Main description:

Inspired by Buddhist teachings and psychoanalytic thought, this book explores gentleness as a way of being and a developmental achievement. It offers reflections on the unique position of "gentle people", as well as certain gentle layers of the psyche in general, as they meet the world. Examining the perceptual-sensory-conscious discrepancy that often exists between a gentle person and their surroundings, it follows the intricate relationship between sensitivity and fear, the need for self-holding, and the possibility of letting go.

Incorporating theoretical investigation, clinical vignettes, and personal contemplation, the book looks into those states of mind and qualities of attention that may compose a favorable environment, internal and interpersonal, where gentleness can be delicately held. There, it is suggested, gentleness may gradually shed the fragility, confusion, and destructiveness that often get entangled with it, and serve as a valuable recourse.

Offering a unique perspective on a topic rarely discussed, the book has broad appeal for both students and practitioners of psychoanalysis and psychotherapy, as well as Buddhist practitioners and scholars.

Contents:

Chapter One: On Gentleness

To Be in the World Unheld

The Gap

Sensitivity and Gentleness

Gentleness, Violence and the Drive toward the Good

Chapter Two: The Path of Gentleness

Behavior, Meditation, and Wisdom

The Necessary Equipment

Gentleness and Destructiveness

Nina: An Unconscious Struggle between the Gentleness of Mind and Internalized Social Norms

Beyond Mindfulness

Some Reflections on the Attitude to Truth

Chapter Three: Between Pain and Pleasure

Khanasutta: The Opportunity

The Mind's Substrate

The Good Object

A Good Environment

Nourishment

Holding a Gentle Baby

Louise: A Choreography of Nuances

Necessary Goodness and Instinctual Gratification

The Adult Mind

From Prince to Ascetic

Sensation and Thirst

The Mind that Sees Itself

The Objects of Desire

Subtle Pleasantness

Chapter Four: A Home in the Universe

Becoming, Separation, and Fear

The Big Bang

Truth and Faith: Following the Signs of Existence

Some Words about Memory, Desire, and Knowledge

Faith as a Scientific State of Mind

Saddha: Sober Faith

Holding and Surrender

Non-Clinging

Dwelling in the Unsettled Space of Not-Knowing

Chapter Five: Attention as an Environment

Conditioned Arising: Self-Environment Relations

Associating: Examining the Elements in the Environment

A Sense of Environmental Toxicity

Discord and Harmony

Two Species of Accuracy

Inner Attentional Environment: The Mental Space

The Interpersonal Attentional Environment: Quiet Love and Openness to Truth

Marina: To Lend an Ear to the Feeble, To See the Hidden Through a Veil

Holding and Letting Go

Non-Clinging and Movement

Instrumental vs Non-Instrumental Thinking

Rigidity, Flexibility and Dissolution

Giving up on a Sense of Expertise

Out of Chaos, Form Arises

Conditioned Arising: An Environment within the Self within the Environment

Epilogue: Reflections on Time and Space