Animals of the Four Windows: Integrating Thinking, Sensing, Feeling and Imagery

by Eligio Stephen Gallegos

Book Overview

This is a profoundly important, provocative, and groundbreaking book - the first clear and comprehensive introduction to the four modes of human knowing. Dr Gallegos thesis - that there are in fact four windows, that they are of equal value and power, and that our survival depends on re-dressing are over-reliance upon thinking - appears, at first, to be a revelation. But then we settle into a deeper remembering that this is something we have always known, before we were taught and trained otherwise. Indeed, reading this book initiates our own Journey of Return to our original balance of knowing. It is a must read for all educators, all psychotherapists, all parents... Really for all human denizens of 20th-century self-destroying industrial-growth society. Bill Plotkin Ph.D. Clinical Psychologist. Steve Gallegos presents us here with a new approach and proof of its validity... The process is for the sake of reaching wholeness and with that liberation. One might say that he lets the divine in us have its say, because it is in us and manifests all the time, but we can hear it only if we listen and do not interfere with our analyzing minds ...One would wish that this book be widely read by educators and psychologists and used as a new and effective approach. Here is a true "revisioning" of psychology and a powerful means to understanding and respecting our depth. Edith Wallace, M.D., Ph.D. Author of A Queen's Quest"In this new book Stephen Gallegos has opened his conceptual windows wider than before, to include the four human faculties also discussed by Carl Jung. Thinking, feeling and sensation are presented similarly to Jung's system, but his new twist is creatively insightful: the fourth function is imagery, not intuition as Jung has it. (Gallegos envisions intuition as potential to all the functions.) Deep imagery, alive with its own suchness, as are the animals, is not just to be manipulated for our own ends as in some psychological systems of guided imagery, but respected for its own inner vitality and wisdom. It is a revitalization of the human soul from within that is the real goal of Stephen Gallegos' approach. The reader will find his prose clear and inviting while he reveals to us a new (yet very old) way of revisioning our minds. This book is a must for those interested in self-exploration, guided imagery, and the never-ending, self-transformative work of the creative shaman. Stephen Larsen, Author of The Shamans Doorway and The Mythic ImaginationThe Animals of the Four Windows presents an overview of the four modes of knowing; Thinking, Sensing, Imagery and Feeling. While it has certain similarities to Jung's ideas on the same topic, its major difference is that it distinguishes between Imagery and Intuition in a way Jung did not. The book describes how the ways of knowing have been distorted and how we have moved out of balance, with a strong bias towards thinking and sensing and a lack of value on Imagery and Feeling. It explores the possibility of a return by the Four Ways of Knowing to a balanced relationship with one another, in each individual as a way of healing and of accessing our deep inner wisdom.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0944164404
• ISBN13: 9780944164402
• Release Date: June 2020
• Publisher: Moon Bear Press
• Length: 154 Pages
• Weight: 0.55 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.3" x 6.0" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

its alive

This book is a brilliant and altruistic interpretation of the ideas of Jungian psychology, with one crucial factor - Its emphasis is on the experience as opposed to the theory. The author obviously understands with great warmth and humour the aliveness of imagery, feeling, and sensation and their interaction with thinking in creating the 'in the moment' or live perception of experience. The essence of this book is not in its concepts, though they are well explained in laymans terms, but it is in the livingness of the person who uses these concepts to gain a more holistic view of their lives that it comes alive. The author understands this well and makes it plain in the book that the concept is no substitute for the experience. I would recommend it to anyone, not just as a reference book with excellent conceptual content but also as a challenge to let their experience become as valuable to them as their thinking in their development and restore their psyche to balance. The author has clearly undertaken this journey himself, and he explains it with humour and vitality as an active process, not as a mental map to corral your experience in. In doing so he challenges the reader to apply all their modes of knowing themselves

An Excellent Book

It very clearly outlines what the author calls the 4 windows or ways of knowing. While it is similar in ways to Jung's ideas on the same topic the author makes an interesting distinction between his concepts and Jungs, especially in the Imagery/Intuition area...something worth learning more about. The language is clear and easy to follow. The concepts are very well explained. The book is an enjoyable and informative read.I would recommend it to all parents and educators. The idea that we have different ways of knowing or processing information is not new but this book outlines that differentiation in a clear and affirming way and has a nice emphasis on returning to balance in the ways we know. A must for anyone too who has ever felt out of place in our very academic school systems or for anyone who wants to understand why so many have difficulties there. This book will help you appreciate the different ways we interact with the world and affirm the knowing that comes to each of us through each of the four ways...thinking, sensing, imagery and feeling.

This is an excellent book.

I feel this is an excellent book because it covers the four basic human ways of knowing. It is written with feeling and the writer has obviously some experience. I like the way he has targeted the book for ordinary people who may not have a therapeutic background. The language is easily understood. He gives wonderful examples of how animal imagery works. The author invites you to use your own perception of animal imagery to understand you own ways of knowing and to bring it(knowing) into unique harmony. I would recommend this book for anyone interested in personal growth and self awareness.