The Passionate Life: Stages of Loving

This is an extraordinary book that looks at one of the most essential aspects of developmental psychology. Timeless, readable, and profound, this is an essential view of what it is to be alive, what it is to be a human being.

Psycholigst and philosopher Sam Keen explores the inner depths and growth of the human consciousness and observes how we grow to love, grow to hate, or grow to become passionate about life. The book is set up where each chapter is a stage in a persons life. Where they get stuck or caught, how to grow, and the problems that arise out of each stage. Keen not only lets you explore your life, but gives his own as a testiment the problems anyone can have. From death, to seperation to rebirth. Told from a mythological point of view thanks to his good friend Joseph Campbell, Keen defines myth as "the system of basic metaphors, images, and stories that in-forms the perceptions, memories, and aspirations of a people; provides the rationale for its institutions, rituals, and power structures; and gives a map of the purpose and stages of life." This defintion is the epitomy of the entire book which also follows its own rules. What I found most influential about this book is it allowed me to examine my own life, the loves I have gaines and lost, where I have gone on my own personal journey, and who I took with me, and who I want to take with me. There are many moments which I was dumbfounded by a stroke of inspiration and enlightenment. Other times I was upset and depressed by the hard truths and realities of our world. But by the end of the book, whether I was happy or mad, I knew that my thinking had changed and allowed me to be more sensitive to others as well as myself. As a human being, there is the obligation that we must pay to enter into society and be with other fellow human beings. To co-operate with eachother, to inspire, guide, help, and trust others, companion or stranger. The passionate life is not one full of lust and sex - no, that is far from the truth. It is one who lives every moment full of breath. One who sees the mundane as divine. To experience the sensorium of our bodies. Sam Keen has done a remarkable job hitting the nail on the head seemingly every time. This book, written back in 1982 and revised in 1993 seems more relevant today than it did at the time he wrote it.

I am a glutton for the inward searching book. This one, written in the 80's, but which I only found last year, really covers all the ground in the inward, and outward, journey. Sam is something else. Highly recommended.