The Human Core of Spirituality: Mind as Psyche and Spirit

For anyone seriously interested in spirituality, this book presents a highly elaborated challenge to religion, the human sciences, and secular society. The author provides a relatively popular presentation of the work of Bernard Lonergan.

Table of Contents:
List of Figures Preface Part One Introduction 1. The Question and an Answer 2. Definitions of Spirituality Part Two Spirit 3. A Description of Human Spirit 4. The Priority of Nonreflecting Consciousness 5. Explanation Transcending Space and Time 6. A Systematic Account of Human Spirit 7. Further Aspects of Human Spirit 8. Spirituality on the Basis of Spirit and Not God Part Three Psyche 9. Suggestive Descriptions of Psyche 10. Human Psyche as Enspirited 11. Animal Mind, Human Mind, and Explaining Psyche 12. The Contribution of Carl Jung 13. Insights from LSD Therapy 14. Summary about Psyche Part Four Human Integration 15. The Human Organism 16. The Unity of the Human Subject 17. A Comparison with Freud 18. Sexuality and Spirituality Part Five Conclusion 19. Review and Preview References Index

About the Author :
Daniel A. Helminiak is Assistant Professor of Psychology at West Georgia College. His books include The Same Jesus: A Contemporary Christology; Spiritual Development: An Interdisciplinary Study; and What the Bible Really Says about Homosexuality. He holds doctorates in both psychology and theology.

Review :
"I wish Huxley, Tillich, Maslow, May and Rogers were alive to champion this extension of their work. A welcome merger of Lonergan and humanistic psychology, self-actualization free of selfism, transcendence and morality without dogma." - Thomas Greening, Ph.D., editor, Journal of Humanistic Psychology "It will make a needed contribution in the area of spirituality that can be joined to the study of the human psyche, and can be applied in fields like nursing to understand human health in its many forms. To take on the task of explaining spirit rigorously is just what I would have expected from Daniel Helminiak, given his ongoing and intrepid pursuit of knowledge development, and his willingness in previous writings to be critical of the ways that classical science and organized religion have treated human becoming. In this book, instead of presenting a deconstruction, he offers what is more useful, an alternative. He challenges the status quo while providing what is a major step forward in constructing a science of the spirit." - Beverly A. Hall, R.N., Ph.D., F.A.A.N., Denton & Louise Cooley & Family Centennial Professor of Nursing, University of Texas at Austin" Helminiak's concept of the human spirit is clear, convincing and practical. It should become the working core of every practical discipline dealing in depth with human beings. The reader will come away from this text with a profound sense of the reality of spirit as a natural dimension of the human experience. This work is timely, well argued, and will clearly define the direction of future research and thought in the area of a naturalistic spirituality. Psychologists, counselors, philosophers, theologians and spiritual directors should be reading this book for a full understanding of naturalistic spirituality." - Robert L. Potter, M.D., Ph.D., Associate Clinical Professor of Medicine for the University of Kansas School of Medicine "In this tour de force of scholarship and humanity, Daniel Helminiak cuts through the polyglot that has hampered our deliberations. He identifies 'spirituality's' central issues, explores their implications, and points the way to development of a coherent, scientific approach to understanding life's transcendent dimension. I recommend this work to anyone willing to consider the possibility that much of what we call 'spiritual' may be a human phenomenon-a phenomenon that, by its very nature, demands scientific inquiry." - Barnet Feingold, Ph.D., Rochester Veterans Administration Outpatient Clinic and Buffalo Veterans Administration Medical Center