Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
Going to Pieces without Falling Apart: A Buddhist Perspective on Wholeness
Written by Mark Epstein MD
Narrated by Patrick Lawlor
Going to Pieces without Falling Apart: A Buddhist Perspective on Wholeness
Written by Mark Epstein MD
Narrated by Patrick Lawlor
ratings:
3/5 (104 ratings)
Length:
5 hours
Description
Going to Pieces Without Falling Apart shows us that happiness doesn't come from any kind of acquisitiveness, be it material or psychological. Happiness comes from letting go. Weaving together the accumulated wisdom of his two worlds-Buddhism and Western psychotherapy-Mark Epstein shows how "the happiness that we seek depends on our ability to balance the ego's need to do with our inherent capacity to be." He encourages us to relax the ever-vigilant mind in order to experience the freedom that comes only from relinquishing control.
Drawing on events in Epstein's own life and stories from his patients, Going to Pieces Without Falling Apart teaches us that only by letting go can we start on the path to a more peaceful and spiritually satisfying life.
Drawing on events in Epstein's own life and stories from his patients, Going to Pieces Without Falling Apart teaches us that only by letting go can we start on the path to a more peaceful and spiritually satisfying life.
About the author
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Reviews
What people think about Going to Pieces without Falling Apart
3.2104 ratings / 6 Reviews
Reader reviews
- (3/5)Genuinely not sure what to make of this - it seems simultaneously very slight and incredibly profound. Good to be reminded that meditation/spiritual traditions are useful tools. Interesting synthesis of psychoanalytic theory and mindfulness/Buddhism- and the ‘pain comes from your own defences’ feels like a useful lesson. But feel like I’ve missed a lot in it, perhaps.
- (3/5)This is a good book for those interested equally in psychotherapy and meditation. I was looking more for the latter and did find a lot of good insights on the benefits of meditation. But didn't care too much for lengthy descriptions of psychotherapy cases.
- (2/5)As someone that has failed time and again at psychotherapy and someone who has recently been studying Buddhism, I figured this was the perfect book for me to transition into a new mindset. About this, I was wrong.When it comes to the Buddhist side of the spectrum, nothing was mentioned in this book that couldn't be found in a beginner's guide or "Buddhism for Dummies". Alongside this basic knowledge was enough psychobabble to make me put the book down for weeks at a time, uninspiring as it was. I have no doubt that Epstein has become enlightened in the ways he makes mention of, but the tactics and analysis he used do not come across clear in this book, and are not at all helpful.
- (2/5)As someone that has failed time and again at psychotherapy and someone who has recently been studying Buddhism, I figured this was the perfect book for me to transition into a new mindset. About this, I was wrong.When it comes to the Buddhist side of the spectrum, nothing was mentioned in this book that couldn't be found in a beginner's guide or "Buddhism for Dummies". Alongside this basic knowledge was enough psychobabble to make me put the book down for weeks at a time, uninspiring as it was. I have no doubt that Epstein has become enlightened in the ways he makes mention of, but the tactics and analysis he used do not come across clear in this book, and are not at all helpful.
- (3/5)Interesting narrative by a psychiatrist, comparing Buddhism with psychotherapy .
- (4/5)Epstein combines the perspectives of psychological development as presented by D. W. Winnicott and the perspectives of Buddhism. I learned a lot.