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4.14 AVERAGE
4.14 AVERAGE
dark
hopeful
informative
reflective
slow-paced
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
hopeful
inspiring
fast-paced
hopeful
informative
inspiring
fast-paced
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
From the daddy of Existential (Psycho-) Therapy, something I've had 6 months of. And though it is incredibly well thought-through and argued, with many philosophers & a few authors' thoughts on the subject brought into play (thus expanding the narrow analytical framework of well analysis), the cracks still open up in the existential logic, the language framing those consoling ways of thinking slip through those cracks and fail to deliver their payload. Death dread doesn't inevitably offer awakening, nor can the "rippling" of lessons for future generations provide solace, because if after 3000 years we're no further along the road of becoming reconciled to death, how can our so called 'wisdom' be passed along to future generations in any useful way that advances their mental equanimity?
Still no one quite deals with the notion of eternal non-being; it is not quite the same as argued here, as the non-being before you were conceived in the womb. The difference? You've lived a lifetime of pleasure, accumulated memories and attachments in the interim. Death brings the curtain down on that and plunders them from you. Also, yes live in the now is reasonable advice, but there are many who can't live freely in the now because of their overt awareness that the now will end.
For what it's worth, my current novella deals with these themes and I won't duck it like most do, whether intentionally, or because their language falls short. I may not solve the issue, but I'll get a damn sight closer. Watch this space.
Still no one quite deals with the notion of eternal non-being; it is not quite the same as argued here, as the non-being before you were conceived in the womb. The difference? You've lived a lifetime of pleasure, accumulated memories and attachments in the interim. Death brings the curtain down on that and plunders them from you. Also, yes live in the now is reasonable advice, but there are many who can't live freely in the now because of their overt awareness that the now will end.
For what it's worth, my current novella deals with these themes and I won't duck it like most do, whether intentionally, or because their language falls short. I may not solve the issue, but I'll get a damn sight closer. Watch this space.
Truly enjoyed this book professionally and personally.
hopeful
informative
inspiring
medium-paced
This was a really helpful book for me, especially the chapters covering self-disclosure. The case studies meant that this was very accessible and easy to read.
challenging
informative
reflective
This book changed my outlook on life. It's a heavy read but so so worth it. I think everyone should read. It gives such an insight into the human condition and showcases the hoops we jump through to avoid facing the inevitable.
Warm, brilliant, and deeply empathic - I think this is Dr. Yalom's best work yet. This is a subject I've had to deal with over and over - as a career Marine, as a psychotherapist, and in the deaths of friends and of my parents. I find a lot of what Irvin Yalom wrote here resonating with my experiences and what I've come to believe and feel, and a lot of conversations with my wife, who is a clinical social worker and worked for a while in a hospice program. I would recommend this book for anyone in a helping profession and any adult; we all face the deaths of those around us and our own deaths, and our quality of life is much better if we face death directly.