For over fifty years modern man has been studying the nature of stress and its impact on people's lives both physically and mentally. A recent book calls the present generation, "The Age of Stress," and certainly the pace of life today is much faster than it ever was. When Hans Selye, the father of stress research, began his work, there were no personal computers, laptops, tablets or smartphones. The Internet was still a dream. The present volume is meant to be a manual for stress management. It teaches deep level relaxation, understanding the many pitfalls of modern stress, and most of all how to meditate. The three Parts are designed with specific purposes in mind. Part One is a reflection on the nature of stress and how it impacts our life. Part Two gives specific directions for the all important relaxation of Body and Mind. Part Three is a Meditation Manual, giving clear and useful instruction in the art of meditating. "Meditation includes a very deep and focused sense of self. And it occurs from the physical still point that the breathing gives us as our starting point. This process of relaxation is actually one of refining the communication between conscious and subconscious mind, between body and mind. The stress-filled situations of our life are constantly changing, and because of this our skills in relaxation need to be updated constantly to meet this crucial demand. " As the stress of our active life changes, it becomes necessary to renew and update our approach. There are specific skills that can be developed to make the management of life's stressors easy. This book is designed to give the tools and techniques needed to make tension into relaxation and stress into greater energy and enthusiasm. Relaxation of body and mind begins with deep breathing. When the mind becomes focused through the rhythm of the breath, the numerous actions and options of career and family life can be viewed from the center. Modern mental health makes the false assumption that this can be done with little or no effort. This manual will make it EASY

The purpose of this work is to provide new insights into the processes that make up our unconscious mind. New occurs not separate from the past or what is old, but as an extension of the past, a reaching out into the unknown, grounded in the known. Modern authors like J. Allan Hobson MD, have done some of this work in the study of dreams. Their viewpoint is constrained by the limitations of research, looking for information that is arguable, objective and observable. Their search naturally has to focus on the unconscious in its uncontrived state. What they object to in Freud and Jung is the presentation of Dreams as though dreaming were not a contrived process. Hobson seems to be looking for a better understanding of dreaming, the process, not dreams the content. He objects to the way pioneers like Freud and Jung pretend to see trails of understanding reaching back into the unconscious that provide access to the needed healing of wounds. The risk of authors like Jung and Freud is that they are "leading" that is training and educating their clients without even being aware of it. In fact, much of the extensive research done by these two scientists into their own dreams discounts the value of their expectations and self training. As Therapists they were "Over-reaching" in the view of modern authors like Hobson. It may be wrong to indict Freud and Jung for their zeal as therapeutic researchers, but we continue to search thanks to the inspiration of these psychiatric pioneers. This current work is an effort to add to this process.

The author's personal account of his struggles and discoveries on the way to mystical experience, first as a young Roman Catholic Seminarian, then as a Monk of the Roman Catholic Order of the Carthusians. The reflections continue to follow the journey from youthful dedication to the religious vocation, through genuine experiences of contemplation. These lead to full ecstatic breakthroughs and sometimes last for days on end. Theological thoughts are interspersed with the spiritual and mystical development that forms the core of these pages. Finally the book treats the nature of Enlightenment, Mystical Union with God and then in a final chapter addresses the issue of Beyond Enlightenment. Thoughts on the "God of my Experience" compete this fascinating journey into the mind beyond.