Learning To Be Human - Hardcover

Havens M D, Leston

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0201624745 ISBN 13: 9780201624748

Publisher: Da Capo Press, 1994

Synopsis

Meditations by an eminent psychotherapist are designed to guide readers through such thickets as sex and marriage, friendship and love, children, work, and personal time, to the ultimate goal of reconciling the opposite needs of life.

About this title

From the Inside Flap

Self-possession seems the simplest gift, yet one which most people struggle to find. It is the inner security that makes it possible to live without fear of surrendering too much. It is that which allows a lucky few to actually thrive within social constraints--families, career, marriages--while remaining true to themselves.Learning to Be Human is a guide to finding this balanced sense of self through all the critical "touchpoints" of life: establishing autonomy, finding love, managing closeness and distance, experiencing marriage, sex, the rearing of children, and the ultimate meaning of it all in the face of death. But this small volume contains no plan or program. Instead, in form and function it will remind some of a secular prayer book, offering elegant and exquisitely brief essays, enriched by the worlds of music and literature and art, which capture our attention and animate the heart and mind toward a personal response. Intended to be read slowly and thoughtfully, and doubtless read more than once during life's changing circumstances, it resonates with wisdom from an eminent psychotherapist who has spent years mapping the human ground. Intended for anyone striving to live more consciously, Learning to Be Human ultimately unmasks what Dr. Havens calls the "secrecy of the obvious." The finest people, he points out, often seem ordinary or simple... because they are simply human. But to become so simply human--to strip away the distortions that limit and diminish us--that is often the work of a lifetime.

From the Back Cover

"I consider Leston Havens simply the wisest psychotherapist writing today: insightful regarding our sacraments, our follies, our potential. Like the music of certain composers, Havens' books grow fresher with prolonged acquaintance. Learning to Be Human is Havens in his chamber-work mode: condensed and complex, accessible and profound, a pleasure to spend time with." -Peter D. Kramer, author of Listening to Prozac.

Edition details

• Publisher: Da Capo Press
• Publication date: 1994
• ISBN 10: 0201624745
• ISBN 13: 9780201624748
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 160