Crenshaw's Books & Decks

Seeking Wholeness explores the nature of experience, and defines what process, flow, connection and wholeness are. Secondly, the book tries to respond to the question of how we become who we are, and digs into those elements of life that help us to experience life more fully. Finally, the book discusses the basics of living a whole life, regarding, health, job, love, relationships, 'God' and so on.

Life is like a flowing river, permanent in its constant flow and change. Perception is an illusion. We experience the world in a unique and personal way, and try to make sense of it and give meaning to our life. These are the points of departure of Evan's exploration of how through awareness of our experience we can grow and become more in tune with life itself and grow to reach the elusive Higher Self. Evans sees  experience as a process, and organises it in four categories:
> Outer process is the external experience in the world, the surface of the self.
> Inner process is the sphere of subjective experience (feelings, emotions, physical sensations, values, motivations, and reflective thinking).
> Deeper process is the realm of the subliminal and the unconscious.
> Greater process is the realm of spirit, the greater self, wholeness, completeness and connection with the essence of life.

Wholeness is presented as a natural flow of connection between all our processes, the outer and the inner world.  Wholeness is marrying the conscious and subconscious. Wholeness is constant change, transformation and growth. Wholeness is a deep body-mind connection. Wholeness is being in touch with our sensual experience. Wholeness is using pain, trauma and the upsets of life to grow inside and move on. Wholeness is a feeling of being connected to our inner self, other human beings and Spirit. Wholeness is seeing ourselves as a continuum that goes from birth to death in a process of constant mutation and adaptation. Wholeness is fluidity and flow, the contrary of being stuck.

 ***

Evans writes in a very understandable but elegant English, and his writing is intimate and connective, as if he were writing for you specifically. He has a great heart and seems to walk the talk.  He shows a great compassion and clear understanding of what makes humans miserable and happy. Evans shares many examples of his personal life, his feelings, his past struggles, family life, and how he came to be a psychotherapist. Evans also gives us a good insight of what being a psychotherapist is, how he works, the way he approaches his sessions, the sort of diggings he does, the techniques he uses, and what Psychotherapy is. Although there are quite a few references to real cases, they are not too many and they  are right to the point.

***

Evans, as any Jungian psychotherapist, emphasises the importance of dreamwork, synchronicity, and visualisation, and on how complexes and the "ancestral pool" work against us becoming whole. However, he is not a straightforward Jungian as he also practises Process Psychology "a set of tools for approaching experience as a moving, ever-changing flow, a movie rather than a series of still photos" as Ruhl says in the intro.  His practice also includes hypnotherapy and EMDR,

Evans candidly confesses that he came to Psychology and Psychotherapy trough  spirituality not rationality, and some of his take on wholeness is related to Subud, an Indonesian spiritual movement of which Evans is a member. However, many of the those spiritual principles are Universal and can be found on most religions. Although the book is very heavily sided on the Greater Experience (spirituality especially) to achieve wholeness, something, Evans has a sort of relaxed view of spirituality, which can be easily shared by lay people: "To write a completed poem is a spiritual act; to look your child in the eye with love is a spiritual act; to follow an insight to its utmost conclusion is a spiritual act. More than anything, to become more complete, more coherent is our spiritual task. It is not the specifics of what we do, but the realization of a connection inward or outward that makes everything sacred." (loc. 2706-2708). Evans also stresses the fact that connection with Nature or the elevation we feel inside when hearing some pieces of music as a spiritual thing and part of the Greater experience.

***

A FEW ODD THINGS
Although I enjoyed most of the book and I have a great respect and admiration for Evans, there are  a few things that read a bit odd, probably because of the phrasing.
>>> One of the things I find most disturbing in life is finding philosophies, religions of ways of spirituality that clearly consider women sons of a lesser god or simply second-rate souls. This being the case, you can imagine my shock at reading the following paragraph uttered by an Indonesian Subud spiritual leader:

"One young man asked him if there was such a thing as a soul mate and how should he find her. Sudarto got very serious as he replied in broken English: "Yes, you have a soul mate but she is hard to find. There is a woman in every half a million who has a soul, a good match with you. Better to look for that one-in-half-a-million than to keep waiting for your true mate. You can be happy with second best." He looked round at the circle of single and earnest men as we hung on every word, and burst into laughter again." (loc. 1667-1641).

It might be just a bad  translation of the episode, but it seems to imply that all men there had a soul but just some women do. I know that is not what Evans is saying, but you know, why leave the sentencing as is when it clearly has some sort of connotation?

>>> I think the following quote about couple relationships is also dangerous. "Now, you must decide on an appropriate action to reconnect your inner and outer worlds. If it is right for you to part, then be decisive— cut the psychic ties cleanly and unquestionably. If not, you may have to say you are sorry even though you think you did nothing wrong. When we take on the suffering of a whole situation consciously, with open heart, we create more space for connection." (loc. 2642-2645).  After reading it, I thought about all victims of domestic violence, who do just that, ask for forgiveness for something wrong they did not do for the sake of peace and find themselves further punished. Most of them cannot leave their abusers for many different reasons.
>>>The more a person attunes with the Greater process, the more that person seems complete. (loc. 1349). Although Evans is not dogmatic about what the Spirit is, he is a bit preachy on this. After reading the book, it seems that a person who is not spiritual can't ever become whole.  Agnostics and atheists might find not see the point of not focusing on the here and now to be utterly connected with life and the others. I know atheists who are more in tune with life, more ethical, and more whole than many religious and spiritual people I also know. I have seen too many people quoting the Bible and having a cross around their neck, babbling about having a sensitive soul and, de facto, being miserable human beings, bad people, and not attuned with Spirit at all I have seen deeply religious people crumble when their spiritual beliefs did not help them to give meaning to their suffering. For that to happen, you have to have the attitude "life is a valley of tears" and accept any crap that life throws at you. 

***

IN SHORT
This is a great book if you are thinking about having a career as a counsellor or psychotherapist, if you are quite religious and believe in God, or just very spiritual. This book is not for  you if you are deeply agnostic, if you are an atheist and don't think that your life needs of transcendence beyond the right-here right-now to be whole. There are many pearls of wisdom in the book, and a great compassion towards our humanity, so it is a great read. Yet, this is not a self-help book, Evans himself states, "Can you recognize the patterns that keep you entangled? Do you know yourself well enough to find the shape and meaning of your whole being? These are essential questions that are impossible to answer without assistance." (loc. 208-209). 

***

RENDERING FOR KINDLE

>> The book does not have  the notes in the paperback edition.
>> The book does not have  the index in the paperback edition. 
>> The bibliography is outdated  and no book after the year 2000 is to be found.

However, the book is much cheaper than the hard copy, and is a compensation in a way. Yet, I would like authors and editors to be more mindful and produce e-books that are as good as the printed version of the book. Of course, this requires more time and effort, but produces  a final product that is whole.