Staring at the Sun: Being at Peace with Your Own Mortality - Softcover

Irvin D. Yalom

4.23

12,630 ratings by Goodreads

9780749928780: Staring at the Sun: Being at Peace with Your Own Mortality

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0749928786 ISBN 13: 9780749928780

Publisher: Piatkus Books, 2011

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Over the past quarter century Irvin Yalom has established himself as the world's leading group psychotherapist. In STARING AT THE SUN, he explores how the knowledge of our own mortality affects the unconscious mind of every human being. Tackling the effect of mankind's fear of death - both conscious and unconscious - on life and how we might live it, Yalom explains how we find ourselves in need of the comfort of therapy. At age 70 and facing his own fear of death, which he discusses in a special afterword, Dr Yalom tackles his toughest subject yet and finds it to be the root cause of patients' fears, stresses and depression. If therapists are to deliver 'the gift of therapy', they must confront the realities of life for themselves and their practice, as must we all.

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From the Back Cover:

IRVIN YALOM—WHOSE BOOKS HAVE SOLD MORE THAN FIVE MILLION COPIES WORLDWIDE

"Always enlightening and often quite moving."—Washington Post

"One of America's finest therapists guides us through one of life's most challenging tasks in this profoundly helpful book. It will benefit anyone who reads it."—Rabbi Harold Kushner, author, When Bad Things Happen to Good People

"Staring at the Sun looks experientially and psychodynamically at our deepest fear and describes with uncommon eloquence and deep humanity how we may arrive at a form of peace. The book is witty and kind and unflinching, a generous meditation that shows us not how to defeat our fear but how to become wise enough to tolerate it. It should give comfort to the dying and to those they leave behind."—Andrew Solomon, author, The Noonday Demon, winner of the National Book Award

"Although written from a psychotherapeutic perspective, this thoughtful treatment of the ultimate fear has much to offer people of faith. This is a wise book by a wise man about the most taboo of all subjects. Read it, and fear not."—Dr. Robin Meyers, minister of Mayflower UCC Church of Oklahoma City, professor of rhetoric in the philosophy department at Oklahoma City University, and author, Why the Christian Right Is Wrong

"Irvin Yalom has written a brave, intelligent book on the last forbidden subject—death. I honor his courage and rare insight."—Erica Jong, author, Fear of Flying, Shylock's Daughter, Inventing Memory, and Sappho's Leap

"Yalom is the Scheherazade of the couch."—Laura Miller, New York Times

From the Inside Flap:

Staring at the Sun

From the acclaimed author of the best-selling Love's Executioner, The Gift of Therapy, and When Nietzsche Wept comes an inspiring book that confronts the most demanding challenge we all face: overcoming the terror of death.

Written in Irv Yalom's inimitable story-telling style, Staring at the Sun is a profoundly encouraging approach to the universal issue of mortality. In this magisterial opus, capping a lifetime of work and personal experience, Dr. Yalom helps us recognize that the fear of death is at the heart of much of our anxiety. Such recognition is often catalyzed by an "awakening experience"—a dream, or loss (the death of a loved one, divorce, loss of a job or home), illness, trauma, or aging.

Once we confront our own mortality, Dr. Yalom writes, we are inspired to rearrange our priorities, communicate more deeply with those we love, appreciate more keenly the beauty of life, and increase our willingness to take the risks necessary for personal fulfillment.

Filled with touching personal stories of people who are grappling with the terror of death—including the author—Staring at the Sun offers specific methods to cope with terror and is ultimately life affirming. Most important, Dr. Yalom encourages us to strive for more direct engagement with others. Compassionate connection, combined with the wisdom of the great thinkers who have wrestled with mortality, enables us to overcome the terror of death and lead happier, more meaningful lives.

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