This is an exploration of the creative and rational
aspects of human behaviour. In this revised edition, Robert Ornstein
re-examines what is known about consciousness and answers this question
through a consideration of intuition and reason.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
14 of 14 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Contrary to purely psychology-centered books that miss a lot of the
non-behavioral aspects of consciousness and to "spiritual" ones that
explain everything based on one point of view, this one discuss both
sides of the story. Consciousness is not just about the brain, or
thoughts, or some spiritual way of seeing life, but it emcompasses
everything, what we are and what we live.
Ornstein shows quite well that the scientific viewpoint is too limited and focused in purpose to broadly explain consciousness. By choosing to deal with the subjective aspects of consciousness, Ornstein provides a full account of the aspects of consciousness that are necessary to improve our understanding of it. To understand consciousness it is necessary to deal with aspects linked to culture, psychology, and education, but also to more experiential (some will say less scientific, more subjective, personal) aspects that cannot be communicated but are equally important to know what consciousness is about.
As pointed out by another reviewer, the second part that deals with non-scientific aspects of consciousness is not well organized. Furthermore, it is largely centered on the Sufi viewpoint. Other eastern philosophies and religions have a lot to say about consciousness and are not treated in this book. But this view of consciousness is mostly subjective and does not fit very well any organization, so i don't think this is a problem. The choice of the Sufi spiritual tradition does seem a good choice to me as Sufism is not really embedded in a particular culture (although some might argue it is grounded on Islam, this point is not relevant as Sufism goes beyond any conception of life or any religious tradition).
I think that this book does a fair job at linking scientific with non-scientific aspects of consciousness. This topic is certainly important for human kind to develop a less dogmatic view of what we are and why. Science is good to answer the "what" question, while religion, philosophy and spitirual practice tackle the "why" answer.
Ornstein shows quite well that the scientific viewpoint is too limited and focused in purpose to broadly explain consciousness. By choosing to deal with the subjective aspects of consciousness, Ornstein provides a full account of the aspects of consciousness that are necessary to improve our understanding of it. To understand consciousness it is necessary to deal with aspects linked to culture, psychology, and education, but also to more experiential (some will say less scientific, more subjective, personal) aspects that cannot be communicated but are equally important to know what consciousness is about.
As pointed out by another reviewer, the second part that deals with non-scientific aspects of consciousness is not well organized. Furthermore, it is largely centered on the Sufi viewpoint. Other eastern philosophies and religions have a lot to say about consciousness and are not treated in this book. But this view of consciousness is mostly subjective and does not fit very well any organization, so i don't think this is a problem. The choice of the Sufi spiritual tradition does seem a good choice to me as Sufism is not really embedded in a particular culture (although some might argue it is grounded on Islam, this point is not relevant as Sufism goes beyond any conception of life or any religious tradition).
I think that this book does a fair job at linking scientific with non-scientific aspects of consciousness. This topic is certainly important for human kind to develop a less dogmatic view of what we are and why. Science is good to answer the "what" question, while religion, philosophy and spitirual practice tackle the "why" answer.
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful
Format:Mass Market Paperback
This little handbook reminds me how I make decisions. I was
especially affected by the way that Dr. Ornstein put the saying, "It's
not really 'I'll believe it when I see it.', but on the contrary, 'I'll
see it when I believe it.'"
8 of 9 people found the following review helpful
Format:Mass Market Paperback
This book is a concise and inspiring introduction to what behaviorists
left out of psychology, written by a pioneer in the scientific study of
consciousness. Ornstein writes with humor and clarity, discussing with
equal ease those questions of psychology that science can in principle
answer, and also with those which require experiential, rather than
experimental, answers. This is a classic, with much of continuing
relevance 30 years after first publication.
Reviewers and readers alike should remember the words of Omar Khayyam quoted in this book: "I am a mirror, and who looks at me, whatever good or bad he speaks, he speaks of himself."
Most Recent Customer Reviews
A FAMOUS PSYCHOLOGIST SEEKS TO MELD EASTERN AND WESTERN THOUGHT
Robert Ornstein (born 1942) is a psychologist, researcher and writer,
perhaps best known for his work on left brain/right brain studies. Read more
Published 20 months ago by Steven H. Propp
Very thought provoking
Being interested in learning new things, I decided to pick up a book
on psychology from library. I am glad that I picked this one as my first
book on this subject. Read more
Published on January 16, 2003 by "gjms23"
A great companion to Wilbers "Spectrum of Consciousness"
I liked this book very much. Much like Wilber's Spectrum Ornstein does
a good job at objectively studing the eastern disciplines. Read more
Published on March 21, 2002 by Shawn Regan
Author ran out of relevant material.
The title of the book held great potential. The first half of the
publication was okay, however, from there on the author appears to have
run out of interesting things so say. Read more
Published on January 9, 1999 by Jimmy Porter
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