In this brilliant exploratory attempt (written in 1912–1913) to extend the analysis of the individual psyche to society and culture, Freud laid the lines for much of his later thought, and made a major contribution to the psychology of religion. Primitive societies and the individual, he found, mutually illuminate each other, and the psychology of primitive races bears marked resemblances to the psychology of neurotics. Basing his investigations...

"In The Phantom God, computational biologist and neuroscientist John C. Wathey, Ph.D. explores religious feelings not as the direct perception by the brain of some supernatural realm, nor as the pathological misfiring of neurons, but as a natural consequence of how our brains are wired"--

Reveals how traumatic experiences can be used for positive mental development, challenging mainstream beliefs about healing and moving past trauma to explain how pain can provide learning opportunities and connect people to the world.

"A generous exploration of religious experiences-moments of inexplicable terror or rapturous joy, visions, near-death experiences of the afterlife, encounters with angels, heavenly voices, and premonitions-and the Christian response to these stories in a secular age"-- "Despite widespread skepticism on the matter, a significant number of people today have stories of religious experience- moments of inexplicable terror or rapturous joy, visions, near-death...

This book explores how traces of the energies and dynamics of Orthodox Christian theology and anthropology may be observed in the clinical work of depth psychology. Looking to theology to express its own religious truths and to psychology to see whether these truth claims show up in healing modalities, the author creatively engages both disciplines in order to highlight the possibilities for healing contained therein. Dynamics of Healing elucidates...

Modern Man in Search of a Soul is the perfect introduction to the theories and concepts of one of the most original and influential religious thinkers of the twentieth century. Lively and insightful, it covers all of his most significant themes, including man's need for a God and the mechanics of dream analysis. One of his most famous books, it perfectly captures the feelings of confusion that many sense today. Generation X might be a recent concept,...

What Happens When Your Spiritual Path Leads You Far from Home? Many who embark on a spiritual quest discover that the people they meet along the way ultimately point them back home, into the very soul of the religious tradition they had left behind. So it was with David Zeller, whose spiritual odyssey took him across the globe, through traditions including Zen Buddhism and Hinduism, and into relationship with some of the world's most compelling spiritual...

A psychiatrist suggests ways in which confronting and resolving problems, a painful process most people try to avoid, can lead to greater self-understanding and spiritual growth. Life is difficult he says, and the journey to spiritual growth is a long one. Here he helps us explore the very loving nature of relationships and leads us toward a new serenity and fullness of life. He helps us learn how to distinguish dependency from love, how to become...

"Bobby Griffith was an all-American boy. He was a nice, hardworking kid from the suburbs who attended church and was loved by his family. When at age fifteen he realized that he was gay, he came upon a conflict for which he found no solution: His family and his religion taught him that his sexual orientation was a sin." "Through Bobby's poignant journal entries, his mother's reminiscences, and Leroy Aarons's keen journalistic insight we relive the...

A dialogue between the Dalai Lama and a group of scientists and philosophers unites research in education, psychology, and neuroscience with Buddhist practice to discuss how to cope with, transform, and eliminate negative emotions.