Stephen J Costello

This is a unique book, drawing together the profound insights of Eastern philosophy (Advaita Vedanta), Western depth-psychology (Jungian), and spirituality (Ignatian) as applied to decision-making. Mention is made of Plato, C. G. Jung, Ira Progoff, Viktor Frankl, and Bernard Lonergan, amongst others. Powerful and practical tools and techniques for making wise decisions are offered. There are sections on Descartes's famous square, the ego and the Self, the I Ching and synchronicity, archetypes, neuroscience and the triune brain, biases and blind spots which can derail decision-making, together with chapters on creativity, the aha experience, and the Enneagram with its nine decision-making styles. Dr. Costello is at pains to point out that heart (emotions), head (reason), and hands (action/doing) must be integrated before effective decision-making can take place and bear fruition.

This is a unique book, drawing together the profound insights of Eastern philosophy (Advaita Vedanta), Western depth-psychology (Jungian), and spirituality (Ignatian) as applied to decision-making. Mention is made of Plato, C. G. Jung, Ira Progoff, Viktor Frankl, and Bernard Lonergan, amongst others. Powerful and practical tools and techniques for making wise decisions are offered. There are sections on Descartes's famous square, the ego and the Self, the I Ching and synchronicity, archetypes, neuroscience and the triune brain, biases and blind spots which can derail decision-making, together with chapters on creativity, the ""aha"" experience, and the Enneagram with its nine decision-making styles. Dr. Costello is at pains to point out that heart (emotions), head (reason), and hands (action/doing) must be integrated before effective decision-making can take place and bear fruition.

This book concerns itself with the origin of speech and language, takes the reader through the steps of dialectic (how to reason) and rhetoric (how to persuade), examines the importance of stories and symbols and the role of thinking, and highlights the necessity of silence and the practice of meditation. Though it is written from a philosophical perspective, it is eminently practical, with guidelines, exercises, ancient advice, and concrete suggestions on how to communicate, convince, and commune with one's self. Dr. Costello draws on both Eastern and Western thought to show the power, poetry, and potential of words. It explores the following: how to question (Socrates and Plato); how to argue (Aristotle and Cicero); how to be right (Schopenhauer); how to think (Heidegger); how to spot your speaking style (the enneagram); how to communicate compassionately (Thich Nhat Hanh); how to meditate and stay silent (various contemplative traditions).

This work explores the influential Spiritual Exercises of Ignatius Loyola, the sixteenth-century Spanish soldier, saint, mystic, and founder of the Jesuit Order. The Ignatian Exercises, including the Examen, are brought into dialogue with the psychologies of C.G. Jung and Viktor Frankl, the philosophies of Eric Voegelin and Bernard Lonergan, as well as the thought of Teilhard de Chardin, von Balthasar, and Eastern philosophy. Their enduring relevance and implications for the Recovery and wellness movement are also articulated. Drawing on key themes such as gratitude, forgiveness and consciousness as a springboard for reflection and interpretation, the mystical dimension of Ignatian spirituality is emphasised throughout. This book will benefit the beginner, serious scholar, spiritual seeker and anyone intent on gaining an understanding of this unique 'way of proceeding'.

Within this important book, Stephen J. Costello draws on Eastern philosophy, Western psychology, and wisdom traditions to offer an interpretation and answer to the multidimensional problem of addiction.The nature of pleasure, pain, and attachment are discussed, together with stress as a key source of our suffering. Justifying and grounding the work is C. G. Jung’s central insight that the solution to our disordered desires lies in cultivating a spiritual approach to life. As such, a detailed exploration of the Twelve Steps of recovery is elucidated from the threefold perspective of the philosophy of Advaita, the Enneagram system, and the Christian contemplations of Richard Rohr, John Main, and Thomas Keating, as well as St Ignatius of Loyola. The work concludes with a brief look at Platonic ethics, especially the virtue of temperance, St Benedict’s spirituality of humility, and the law of dharma as a blueprint for purposeful non-addicted living.This book will appeal to a wide variety of readers such as mental health professionals in the counselling and psychotherapy professions, as well as students of depth psychology and philosophy.

Within this important book, Stephen J. Costello draws on Eastern philosophy, Western psychology, and wisdom traditions to offer an interpretation and answer to the multidimensional problem of addiction.The nature of pleasure, pain, and attachment are discussed, together with stress as a key source of our suffering. Justifying and grounding the work is C. G. Jung’s central insight that the solution to our disordered desires lies in cultivating a spiritual approach to life. As such, a detailed exploration of the Twelve Steps of recovery is elucidated from the threefold perspective of the philosophy of Advaita, the Enneagram system, and the Christian contemplations of Richard Rohr, John Main, and Thomas Keating, as well as St Ignatius of Loyola. The work concludes with a brief look at Platonic ethics, especially the virtue of temperance, St Benedict’s spirituality of humility, and the law of dharma as a blueprint for purposeful non-addicted living.This book will appeal to a wide variety of readers such as mental health professionals in the counselling and psychotherapy professions, as well as students of depth psychology and philosophy.

This work explores the influential Spiritual Exercises of Ignatius Loyola, the sixteenth-century Spanish soldier, saint, mystic, and founder of the Jesuit Order. The Ignatian Exercises, including the Examen, are brought into dialogue with the psychologies of C.G. Jung and Viktor Frankl, the philosophies of Eric Voegelin and Bernard Lonergan, as well as the thought of Teilhard de Chardin, von Balthasar, and Eastern philosophy. Their enduring relevance and implications for the Recovery and wellness movement are also articulated. Drawing on key themes such as gratitude, forgiveness and consciousness as a springboard for reflection and interpretation, the mystical dimension of Ignatian spirituality is emphasised throughout. This book will benefit the beginner, serious scholar, spiritual seeker and anyone intent on gaining an understanding of this unique 'way of proceeding'.

Why is it so hard to be happy? What can we do to be happy? And what exactly is happiness? Is it a passing condition or a permanent state? What is the difference between pleasure, happiness and joy? Are we humans supposed to be happy here? Is happiness really possible to attain and subsequently retain? Should we deliberately pursue it or just let it happen? Isn't there a saying: 'Those who search for happiness never find it'? What have the philosophers to say on the subject of happiness? (When one psychoanalyst heard that I was writing a book on happiness, he said to me 'happiness is a symptom that has to be cured' ). These are some of the questions that this book seeks to answer and address.

It was Freud, borrowing Nietszche's phrase from Thus Spake Zarathustra, who described as 'pale criminals' those who committed criminal acts out of deep-lying (unconscious) guilt. The focus of this challenging and penetrating study is on this type of criminality. The book bring sa 'unifying vision and theoretical integration' to the array

This book is a seminal contribution to applied and clinical logotherapy and existential analysis from a philosopher who is also a practitioner. It covers twelve essential topics and themes, drawing on Dr Viktor Frankl's Viennese School of philosophical psychology, from therapeutic techniques, such as dereflection, paradoxical intention, and Socratic dialogue, to the mass neurotic triad of aggression, addiction, and depression. It also discusses the cultural malaise of anger, anxiety, and boredom, and the theory and therapy of mental disorders such as neuroses and psychoses, criminality, and suicidality. This unique publication, which is both theoretical and practical, is intended primarily for psychotherapists, philosophers, psychologists and psychiatrists, but will also appeal to parents, teachers, students, and indeed anyone who wishes to live a life of meaning and mental health.

It was Freud, borrowing Nietszche's phrase from Thus Spake Zarathustra, who described as 'pale criminals' those who committed criminal acts out of deep-lying (unconscious) guilt. The focus of this challenging and penetrating study is on this type of criminality. The book bring sa 'unifying vision and theoretical integration' to the array of perspectives and theories in this field. He draws together for the first time the thoughts on the subject of Sigmund Freud, Carl Jung, Melanie Klein, Donald Winnicott and Jacques Lacan, examines the contributions of both orthodox and evolutionary psychiatry, and explores the role of family experience in shaping the 'pale criminal'. The result is an ambitious theory of criminality; a depth-psychological psychoanalytic model of the human being.In the early chapters, the aurthor provides a judicious and even-handed exposition of his chosen thinkers' views, before proceeding to an impressive and well-argued dialectical synthesis in which each theoretical perspective is used to correct, qualify or supplement the others. In a diffuse and divided field, this volume should provide an indispensable source of clarification and a stimulus to open creative debate.