First published and distributed in the United Kingdom by: Hay House UK Ltd, 292B Kensal Rd, London W10 5BE Tel.: (44) 20 8962 1230; Fax: (44) 20 8962 1239 www.hayhouse.co.uk Published and distributed in the United States of America by: Hay House, Inc., PO Box 5100, Carlsbad, CA 92018-5100 Tel.: (1) 760 431 7695 or (800) 654 5126; Fax: (1) 760 431 6948 or (800) 650 5115 www.hayhouse.com Published and distributed in Australia by: Hay House Australia Ltd, 18/36 Ralph St, Alexandria NSW 2015 Tel.: (61) 9669 4299; Fax: (61) 9669 4144 www.hayhouse.com.au Published and distributed in the Republic of South Africa by: Hay House SA (Pty), Ltd, PO Box 990, Witkoppen 2068 Tel./Fax: (27) 11 467 8904 www.hayhouse.co.za Published and distributed in India by: Hay House Publishers India, Muskaan Complex, Plot No.3, B-2, Vasant Kunj, New Delhi – 110 070 Tel.: (91) 11 4176 1620; Fax: (91) 11 4176 1630 www.hayhouse.co.in Distributed in Canada by: Raincoast, 9050 Shaughnessy St, Vancouver, BC V6P 6E5 Tel.: (1) 604 323 7100; Fax: (1) 604 323 2600 Text © Steve Taylor, 2012 The moral rights of the author have been asserted All rights reserved No part of this book may be reproduced by any mechanical, photographic or electronic process, or in the form of a phonographic recording; nor may it be stored in a retrieval system, transmitted or otherwise be copied for public or private use, other than for ‘fair use’ as brief quotations embodied in articles and reviews, without prior written permission of the publisher The information given in this book should not be treated as a substitute for professional medical advice; always consult a medical practitioner Any use of information in this book is at the reader’s discretion and risk Neither the author nor the publisher can be held responsible for any loss, claim or damage arising out of the use, or misuse, or the suggestions made or the failure to take medical advice A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library ISBN 978-1-84850-547-6 in print ISBN 978-1-84850-874-3 in Mobipocket format ISBN 978-1-84850-875-0 in ePub format To Bill, who may live to see a saner world Contents Introduction Part I: The Madness of Human Beings The Madness of Living Outside Ourselves Psychological Discord The Subtle Effects of Humania The Madness of Elsewhereness The Madness of Constant Wanting Collective Madness The Fragile Self The Origins of Humania Part II: The Return to Harmony and Sanity Experiences of Harmony of Being 10 Going Inside 11 Cultivating Inner Harmony 12 A New Self and a New World Notes Bibliography Index About the Author Join the Hay House Family Introduction Since Europeans began exploring and colonizing the world in the sixteenth century, they have curiously observed ‘indigenous’ peoples and written accounts of their cultures Modern anthropologists still frequently travel to remote corners of the world to observe and document tribes that haven’t yet been touched by globalization, and still follow traditional lifestyles But what about the other way round? What have indigenous peoples made of the ‘developed’ peoples who have studied them, and whose culture has conquered theirs? Or to put it more abstractly, if a member of a remote tribe wrote an anthropological study of us, what would it say? In 1932, the psychologist Carl Jung met Native American Chief Mountain Lake in New Mexico When Jung asked him what he thought of the European people who had conquered his country, he gave a damning assessment: ‘The whites always want something They are always uneasy and restless We not know what they want We not understand them We think that they are all mad.’1 Other indigenous peoples have shared Mountain Lake’s bemusement Many believed that the Europeans’ lust for possessions was a kind of madness As the Sioux chief Sitting Bull said: ‘The love of possession is a disease with them… They claim this mother of ours, the Earth, for their own and fence their neighbors away.’2 In a similar way, many were shocked by the Europeans’ lack of connection to – and reverence for – nature As one of the most acute observers of the differences between the European and Indian worldviews, Chief Luther Standing Bear, wrote: Indian faith sought the harmony of man with his surroundings; the other sought the dominance of surroundings… For [the Indian] the world was full of beauty, for [the white man] it was a place of sin and ugliness to be endured until he went to another world.3 In other words, indigenous peoples seem to think that there is something wrong with us, even that we are mad An indigenous anthropologist who studied our history would find a massive amount of further evidence for this too: thousands of years of constant warfare, massive inequalities of wealth and power, the brutal oppression of women, of other classes and castes, endless brutality, violence, and greed – and then, in recent decades, the suicidal destruction of our planet’s life support systems He or she would also look at the massive inequalities that blight the world today, where the three richest people in the world are wealthier than the 48 poorest countries combined, and where almost 800 million people are malnourished while millions of others are obese because they have too much food.4 What could be more insane than this? Our psychological disorder This book is my attempt to understand this human madness Why we find it impossible to live in harmony with each other, with the natural world, or even with our own selves? Why is human history an endless, depressing saga of warfare, conflict, and oppression? Why we seem impelled to destroy our environment, and hence ourselves as a species? Or, on a more psychological level, why we suffer from the constant restlessness and unease of which Mountain Lake spoke? Why is it that many of us are driven to accumulate more and more wealth, status, and success, without any evidence that they provide us with contentment and fulfillment? Why, when we achieve our goals, we often only feel a short period of satisfaction, before restlessness emerges again, filling us with a desire to achieve even more? Our basic problem, I suggest in this book, is that there really is something wrong with our minds We suffer from a basic psychological disorder that is the source of our dysfunctional behavior, both as individuals and as a species We’re all slightly mad – but because the madness is so intrinsic to us, we’re not aware of it I call this disorder ‘humania’, as in ‘human madness.’ (I sometimes refer to it as ‘ego-madness’ too, since – as we’ll see later – the disorder is the result of the malfunctioning and the mal-development of the ego By the ego I mean our sense of being an ‘I’ within our own mental space, the ‘self-system’ that gives us a sense of being an individual, with our thoughts and experiences.) The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, or DSM – the standard manual used by American psychiatrists – defines a psychological or mental disorder as a ‘clinically significant behavioral or psychological syndrome or pattern [which] is associated with present distress… or with a significant increased risk of suffering.’5 Humania is too omnipresent and taken for granted to be seen as clinically significant, but it’s certainly the cause of distress and suffering It means that the normal state of our minds is one of discord The first noble truth of Buddhism is that ‘life is suffering,’ and this suffering begins in our minds This inner suffering – or psychological discord, as I refer to it – is so normal to us that we don’t realize it’s there, like a background noise you’re so accustomed to that you don’t hear anymore But it has massive consequences It means that we have to keep our attention focused outside ourselves, and fill our lives with constant activity and distraction, like addicts needing a constant supply of a drug It makes it impossible for us to find contentment It causes discord in our relationships It impels us to search for wellbeing and fulfillment outside ourselves, in wealth, success, and power It’s even responsible – for reasons that I’ll explain later – for much of the conflict, oppression, and brutality that fill human history But despite its devastating effects, humania is neither deep-rooted nor permanent In fact it only exists on a superficial layer of the mind All of us regularly have moments when our normal psychological discord fades away and we experience a sense of ease, wellbeing and harmony In these moments we’re free of the pressure to keep busy, and the need for stimulation and acquisition – we rest at ease within ourselves and within the present moment These moments of ‘harmony of being’ – as I refer to them – usually happen when we’re quiet and relaxed, and there’s stillness around us: for example, when we’re walking through the countryside, working quietly with our hands, listening to or playing music, after meditation, yoga or sex The normal incessant chattering of our minds fades away and, rather than feeling separate, we feel a natural flow of connection between ourselves and our surroundings or other people In these moments, we become – temporarily, at least – sane This harmony and sanity are always inside us, in the same way that the deep stillness of the sea is always beneath the roar of the waves The problem is that the superficial discord of our minds denies us access to it Rather than going into ourselves and experiencing the harmony of our essential being, we are pushed out of ourselves, into distractions and activity, and so unable to live in the present and unable to find contentment The aims of this book This book has two aims First, we’re going to examine our psychological disorder, to investigate its characteristics and understand its causes, in much the same way a doctor might examine and diagnose an illness We’re going to look at the different types of insane behavior that characterize us as human beings: first, our pathological behavior as individuals, such as constant activity and distraction, materialism and status-seeking; and then our collective pathological behavior, such as warfare, environmental destruction and dogmatic religion Then we’re going to examine how humania gives rise to these behaviors This section of the book may sometimes be slightly bleak, but bear in mind that, in order to treat and heal an illness, it’s necessary to examine it in as much detail as possible This healing is the second aim of the book In the last four chapters, we’re going to examine how we can transcend our psychological discord I’ll suggest certain practices and ways of living – as well as a number of practical exercises – that will help to heal our disordered minds, and create a more harmonious inner state, so that we can begin to live inside ourselves, and in the present, and so that we can attain a state of real sanity So if happiness and fulfillment are eluding you, if you feel ‘messed up’ in some way, plagued by worries, poisoned by bitterness and regret; if you feel that life is so full of suffering that (as a friend of mine said to me recently) you wouldn’t have asked to be born – you can take some consolation from the fact that these are largely just the symptoms of a psychological condition; and that this condition can be healed However, this isn’t just about improving our lives or making us more contented as individuals Ultimately, our madness makes it impossible for us to live in an appropriate and sustainable way on our planet As many indigenous people have recognized, the end point of our chronic restlessness and rampant materialism is self-destruction We will only be able to live in harmony with our planet, other species and with each other when we are able to live in harmony with ourselves PART I THE MADNESS OF HUMAN BEINGS CHAPTER The Madness of Living Outside Ourselves In some ways, those of us who live in the world’s richer countries – in Europe and North America, for instance – are the luckiest human beings who have ever lived Until just a few generations ago, human beings’ average life expectancy was between 30 and 40 Almost a third of people died before reaching adulthood, and most of those who survived spent their lives in abject poverty, suffering – and dying – from cold, hunger, and a variety of illnesses and health problems that have now largely been eradicated: constant toothache (hence the nineteenth-century saying that ‘a third of all human suffering is toothache’), scurvy, smallpox, tuberculosis, and so on If your eyesight was poor you would spend your life with blurred vision, if you broke a limb you would be crippled for the rest of your life, and if your children contracted illnesses such as measles or tuberculosis, there was a good chance they would die But now, in the first decade of the twenty-first century, we are largely free from these problems Our life expectancy has increased dramatically – until 80 in some countries – and most of us spend these extra decades in relative comfort, with heating in our homes, food in our cupboards, and access to amazingly effective medical care (at least in most European countries and Canada – unfortunately the USA still has some catching up to in this regard) It’s even possible to say that we’re the first free human beings Most of us are free in a material sense – largely free from the physical battle to keep ourselves alive in the face of poverty and hunger We’re also free in a social sense – free in the sense that we’re not chained to the social niche into which we were born We don’t have to spend our lives as peasants, hardly setting foot outside the village in which we were born; we have a large degree of social mobility You could even say that we’re free in an intellectual sense – whereas just a couple of centuries ago, education and knowledge were the privilege of a tiny minority, now they are available to most of us Surely we should be the happiest human beings who have ever lived? Surely we should be filled with joy, having gained the freedom, prosperity and health that our ancestors could only have dreamed of? But it hasn’t worked out like that, of course In fact, it may very well be that we’re less happy than our ancestors Our freedom hasn’t turned out to be the blessing it appeared Rather than spending our extra decades in a state of joyful appreciation, many of us suffer from different forms of psychological malaise, such as depression, drug abuse or eating disorders, or else a general sense of anxiety, boredom or dissatisfaction, feeling as if something is somehow ‘not quite right.’ We seem to find our freedom a burden, and fill the leisure time we’ve been given with distractions like TV Famously, the psychologist Abraham Maslow showed that human needs make up a hierarchy We have certain lower needs that need to be satisfied before we can move up to higher needs, i.e we have to first satisfy our needs for food and shelter before we can start to think about satisfying our needs for love and self-esteem However, there is also a negative side to this: once we’ve satisfied our basic physical needs, and move up to emotional and psychological ones, we’re faced with psychological problems that weren’t evident before After being too preoccupied with survival to be aware of it, we encounter our psychological discord – and it’s this that is the obstacle to our happiness It’s as if we aren’t able to live with ourselves After spending centuries with our attention focused outside, now that we’ve turned inside and faced ourselves, a giant can of psychological worms has opened up The madness of distraction van der Dennen, M.G (1995) The Origin of War Groningen: Origin Press Vol 2: Property, Power and Ideology Oxford: Berg Wareing, S (1999) ‘Language and gender.’ In Thomas, L & Wareing, S (Eds.), Language, Society and Power London: Routledge Westen, D., Novotny, C M & Thompson-Brenner, H (2004) ‘The empirical status of empirically supported psychotherapies: Assumptions, findings, and reporting in controlled clinical trials.’ Psychological Bulletin, 130 (4), 631–663 Wildman, P (1996) ‘Dreamtime Myth: History as Future.’ New Renaissance, 7(1) Wood, J., Elaine Perunovic, W & Lee, J (2009) ‘Positive Self-Statements: Power for Some, Peril for Others.’ Psychological Science, 20 (7), 860–866 Woodburn, J (1982) ‘Egalitarian Societies.’ Man, 17, 431–51 Woodburn, J (2005) ‘Egalitarian societies revisited.’ In Widlok, T & Wolde, G.T., (Eds.), Property and Equality Vol 1, Ritualisation, Sharing, Egalitarianism Berghahn Books: Oxford Wright, R (1992) Stolen Continents Boston: Houghton Mifflin Back to Sanity online course For information on Steve Taylor’s Back to Sanity online course, visit www.stevenmtaylor.co.uk Index This index is in word-by-word alphabetical order Aborigines 25, 139–40, 145, 149 absorption active (flow) 19, 169–71 in daydreaming 34 and focused attention 65, 168–9, 214 passive 19, 30–31, 50, 51, 170 self-absorption 106 abstraction 37, 148, 151, 214, 217 Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) 192, 195 Ackerman, Diane 164 addiction 15, 16, 51, 53–4, 56–7, 188, 240 adolescence 154–6 affirmations 204–5 alcohol abuse 12, 13, 16, 57, 117–18, 119 Alister, Paul Narada 229–30, 231 aloneness 27, 29 loneliness 48–9, 232–3 solitude 48–9, 228–34 see also ego-separateness/isolation altruism 128, 129, 212–13, 247 anxiety 6, 14, 29, 37, 38, 43, 49, 72, 191, 193, 199, 202, 242 disorders 56 reduction 202, 222, 224, 239 aristocrats 14–16, 43 atman 177 attention absorbed in thought-chatter 29–40 and childhood harmony 151 conscious attention and inner harmony 214–21 conscious attention in relationships 217–20 directed inside yourself 187–90 and distraction xii, 7–9, 49–52, 64–5 and elsewhereness 61–75 and the familiar/unfamiliar 167–8 focused attention and absorption 65, 168–9, 214 and meditation 171–3 see also meditation practice of mindfulness 196–7, 220–21 and presence 66 and the quieting of thought-chatter 171–6 Baal Shem Tov 211–12 Baldwin, Ken 196 Baron-Cohen, Simon 107 beauty 32, 66–7, 161–2, 164, 166–7, 172, 217, 242, 243, 246, 247, 261 being harmony of see harmony of being living in the present vs elsewhereness 61–75 presence see presence belongingness 119–21 Black Elk 255 Boehm, Christopher 143–4 boredom 14, 15, 49 Bowie, David 12 Brahms, Johannes 40 brain 52, 183–4, 202, 223 neurogenesis 183–4 neuroplasticity 52, 183–4, 193, 202, 223, 253 Bristol, John Hervey, 7th Marquess 14–15 Buddhism/Buddhist monks xii, 86, 223 Byrd, Richard 164 Catherine of Siena 211–12 CBT see Cognitive Behavioral Therapy children/childhood 26, 38–9 and adolescence 154–6 childhood harmony 150–53 childhood trauma 38–9, 55, 57 Clapton, Eric 12 Cobain, Kurt 12 Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) 37–8, 39, 192, 199–202, 206 cognitive discord 35–40, 42–4 and anxiety disorders 56 and being too close to reality 40–42 cognitive habits 39, 195, 199, 201, 204, 206 Coleridge, Samuel 32 colonial madness 149–50 communism 253 competition 88–91, 101 concentration 51–2 contentment xii, 74, 132, 162, 164, 177, 178, 252 see also happiness; harmony of being Csikszentmihalyi, Mihaly 19, 36, 85, 143, 169–71 Daly, Martin and Wilson, Margo 117 Darwinian/Neo-Darwinian theory 83–4, 126, 253 Social Darwinism 97 Dawkins, Richard 134 daydreaming 34, 35, 39, 40, 214, 218 see also thought-chatter death, fear of 28–9, 41, 244 Debussy, Claude 40 depression 14, 38, 43, 56, 68, 83, 166 Dewey, John 40 Dillard, Annie 174 discontent 14, 16, 37, 54, 82, 85–6, 102, 177, 225 from emptiness/inactivity 7, 10, 13–14, 16, 24 see also distraction see also dissatisfaction; unease dissatisfaction 6, 15, 37, 38, 43, 48, 68, 74, 85 see also discontent; unease distraction xii, 7–9, 49–52, 64–5 doing/doing nothing dangers of doing nothing 11–20 doing nothing in a state of harmony 240–41 madness of 9–11 rushing away from the present 73–4 dreaming 34 drug abuse/addiction 6, 12, 13–15, 16, 53–4, 56–7, 119, 139, 229 drug-induced experiences 23–5, 53 Eckhart, Meister 36 ego-madness condition of see madness (humania) healing see healing the mind ego-separateness/isolation 23–5, 42, 55 and adolescence 154–6 aloneness 27, 29 beyond separation 243–5 see also harmony of being ego-boundaries 43, 153, 166, 212, 213, 227 the fall 146–9 and fear of death 28–9, 41 and the fragile self 115–35 and identity see identity and individuality 25–8 and lack of empathy 105–8, 123, 149, 212 loneliness 48–9, 232–3 and moral exclusion 123–4 and thought-chatter 29–35, 38 Einstein, Albert 40 elsewhereness 61–75 EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) 190–91 empathy lack of 105–8, 123, 149, 212 women and 107–8 emptiness discontent from inactivity and 7, 10, 13–14, 16, 24 see also distraction empty mind 161–2, 167, 207, 220–21 see also harmony of being endorphins 166 enjoyment 57, 188–9, 247 entertainment industry 17 environmental destruction 108–12, 251 ethnic conflict 95, 122, 124–7 Everett, Daniel 142 Exposure Therapy 191–2 Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) 190–91 fame 13, 88, 91 fashion 120–21 fear of death 28–9, 41, 244 Fijians 26 flow 19, 169–71 Fordyce, Michael 205 Fox, George 211–12 freedom 6, 240, 241 Gandhi, Mahatma 212 God 131–2, 211, 233 gold fever 79–81 Goldberg, Stephen 101 Grey, Anne-Pattel 109 group identity 122–7, 133–5 Gurdjieff, George Ivanovich 226 habit-forming 39, 187, 189–90, 198, 201, 204, 206, 215–17 Hall, Edward T 141 happiness courses on psychology of 202–6 as the essence of our being 241–2 see also harmony of being and status 87 and wealth/materialism 82, 83, 85–6 see also contentment harmony of being and activity 247–8 and awakening experiences 261–2n7 beyond separation 243–5 and conscious attention 214–21 cultivating 211–36 emptiness of mind 161–2, 167, 207, 220–21 experiences of xii–xiii, 161–79, 221–35 harmony-generating activities 163–73, 188–9, 226–7 see also meditation healing process towards see healing the mind in indigenous peoples 139–46 loss of childhood harmony 150–53 and new energy 248–51 new self in 239–45 and new vision of reality 75, 245–7 and a new world 251–5 permanent 58, 178–9, 239–55 quietness and stillness 227–34 and relationships 217–20, 245 and service 212–13 slow and simple life 234–6 sources of harmony 173–6 see also contentment; wellbeing healing the mind cultivating inner harmony 211–36 dealing with trauma 190–93 going beyond thought 206–7 going inside 183–207 preconditions 186–7 and relationships 217–20, 245 resting inside ourselves 176–8 sources of harmony 173–6 stepping back from thought 193–8 through conscious attention 196–7, 214–21 through harmony-generating activities 163–73, 188–9, 226–7 through living slowly and simply 234–6 through meditation 171–3, 221–7 see also meditation through quietness and stillness 227–34 through service 212–13 transcending negative thought-patterns 198–207, 224–5 turning your attention inside yourself 187–90 Hendrix, Jimi 12 Hitler, Adolf 123–4 holidays 167–8 honor killings 102–5 Houston, Whitney 12 human madness condition of see madness (humania) healing of see healing the mind identity double identity as personality and the witness/Self 195–6 grounding of 225–6 group identity 122–7, 133–5 need for 119–21 shifts of 43, 172, 173, 177, 196 threats to 118–19 see also self inactivity see doing/doing nothing incompleteness 27–8, 29 Indian group identity 124–5 indigenous peoples ix–x, 25–6, 28, 53, 109–10, 111, 130–31, 150 Aborigines 25, 139–40, 145, 149 harmony of 139–46 Native Americans see Native Americans individuality 25–8 inequality x, 97–100, 253 insanity condition of see madness (humania) healing of see healing the mind isolation see ego-separateness/isolation Jackson, Michael 12 John, Elton 12 Joplin, Janis 12 Jung, Carl G ix, 34, 146 Killingsworth, M A and Gilbert, D T 36 Kolben, Peter 142 Kropotkin, Peter 142 Lacan, Jacques 118 ‘law of attraction’ 204 Lawrence, D H 49 life expectancy living in the present 63 loneliness 48–9, 232–3 see also aloneness looking forward 68–73 madness (humania) cognitive discord see cognitive discord collective 95–112 colonial 149–50 of competition 88–91 of constant wanting 79–91 degrees of 54–8 of distraction xii, 7–9, 49–52, 64–5 of dogmatic religion 128–35 of doing 9–11 ego-separateness see ego-separateness/isolation of elsewhereness 61–75 of environmental destruction 108–12, 251 escaping the present 61–75 flight from discord 42–4, 49–50, 52–4 see also alcohol abuse; drug abuse/addiction; television watching and the fragile self 115–35 healing see healing the mind of honor 102–5 and lack of empathy 105–8, 123, 149, 212 of living outside ourselves 5–20, 61–75 meaning and universality of xi–xii origins of 146–56 and other mental disorders 55–6 preconditions for healing 186–7 and slighting 115–19 of status-seeking 87–8 subtle effects of 47–58 thought-chatter see thought-chatter Maitland, Sara 230–31 mantras 32, 171, 172, 221 Markus, H and Kitayama, S 26 Marshall, James 79 Maslow, Abraham 6–7, 133 materialism 79–86 see also wealth Matthews, Shannon 82 meditation 171–3, 195, 221–7 use of mantras 32, 171, 172, 221 and thought-chatter 32, 171–2, 221, 224 Vipassana 196–7 see also mindfulness mental disorders 55–6 psychological discord see madness (humania) mental energy 19, 130–31, 177, 248–51 mindfulness 196–7, 220–21 conscious attention 214–21 Miracle, Andrew W and de Dios, Juan M 141 Moody, Edward 110 moral exclusion 123–4 Morrison, Jim 12 Mountain Lake, Chief ix, 28, 146 murder and ethnic conflict 125–7 honor killings 102–5 and slighting 117 music 170, 177, 188 pop musicians 12–14, 43 nationalism 122 Native Americans ix–x, 28, 80–81, 109–10, 126, 139, 141, 144, 146 see also indigenous peoples nature x, 108–12, 142, 166–7, 214, 226–7, 252, 254 negativity 37–9, 55, 56, 200–201 transcending 193–207, 224–5, 236 Neo-Darwinism 83–4, 126, 253 neurogenesis 183–4 neuroplasticity 52, 183–4, 193, 202, 223, 253 Niarchos, Constantine 15 O’Neill, Eugene, The Iceman Cometh 69–71 oppression 87–8, 97–100 of women x, 100–102 overpopulation 112 Pascal, Blaise 17, 18, 74–5 passive absorption 19, 30–31, 50, 51, 170 Pinker, Steven 144–5, 260n13 pipedreams 69–71, 72, 132 pop musicians 12–14, 43 power and control 102, 134 and group identity 133–5 and status 87–8, 91, 133 and wealth 95, 106, 107, 124, 149 presence 19, 65, 66–7, 75 see also elsewhereness; harmony of being Presley, Elvis 12 psychic entropy 36 psychological discord cognitive discord see cognitive discord ego-separateness see ego-separateness/isolation healing see healing the mind human madness see madness (humania) and other mental disorders 55–6 and television watching 49–52 from thought-chatter see thought-chatter psychopaths 106 psychoplasticity 184, 199, 206, 253 quietness 227–34 rage 115 Ramakrishna 211 Ravuvu, A 26 reality being too close to 40–42 new vision of 245–7 relationships 217–20, 245 religion 27–8 dogmatic 122, 128–35 origins of 129–32 and the power of group identity 133–5 resting inside ourselves 176–8 retired people 10, 16–17, 43 road rage 115 rushing 73–4 Rwandan genocide 127 sanity harmony of being see harmony of being insanity see madness (humania) restoration of see healing the mind Schwartz, Jeffrey M 193 scripts (schemata) 37, 39, 40, 55, 56, 200–201, 225, 236 Seattle, Chief 109 self the fragile self 115–35 knowing yourself 225 a new self 239–55 the observing Self 195–6 the separated self see ego-separateness/isolation see also identity self-absorption 106 self-reflection 148, 154 separation individuality 25–8 isolation see ego-separateness/isolation service 212–13 see also altruism sex 101, 103, 104–5, 144, 145, 165–6, 177, 229, 262 Shapiro, Francine 190 shifters 58 silence 227–34 Singapore 89–90 Sitting Bull ix–x slighting 115–19 Social Darwinism 97 social injustice see inequality; oppression solitude 48–9, 228–34 Solomon, S et al 15 Somatic Experiencing 192 Spirit 131, 132, 255 God 131–2, 211, 233 spirits 131, 132 sport 121, 163, 165, 170, 188, 189, 262 Standing Bear, Luther x, 109 status madness of status-seeking 87–8 and power 87–8, 91, 133 symbols 88, 112 and wealth 87–8, 95, 135, 253 of women 100–101, 144 stillness 227–34 suicide 15, 16 television watching 8–9, 19, 49–53, 188 Teresa of Avila 211–12 The Iceman Cometh (O’Neill) 69–71 thinking 32–3, 41–2 going beyond thought 206–7 positive 37–8, 194, 206 see also Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) vs thought-chatter 32–3 see also thought-chatter thought-chatter 29–35, 67, 168 and cognitive discord 36–40 dis-identifying from 194–8, 224 identifying with 39–40 and meditation 32, 171–2, 221, 224 and negativity 37–9, 55, 193–207 origins of 153–4 quieting of 171–6 stepping back from 39, 193–8 tracing back thoughts 29–30, 197–8 transcending negative thought-patterns 198–207, 224–5 Tolle, Eckhart 196 trauma 38–9, 55, 57 therapies 190–93 Turnbull, Colin 142 unease 13, 38, 47–8, 219 see also discontent; dissatisfaction unemployed people 16, 43 unhappiness 14–17, 68–9, 74, 86 Upanishads 195 vacations 167–8 van der Dennen, Johan M.G 145 Vipassana/mindfulness 196–7, 220–21 Vivekananda 211–12 wanting, constant 79–91 warfare 95–7, 252–3 Watts, Charlie 14 wealth xii, 15, 27, 82–4, 86 inequalities of x, 97–100 and power 95, 106, 107, 124, 149 and status 87–8, 95, 135, 253 wellbeing xii, 67, 82, 83, 142–3, 202–7, 230, 241 see also contentment; happiness; harmony of being Winehouse, Amy 12 witness/Self 195–6 women and empathy 107–8 and honor killings 102–5 oppression of x, 100–102 status 100–101, 144 Woodburn, James 143 World War II 95–6 Yugoslavian ethnic conflict 125–6 ABOUT THE AUTHOR Steve Taylor is a lecturer in psychology at Leeds Metropolitan University, UK, where he teaches mainly on the Psychology and Society degree course He is the author of several bestselling books on psychology and spirituality These include Waking From Sleep, The Fall, Making Time and Out of the Darkness His books have been published in 11 languages, and his articles have been published in over 30 academic journals, magazines and newspapers, including The Journal of Humanistic Psychology, The Journal of Consciousness Studies, The Journal of Transpersonal Psychology, Psychologies, the Daily Express and Resurgence His work has been featured widely in the media in the UK, including on BBC Breakfast, BBC World TV, BBC Radio and 5, and in the Guardian Steve is also a poet; his first collection of poetry, The Meaning, was published by O Books in 2012 In a recent survey in Mind, Body, Spirit magazine, Steve was listed at number 31 in a list of the world’s most spiritually influential living people He regularly gives talks and lectures, and lives in Manchester with his wife and three young children www.stevenmtaylor.co.uk Extracts and competitions Special offers Listen Latest news Attend our author events iPhone Apps ... Humania The Madness of Elsewhereness The Madness of Constant Wanting Collective Madness The Fragile Self The Origins of Humania Part II: The Return to Harmony and Sanity Experiences of Harmony of. .. stillness of the sea is always beneath the roar of the waves The problem is that the superficial discord of our minds denies us access to it Rather than going into ourselves and experiencing the harmony... disorder is the result of the malfunctioning and the mal-development of the ego By the ego I mean our sense of being an ‘I’ within our own mental space, the ‘self-system’ that gives us a sense of being