<< 1 >>
Rating: 
Summary: outstanding poke at traditional psychotherapy....
Review: ....and its habit of cloistering itself in the consulting room. Hillman and Ventura make their rambling, imaginative, caustic, and wonderfully spontaneous case for the inefficiency of a psychology establishment that pretends to change the world one person at a time...in effect robbing them of the very symptoms that might prompt some effective action, political and otherwise. Be sure to look for Hillman's wonderful offhand joke about why camels spit.
Rating:
Summary: Compelling book!
Review: Hillman reveals as one of the supreme voices of the Jungian school and gives smart and crude revelations about a lot of several issues . The reading is deeply absorbing till the last page .
The text is widely recommendable no matter your profession or job .
Rating:
Summary: Desencanto, integridad y entusiasmo
Review: Hillman, un psiquiatra que lleva años trabajando como terapeuta, y Ventura, un escritor que lleva casi otros tantos acudiendo a terapia y tratando a terapeutas, dialogan sin pelos en la lengua sobre lo que echan a faltar en la consulta.
Básicamente, su diagnóstico es que la terapia se ha convertido en una anestesia de los problemas sociales, globales. La distorsión es múltiple: al enfocar la desazón del paciente como algo que tiene que ver sobre todo con su interior, la terapia pierde de vista lo que esa desazón podría decir sobre los problemas sociales y medioambientales; al enfocarla como resultado de los problemas con el padre y la madre durante la infancia, se pierde de vista que el malestar tiene ante todo que ver con las circunstancias actuales del paciente, y que éste no es un 'niño eterno' al que se deba ayudar a crecer, solucionándole los problemas.
El enfoque que ambos autores dan a la cuestión de los abusos infantiles se aleja tanto de la opinión común que a veces uno no sabe si aplaudir su audacia o temer por su salud física, dada la reacción imprevisible (o demasiado previsible) que una audiencia puritana puede dar a este tipo de discurso.
El libro se estructura en dos largas conversaciones, situadas al inicio y al final, y una sección central que consta de varias cartas. Las conversaciones son tan amistosas como vehementes; las cartas, deliciosamente reflexivas y matizadas. En todo momento, prima la sensación imperiosa de que hay que dejar atrás una forma ya inútil o incluso contraproducente de terapia y apostar por un discurso en el que los problemas de cada uno no se separen de los problemas de la forma de vida que uno lleva (por ejemplo: edificios deprimentes, luz invasiva e incómoda, flujo continuo de información-basura...).
El balance de la vida política estadounidense es singularmente agrio: asistimos al final de la República y el comienzo del Imperio, en el sentido de que la capacidad de los ciudadanos conscientes por intervenir activamente en política ha ido dejando paso a la concepción del votante como consumidor, cuya única opción es elegir periódicamente entre dos discursos sospechosamente idénticos e irrazonados.
En ningún momento se cede al desaliento: como Ventura explica a su hijo adolescente, incluso si vivimos en una Edad Oscura, o en el comienzo de una, es nuestra responsabilidad trasmitir a otros la belleza, el pensamiento crítico y la capacidad de discernimiento. Siempre serán necesarios.
Rating: 
Summary: Both highly fascinating and extremely irritating.
Review: I read this book back in 1996, when I was much further to the left politically than I am now. Hillman and Ventura come up with some striking insights, especially that of how the spread of Christianity shifted people's focus from their tribes to their individual selves. (Others may have made this observation first; I'm not well-read enough on the subject to verify this.)But amid all the authors' "progressive" concerns (primarily environmental ones) is an appalling lack of empathy for women who have suffered from physical or sexual violence. Hillman kvetches about how rape, incest and pedophilia are "seizing" our attention "when there are so many other cruelties and injustices around." He attributes memories of incest (and not necessarily repressed ones) to unresolved Electra-complex issues. He seems to consider date rape and sexual harassment just elements adding to the thrill of the chase. And he suspects that battered women are closet masochists. I wrote a long, passionate, and articulate letter to Hillman to protest these characterizations. He sent me a flippant, scrawled postcard basically accusing me of being the stereotype of a humorless, angry feminist. After I tore it up and mailed it back to him with a note expressing what I thought of his reply, he sent me another postcard very similar in tone and accusation. I declined to reply. Obviously, the reviewer who characterized the book as "self-indulgent" and "whiny" was picking up on something I'd missed the first time around. As far as the political import of sexual assault goes, go Google the news for "Catholic pedophile priests" and see for yourself how far off the mark Hillman is. The better part of a decade later, as I look over some of Hillman and Ventura's comments that I'd copied down for a quotation collection, they strike me as way off the mark in a lot of other ways. Start with the book title. The world has NOT gotten worse, for Pete's sake. Life spans everywhere are longer than they've ever been in human history; and in wealthier countries, "poverty" is a state of existence that medieval kings might have envied. While human nature has not changed and evil still stalks the globe, we've raised the standard for human rights, all but wiped Communism off the face of the planet, and -- as yesterday's killings of Uday and Qusay Hussein show -- upheld our commitment to bring the murderous and tyrannical to justice. There's much communitarian/Luddite moaning in this book about how "isolated" humanity has become thanks to our technologies -- the moon landing, 24-hour ATMs, suburbia, even electric lighting. Had the Internet been as widely used when the book was written as it is now, I'm sure it would have come in for lambasting, too. It's all a crock, of course. It may appall America's self-appointed social directors that not everyone wants to have bake sales, softball games, and movie nights with other people whom we happen to live next door to, but quite a few of us view technology as having *freed* us from dealing with people with whom we have little in common. What's more, the 'net has brought millions of us into new communities of friends, lovers, and allies -- not just online, but often in real life. And even when "only" online, such communities can wield real-world power, as we've seen in the last few years: right-of-center webloggers have been pivotal in exposing the mendacity of such mainstream-media icons as the New York Times, the BBC, gun-control fraud Michael Bellesiles, and many others. And, to get back to that other negative review, yes, Hillman and Ventura take a decidedly positive view of obnoxious behavior. Hillman mocks the concept of being "out of control" and "liv[ing] the straight and narrow like I'm supposed to." Love is defined as "a madness" (which might have something to do with Hillman's belief that domestic violence is no big deal). "Dysfunction" is described as the opposite of "mediocrity." And so on. Of course, commerce, capitalism, and people who go about their work quietly without turning into drama kings and queens come in for a lot of snide remarks, both explicit and implicit. Like most leftists, the authors don't seem to grasp that such folks and forces are what have created the structure of liberal democracy that have allowed them to write this book, one that has something in it to offend you, no matter where you stand on the political spectrum. Again, because there are some insights I hadn't seen before, and some interesting turns of phrase and wordplay, I felt I had to bump the book up to two stars. But don't read it expecting anything more serious or analytical. Like any too-long conversation between a couple of friends, it's more about the participants' own prejudices and peeves than anything else.
Rating: 
Summary: The world's a different place through the eye's of Hillman
Review: If you lost your glasses and picked up those of James Hillman you might find yourself in another world. In this labyrinth it seems that God and Christ have no central place; although what Jesus said is known and quoted. Hillman is comfortable with references to "the Gods." He seems to take seriously the Greek myths.
If you were comfortable in the world view of psychotherapy, you, too, could find this new viewpoint startling. Hillman brings the penetrating insight of a Jungian analyst to everything he sees. Common assumptions look much different looking through his eyes.
Like Hillman, I have spent 30 years in the practice of psychotherapy. My theology has been Christian and evangelical, my counselling focused on inner healing and listening prayer therapy. I am not comfortable with James' perspective just a he would not be with mine, yet I have been challenged and enlightened by the depths of his critique from his Jungian background.
For several weeks I have read and listened to Hillman with curiosity and interest. I am sure I wouldn't have done this 10 years ago. I would have been too scared of a perspective not my own.
James deserves applause for the depth of his scholarship and the power of his penetrating insight. He grapples with the confusions that the therapeutic movement has caused to our culture. Bravo for this critique. We need a cultural critique and we need to understand and hold the psychotherapeutic movement up for examination.
While appreciating their insight, I cannot agree fully with the direction and the conclusions that James and Michael Ventura come to. Original ideas and penetrating insights do not always produce a healthy perspective. Has anyone seen my glasses? I need another perspective on this.
Rating: 
Summary: and Narcissistic Therapists Are Still Whining
Review: In this intense, incisive & barefaced series of dialogues & letters between two spirited people, we get searing insights into the legacy of psychotherapy & just about every aspect of contemporary life. After we found this book we finagled several of our friends into reading it. Our experience of what James Hillman & Michael Ventura spoke & wrote changed our minds & the way we went about living & loving. Fascinating!
Rating:
Summary: WOW!!!
Review: THIS IS QUITE HONESTLY THE BEST BOOK I HAVE EVER READ! The dialogue between Hillman and Ventura was unbelievable, and to analyze what there are getting at kept my brain churning! Hillman makes great points and is very convincing with his form of psychology! I reccomend you read this book immediately!!!
<< 1 >>
|
