Going to Pieces Without Falling Apart: A Buddhist Perspective on Wholeness - Mark Epstein

A new path to fulfillment that combines lessons from meditation and psychotherapy to offer a radical alternative to the rigid Western prescription for happiness. \nAn intimate guide to self-acceptance and discovery that offers a Buddhist perspective on wholeness within the framework of a Western understanding of self. \nFor decades, Western psychology has promised fulfillment through building and strengthening the ego. We are taught that the ideal is a strong, individuated self, constructed and reinforced over a lifetime. But Buddhist psychiatrist Mark Epstein has found a different way. \n \nGoing to Pieces Without Falling Apart shows us that happiness doesn't come from any kind of acquisitiveness, be it material or psychological. Happiness comes from letting go. Weaving together the accumulated wisdom of his two worlds--Buddhism and Western psychotherapy--Epstein shows how the happiness that we seek depends on our ability to balance the ego's need to do with our inherent capacity to be. He encourages us to relax the ever-vigilant mind in order to experience the freedom that comes only from relinquishing control. \n \nDrawing on events in his own life and stories from his patients, Going to Pieces Without Falling Apart teaches us that only by letting go can we start on the path to a more peaceful and spiritually satisfying life.\n