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Questions & Answers on "Planet Earth: Insane Asylum" |
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PRAISE: "This book is wonderful. Full of wit and wisdom. I recommend it highly."--Michael J. Mahoney, Ph.D., professor and author of the highly acclaimed Human Change Processes: The Scientific Foundations of Psychotherapy Questions & Answers 1. What is the premise of the book? The premise of the book is that a secret alien transmission of a report was intercepted. The idea being to create perspective by creating distance. That is, it should be easier for humans to look at their failings as if they are being pointed out by Aliens rather than human beings. 2. Who is the book for? The books is intended for adults. Anyone who is interested in self-help, psychology, human nature, or philosophy should be interested in "Plant Earth Insane Asylum for the Universe". 3. How can people benefit from the book? The main benefits come from seeing how we practice silly and self-defeating behaviors. When you walk up to a the edge of a cliff and recognize that it is the edge of a cliff--you stop. The same is true when you recognize your self-defeating behaviors for what they are. 4. Why does humor work when serious discussion doesn't? Again, it is a matter of detachment. Humor allows us to free our identity from self-defeating habits that we might otherwise defend and rationalize. 5. What are some examples of the humorous mental traps in the book? When you point it out simply, people can see clearly that it is quite odd that we seek to make others good by making them feel bad. There are many behaviors that we do that are backwards or self-defeating. For instance, it would be comical if it were not so sad, but often one spouse tries to convince their partner that they do not love them in order to make them love them. Yet, they are surprised one day to find that they have so convinced their spouse that they do not love them--that they are now leaving them. 6. Why do you think some kinds of therapy are self-defeating? Unfortunately, many therapies are not about taking responsibility, but, instead, are about blaming and damning parents or society for your problems. This leads to a victim mentality and to feeling helpless and hopeless. Responsibility is the key to personal power. 7. Tell me more about your idea that blaming, damning, and whining are the real problems. Again, these are the signs that you are not taking responsibility for your life. Why do you want to give up your personal power? Why do you want to have to control others and life to make yourself feel and do better? Wouldn't it be a lot easier to control yourself!? 8. You have developed a simple three-step procedure for getting rid of silly mental traps. Could you tell us more about that? I call it the "The Three Rs." I use this paradigm for all problem-solving. The Three Rs are: Recognize, Remove, Replace. First, we must recognize a problem. Second, we must remove the problem. Third, we must replace the problem with a solution. There is a lot more on how this works in the book and even on my web site. 9. Why isn't the book available in book stores? Major publishing houses would have slowed up the publication of the book by a year or more. Additionally, major publishing houses take nearly all the profit from the sales of their books. I wanted to use the web to go directly to my audience. 10. Why do think self-esteem is part of the problem and NOT the solution? Because self-esteem teaches self-rating which ultimately leads to either pride or shame. Self-esteem is a duality that promotes inferior and superior comparisons. Owning superior comparisons causes pride and excuses the abuse of others. Owning inferior comparisons causes shame and excuses the abuse of self. 11. What do you see as the underlying problem in all psychological disorders? Thought-things. This is a concept of mine that defines the type of thoughts that are at the root of all psychological disturbances. This topic is too advanced to answer in mere sound-bites. A study of General Semantics and Eastern psychology would help one understand exactly what thought-things are. There is more in my books on that topic. 12. How are you making use of General Semantics in your work? To help people to use their sense instead of just thought. To help people to be here now instead of lost in thought. To help people to stop confusing the description with the described. To help people to turn to energy more and thought less. PRAISE: "In many ways it is quite a masterpiece, and is the culmination of what you have been doing and writing for the last decade."--Albert Ellis, Ph.D., founder of Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT) and one of the most famous and influential psychologistof all time!
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"Planet Earth Insane Asylum for the Universe" Order "Planet Earth Insane Asylum" Front Cover "Planet Earth Insane Asylum" Back Cover "Planet Earth Insane Asylum" Features and Benefits |