I pensieri ci pensano. Le emozioni, avvilenti o appaganti, ci tengono in ostaggio. Eppure continuiamo a chiamare «spontaneità» questo viluppo carico di automatismi e di reattività condizionata, che una cultura dell'eccitazione permanente rafforza a nostro danno. È nella vita di relazione che si innesca più acutamente la sofferenza associata alla dinamica di desideri e attaccamenti. Ed è lì che occorre disinnescarla, sostiene Gregory Kramer. Figura di spicco internazionale nell'ambito della Mindfulness Meditation - la meditazione di consapevolezza di matrice buddhista, le cui applicazioni cliniche sono ormai trasversali a un numero crescente di psicoterapie, a prescindere dall'orientamento teorico -, Kramer ha innovato la tradizionale pratica solitaria, aprendola alla sfera interpersonale. Il dialogo meditativo tra due o più persone è infatti al cuore della pratica formale messa a punto da lui, e qui esposta in un testo ritenuto cardinale da chi si occupa di mindfulness: l'Insight Dialogue. Esperienze ventennali, in tutto il mondo, hanno confermato che il potenziale liberatorio e trasformativo della meditazione si sprigiona meglio nel momento relazionale, quando per mezzo di tecniche appropriate anche il silenzio diventa interattivo e la parola porta a galla le paure e gli appetiti da cui il nostro io è ossessionato. Si affina allora la capacità di autosservazione, mentre vediamo interrompersi il meccanismo che alimenta le «fabbricazioni» abitudinarie della mente. Che si pratichi in ritiro, in gruppi periodici o nella vita di ogni giorno, dal vivo oppure on-line, l'Insight D

This book is about the anthropic epoch and the extinction vortex we are currently witnessing. Currently a mass extinction of species is occruing. At the same time a mass extinction of languages and cultures is also occuring. These two mass extinctions, biological and cultural, are linked. Concurrently, transhumanists hope against hope to upload their minds into virtual reality to escape death. Both extinctions and the plan to escape them by uploading our minds into cumputer networks are rooted in a narcissistic delusion of immortal self-actualization. This is a pthetic death-defying delusion of late modernity- hypertrophic selfishness. The common denominator is a particular culture that has become dominant, spreading across the globe. As it objectifies other species and out-group poeple, it eroneously beleives it transcends the world-system. This is the absurdity of the most profound delusional accomplishment of the antropic epoch, the extinction vortex. The more powerful and individualistic we become the more power we crave, and the faster the extinction vortex spins us with it.

Sigmund Freud's relationship with Otto Rank was the most constant, close, and significant of his professional life. Freud considered Rank to be the most brilliant of his disciples. The two collaborated on psychoanalytic writing, practice, and politics; Rank was the managing director of Freud's publishing house; and after several years helping Freud update his masterpiece, The Interpretation of Dreams, Rank contributed two chapters. His was the only other name ever to be listed on the title page. This complete collection of the known correspondence between the two brings to life their twenty-year collaboration and their painful break.

The 250 letters compiled by E. James Lieberman and Robert Kramer humanize and dramatize psychoanalytic thinking, practice, and organization from 1906 through 1925. The letters concern not just the work and trenchant contemporaneous observations of Freud and Rank but also their friendships, supporters, rivals, families, travels, and other personal and professional matters. Most interestingly, the letters trace Rank's growing independence, the father-son schism over Rank's 'anti-Oedipal' heresy, his surprising reconciliation with Freud, and the moment when they parted ways permanently. A candid picture of how the pioneers of modern psychotherapy behaved with their patients, colleagues, and families—and each other—the correspondence between Freud and Rank demonstrates how psychoanalysis developed in relation to early twentieth-century science, art, philosophy, and politics.

A rich primary source on psychiatry, history, and culture, The Letters of Sigmund Freud and Otto Rank is a cogent and powerful narrative of early psychoanalysis and its two most important personalities.

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Insight Dialogue is a way of bringing the tranquility and insight attained in meditation directly into your interactions with other people. It's a practice that involves interacting with a partner in a retreat setting or on your own, as a way of accessing a profound kind of insight. Then, you take that insight on into the grind of everyday human interactions. Gregory Kramer has been teaching the practice (which he originated) for more than a decade in retreats around the world. It's something strikingly new in the world of Buddhist practice—yet it's completely grounded in traditional Buddhist teaching.

Kramer begins with a detailed presentation of the central Buddhist teaching of the Four Noble Truths seen through an interpersonal lens. Becausedukkha (suffering or unsatisfactoriness) is often most forcefully felt in our relations with others, interpersonal relationships are a wonderfully useful place to practice. He breaks the Noble Truths down into component parts to observe how they manifest particularly in relationship to others, using examples from his own life and practice, as well as from his students'. He then goes on to present the practice as it's taught in his workshops and retreats. There are a few basic steps to the practice, deceptively simple to describe: (1) pause, (2) relax, (3) open, (4) trust emergence, (5) listen deeply, and (6) speak the truth.

The sequence begins following a period of meditation, and includes periods of speaking, listening, and mutual silence. Kramer includes numerous examples of people's experience with the practice from his retreats, and shows how the insight gained from the techniques can be brought into real life. More than just testimonials for how well the practice “works,” the personal stories demonstrate the problems that arise, the different routes the practice can follow, and the sometimes surprising insights that are gained.

To learn more about the author, Gregory Kramer, go to www.metta.org.

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Un altro capitolo del videogioco di simulazione di vita reale. In 'The Sims 2 University' i giocatori per la prima volta potranno vivere il nuovo periodo 'giovane-adulto' come studenti del college alloggiati nel campus universitario. Sebbene possano vivere nei dormitori, aggregarsi in confraternite o associazioni femminili, questo è solo l'inizio. I Sims potranno scegliere fra 11 specializzazioni diverse e guadagnarsi i propri voti sul campo, conseguita la laurea apriranno le porte a 4 nuovissime carriere. La guida strategica aiuta passo passo a vivere serenamente il proprio personaggio all'interno del videogioco.