spiritual path. The book consists of Soul Maps which guide the reader through our world of splitting and fragmentation towards unity. It draws on the psychological models and theories of Ken Wilber, Stan Grof, Roberto Assagioli (Psychosynthesis), Brian Swimme (cosmology), and on object relations theory.
To be able to build those bridges and draw those maps, the author encourages the reader to explore his/her relationship with God, devotion, good and evil as important aspects of changing the mind from an instrument of the senses to one of the soul. Changing the mind and developing a new philosophy of life are what the book aims at.
Reinhard Kowalski addresses readers’ struggles directly so that they can assimilate and learn a different model of themselves, the world and the universe. At significant stages through the book are reflections and exercises designed to lead the reader towards the discovery of the calm centre that is within us all, and to which we must turn to find balance and peace.
From the Author
This book is written for the increasing numbers of people who are becoming disillusioned with seeing the goals of their lives in the propositions and promises of materialism and consumerism. It is becoming obvious that our better-more-faster culture cannot satisfy people's deep emotional and spiritual needs. We are bombarded with sensory stimulation by the media and advertising industries, and we are feeling overloaded and confused.
The promises that technology and industrialisation once held are giving way to disillusionment, pollution and stress. All this is creating an inner psychological space which the author calls the psychological greenhouse. People feel trapped inside, agoraphobic, claustrophobic, stressed, depressed. As a result our culture encourages people to strive more, but in the process they usually entangle themselves more and more in the web of envy, greed, possessiveness, and attachment. We have reached a stage where the only way out is in, where the only real way out of the pressures and promises of the rat-race is the way inside to that inner place of sanctuary, sanity and soul.
We have reached a stage in our evolution where we are challenged to go beyond the subconscious into the superconscious; beyond the healing of past trauma towards our spiritual destiny; beyond what psychotherapy has to offer to the experience of ourselves as little soul-waves that want to re-unite with the ocean of spirit.
The spiritual context of this book is provided by the ancient Vedic and Yogic wisdom and the healing science of Ayurveda. In particular the psychological and soul-wisdom from the teachings of Paramahansa Yogananda and from the Bhagavad Gita is used.
The book suggests that the universal process of 'Ahamkara' (I-fabrication) has now created a culture where we experience extreme splitting and fragmentation in our inner and outer worlds. Concurrently we are involved in a global process of growing inter-dependence. We have to find our path amidst massive processes of fragmentation whilst we are challenged to move towards ever increasing inter-dependence and unity.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
I expected this book to be a healing book. But it is so much more, and by the time you read the final words you know you have been taken on a journey by a spiritual pilot extraordinaire.. and maybe for the most part you feel like a cadet too.. maybe a devotional cadet (bhakti yoga), leaving behind the attachments of the senses and following the qualities of the soul.
Kowalski weaves Paramahansa Yogananda's teachings, psychosynthesis (which he is trained in), with a psychological enquiry into consumerism and its never ending dualistic cycle of creating hungry buyers, neurotically friendly and spirtually devoid. Fusing the psychological with the socio-political is certainly not new - isn't this another way of describing Religion? However this book offers a new model of the Self that is catapulted 'into' another dimension, beyond traditional ego boundary strengthening therapeutic practices, placing yoga at the centre of Assagioli's consciousness egg.
After feeling a tad overwhelmed by the mammoth task of peeling back the layers of incessant ego illusions and sense delusions (splitting, addictions and abuses) hope arrives in the last two chapters whereupon Kowalski presents a holographic view of the universe: "Is there ever seing without a seer or without something seen?" (Wilber). Practical applications of mind-balancing are outlined that teach you to meditate with heart devotion and listen to your intuition (jnana yoga). Ground breaking and transformational.
Kowalski weaves Paramahansa Yogananda's teachings, psychosynthesis (which he is trained in), with a psychological enquiry into consumerism and its never ending dualistic cycle of creating hungry buyers, neurotically friendly and spirtually devoid. Fusing the psychological with the socio-political is certainly not new - isn't this another way of describing Religion? However this book offers a new model of the Self that is catapulted 'into' another dimension, beyond traditional ego boundary strengthening therapeutic practices, placing yoga at the centre of Assagioli's consciousness egg.
After feeling a tad overwhelmed by the mammoth task of peeling back the layers of incessant ego illusions and sense delusions (splitting, addictions and abuses) hope arrives in the last two chapters whereupon Kowalski presents a holographic view of the universe: "Is there ever seing without a seer or without something seen?" (Wilber). Practical applications of mind-balancing are outlined that teach you to meditate with heart devotion and listen to your intuition (jnana yoga). Ground breaking and transformational.
9 of 11 people found the following review helpful
In this book clinical psychologist and psychotherapist Reinhard Kowalski builds practical and theoretical bridges between Western psychology and Yoga and Ayurveda from the East. But the book is also political and sociological. It shows how splitting and fragmentation exist at all levels in our inner and outer worlds, and that the 'only way out is in'. The book is full of reflections for the reader, helping to personalise the material. In the last two chapters the author develops his 'MindBalancing' meditation programme which is profound and practical. It helps that this programme is also available on audio-cassette.
All in all, an excellent book for spiritual seekers and for psychologists, counsellors and psychotherapists who want to expand their practice to include sound spiritual elements. I particularly liked that the book is both chatty and philosophical, trying to help people 'change their minds'.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
1 review
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Best book on Ayurvedic Psychology in English to date
28 Aug 2008
Amazon Verified Purchase
This book does a great job of bridging the gap between western psychology and eastern spirituality. It helps therapists and patients alike understand the use of meditation to create mental and emotional balance. This is my third purchase and the second time I have made a gift of this book to a professional psychotherapist so that they may come to understand the usefulness of meditative techniques in restoring balance to a person's state of mind.
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