The Architecture of the Soul: A Unitive Model of the Human Person

The Architecture of the Soul introduces and maps out a model of the human person that represents a new way of interpreting and treating human—and by extension global—dysfunction. Arising from the transpersonal and integral schools of psychology, this model provides an alternative to the view of the human person as a product of brain chemistry, whose dysfunctional behavior can be treated through pharmaceuticals and traditional psychology. Based on the author's years of clinical experience treating addiction, the book posits a human psyche made up of three zones of awareness. The first two are reached by present-day psychology, focusing on cognitive and affective disorders, and therapies that treat addictive disorders. The crucial third zone, called Tertiary Awareness, is the 'rudder' of the human personality that contains deep bio- and eco-wisdoms that must be brought to consciousness and cultivated. In explaining how to integrate self and spirit, the author demonstrates how people must be made aware of this zone if we are to survive as a species and a planet.

Albert J. LaChance, Ph.D., LADC, CAS, DAPA, is a certified addiction specialist and a licensed addictions counselor who has treated individuals, families, and groups since 1991. His next book, Cultural Addiction: The Greenspirit Guide to Recovery, will be published in 2006.