Intuition and the Mystical Life

Rating:
Summary: Mixed reaction
Review: I have greatly enjoyed tapes and stories by Clarissa Estes and this is no exception. It is refreshing to hear her describe more about her process and experiences with the mystical. I'm inspired to be curious, to care more, listen deeper, laugh at my weakneses, appreciate surprises, and hope even when doing so does not make sense except to my heart.

My pleasure in the CD was strangely mixed, because inserted between the humor and wisdom of Dr. Estes comments were the unsettling and uncensored ones of Carolyn Myss. I long ago purchased her set of tapes on "Why People Don't Heal" and swore I would never buy another book or tape like this again. I kept my promise until this CD came out...perhaps finally it captured a more mature Myss to whom I might be able to listen long enough to recognize an intuitive wisdom behind her oration, and if not, at least there could be the usual benefits of Dr. Estes dialogue.

However, I continue to be frustrated with a basic lack of respect shown by Carolyn Myss for the dignity of other human beings, much less their souls, which repeatedly leaks out -- a stream of criticisms and judgments blurted out without any self-reflection and yet called "flashes of objective intuition" which she apparently recognized as such by the lack of any associated feeling content. Now this is a point on which I do definitely agree with her. The lack of feeling is painfully obvious even on a day when I am not carrying a crystal ball next to my laptop.

Sadly, I am initially intrigued by her topics. As I physician I am fascinated with the breadth and depth of what constitutes healing, failures to heal, transformation, and the strange contradictions in persons who are have found a way to experience wellness in the midst of suffering. These mysteries are my teachers. I would be delighted to find new and helpful ideas that stretch me beyond the traditions of my training. But moments behind her intrigue I am disappointed by her treatment of and attitudes about other humans, their wounds and vulnerabilities. Many of these "insights" sound all to familiar, echos of the same tired frustrations and disappointments of sleepless residents, at times including myself, who've been on call for the last 20 or more hours and are now summoned to readmit the same person. The one who has sabotaged again or at least for now their chances at better health with more alcohol, more smoking, more narcotics, more sugar, more salt and water than their heart, liver, kidneys or lungs could handle, skipped their meds...whatever. Its all to easy to figure out how this mess happened because the person did not do enough of some task, did not care about themselves enough, or might find some secondary gain in staying ill.

So while I'm hoping for something that challenges me to search beyond my preconceptions for deeper keys to healing, what I hear is a depreciation of others --"their street trash intuition", their surivival-driven skills (which perhaps she has been so blessed as to never need), a mockery of other women's modesty about mystical experience, and a devaluation of various points of entry at which women may be searching for an opening to find their own intuition.

She's describes being a publisher (perhaps she's been a copy editor as well). Clearly has a gift for lightening fast spontaneous production of highly articulate left-hemisphere speech and logic. Great for analyzing stock options, corporate business plans, cutting to the chase on insurance benefits, and nailing the weakness in one's business or political rivals. On my side she might be a fearsome negotiator -- that is if the other side has not stormed out of the room. I suspect she'd do wonderfully as a prosecuting attorney -- but I am just not sure she'd be able to withhold her own opinions long enough to hear all the evidence and serve as my juror or judge.

Her words are delivered with a firm confidence. Perhaps as flawlessly as Mozart could write his music, no erasures required. Unfortunately, this one form of intuitive expression seems to have limited her definition of the greater process. I would personally have more confidence in her words if I also heard her testing what would disprove her flashes or "opinions" -- in other words hear her keen critical powers directed at the content of her own intuitions much more readily than she directs it at the fabric of others. I wonder if along with all that she "knows" if she knows the difference between: a) self-esteem that survives gently recognizing and holding one's own limitations and weaknesses, and b) a stance or persona clothed in arrogant self-assertions which may be more opinion than intuition.

Something is missing. My guess is that the whole "mandala" of intuition may indeed have a slice in it for celebrating rare oratorical gifts such as Myss displays.

But the whole is broader and deeper. Where does it meet the right hemisphere, the realm of the silence, the ocean of unknowable mysteries that can only been seen through mist, veils and "through a glass darkly". How will it apply a few years from now even if she has a left middle cerebral vascular accident or stroke and can no longer speak and "know that she knows" things so confidently.

I believe that intuition not only addresses the rational, articulate and logial but also encompasses and permeates the nonverbal, the irrational, that which cannot be reduced to speech, the heart, the senses, the timing, the gestalt of sound, space and context and thus knows when and how it is most appropriate to give the unuttered a voice or an image -- sometimes profoundly, sometimes falteringly.

Dr. Estes stories transport me to the gateway for this experience. I feel both respect for her intuition and a curiosity about exploring my own. The cost of the CD was worth hearing her dialogue.

Carolyn's softest moment wraps us in the robes of some breed or creed of a monk -- so that either our souls or our experiences can be camoflauged in a form acceptable enough to Ms Myss that she might pause in her critical thinking long enough to ... well, I'm still not sure quite what that mental device does for her. It did seem to offer a glimmer of relief and protection from her razor sharp mind. Maybe you'll "intuit it" even better than I from her explanation.

Am still wondering what it would take for her to just see another person dressed in the gowns of their own choosing, their own hopes, dreams, fears, wounds, suffering ... and just be present to them -- no changing, no judging, no manipulating the image to fit her agenda. And will she still struggle to continue to see the person even when they are writhing in discomfort, uttering requests she would disapprove, and surrounded in the unpleasant sensory and emotional realities of illness or dying?

If she can perchance use her keen mind and insight to spot a flickering spark of will or hope buried beneath the distortions of pain and anger that would nurture even a slim chance of survival (should that be the soul's desire), a chance to truly motivate some of my patients rather than insult them into reaching with whatever limb still moves toward healing, -- then I'd be ready to listen up, purchase and learn from such a recording.

Rating:
Summary: A beautiful Gift to Women
Review: I have read almost every book by Clarissa Pinkola Estes but have never heard of Caroline Myss until I purchased this CD.

I, unlike the other reviewers, did not find rude behavior or belittlement but wise, wonderful conversations between two strong, very gifted, loving women who respect each other enough to allow the other person to speak who she really is.

I am used to having conversations like this with other people where we listen to everything the other person has to say, regardless of whether we agree and we appreciate them for their unique insight and input.

In other words...I do not judge a person by their tone of voice, ideas or stories. In my opinion that is perhaps what is happening to other listeners.

I almost didn't purchase this CD because I got the impression that it was a ridiculing dialogue without information but I am so glad that I used my own judgement and bought it.

I would say that this is truly a gift to other women who are open to listening to what these two beautiful speakers have to say.

Rating:
Summary: Calling Dr. Myss' Guardian Angel!
Review: I used to think the world of Caroline Myss. Pinkola Estes and Myss make a wonderful, magical combination. However, Dr. Myss is getting pedantically infatuated with herself, to the point that she has become her own self parody and worst archetype. It is finally becoming clear in her recent presentations that she enjoys ridiculing her audience and that she uses her sharp tongue and mind to belittle our shortcomings and fears. Intuition and the Mystical Life could have been a great edition, but Dr Myss's input did not help Dr. Pinkola Estes' great contribution. I feel sorry for Myss and wish that her guardian angel would rescue her from herself.

Rating:
Summary: McIntuition?
Review: I was surprised and unsettled by aspects of listening to Caroline Myss on this CD. Her habit of addressing Dr. Estes as "Clariss" is grating and to this listener borders on condescension. At one point she essentially tells Estes that she is going to get inside her head and walk around and tell her just what makes her tick -- in essence to "become" her. When Estes murmurs some trepidation and gently intimates that turnabout is fair play, Myss swiftly dismisses this and proceeds to blow right by Dr. Estes' boundaries without a second thought. It makes me wince. There is something so presumptuous and disrespectful about assuming that one can "instantly" know another's soul. I'm an intuitive psychotherapist and even when I can make fair hypotheses about the internal machinations of clients (some of whom I've known for years) I maintain a huge margin of respect for the possibility that I may be wrong. Myss, however (as others have noted) does not seem to be constrained by the encumbrance of healthy skepticism when it comes to her own perceptions. Her slick packaging, Oprah-fication and unleashed ego conspire to reduce her message to McIntuition. Not so Dr. Estes, whose living, breathing body of work stands squarely on its own merits and on her rock-solid integrity. This production shines a light on the contrast between the two. My intuition suggests that this may have been what was intended. Earth to Vasalisa: You are in the presence of the great and powerful Baba Yaga. Ask for fire.