Whew! That’s a book and a half.  There seems to be a lot of literature on the future of the human race, its spirituality, the meaning of life etc.  This book is what I would consider a “real” book about us and how we can prosper.

For those who are unaware of Dr Arthur Janov he began his psychological / emotional therapy in the 1960’s and is best known for his “primal therapy”, the most famous recipient that I am aware of being John Lennon.

Fundamentally Janov has pursued his therapy and developed his theories for over 30 years in a respectable and scientific manner.  He has significant statistical research data to back up his ideas and for me it seems quite obvious that what he is saying is valuable and accurate.  It is difficult for me to make a brief comment on this book as the relevance to the human race has to be huge.

Broadly speaking psychology can be split into two groups: those who deal with ethereal concepts to try to describe what we experience and those who regard our experience as “chemical” stuff of the brain.  (I know this is simplification in the extreme)  Janov never looses sight of the fact that we experience things and that the “meaning” or “purpose” of this life is currently intangible but he explores the biology, chemistry, electronics of what happens to us.  Each experience we encounter has a physiological affect.  Like ripples from a stone dropped in a pond, the affect exists in the physical world and doesn’t just disappear.  He explains how our physiology contains the ripples of experience and what we can do to maintain and promote a harmonic resonance of experience and describes some issues relating to therapeutic models for improving or fixing emotional injury and damage.

He shows how love has a physiological effect.  Stroking, touching, observing, nurturing, playing, appreciating, and being with a baby has physiological consequences that are measurable and enhance the baby’s capacity and efficiency as a biological entity.  In short - the biology of love.

This book has been an eye opener for me in realising that any notion of a spiritual world resides in reality.  That’s what we have to deal with and it is urgent.  A previous book of Janov’s that I would recommend is “Prisoners of Pain” but I think it is currently out of print.  I don’t think it’s an easy book to read but it’s equally not too heavy either.

But the content is worth the effort.

Star rating: *****
Out of ten: 10/10