The Marriage of Philosophy and Psychology

The proposed marriage combines teaching from ancient Greek schools of philosophy that encourage lifelong personal growth towards wisdom and maturity, with recent research into developmental psychology, mapping such a pathway in six identifiable stages. A wisdom practice routine of what the Greeks called 'spiritual exercises' is recommended, backed by neuro-scientific findings from meditation and brain-hemisphere studies that clarify the biology and explain the benefits to the individual, and through them to the wider community. Wisdom ultimately involves a person feeling deeply a seamless connectedness with everyone else, nature, the planet and the cosmos, giving spontaneous rise to compassion, humility, awe and wonder. With humankind facing enormous challenges, such wisdom is increasingly timely. At the heart of this book there is hope.