Thinking in the Shadow of Feelings: A New Understanding of the Hidden Forces That Shape Individuals and Societies

by Reuven Bar Levav and Reuven Bar-Levav

Book Overview

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• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 067160631X
• ISBN13: 9780671606312
• Release Date: January 1988
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster
• Length: 366 Pages
• Weight: 1.45 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Human Motivation Writ Small , Writ Large

Dr. Reuven Bar-Levav was , in addition to being the most distinguished , dedicated and accomplished healer in the history of medical psychiatry , a leading theoretician of human motivation and the effects of human motivation on the character and disposition of societies. Thinking in the Shadow of Feelings , Dr. Bar-Levav's first book , is an astounding heuristic accomplishment linking the implications of the seven basic human emotions on a grand scale to a unified theory of human behavior ; a theory encompassing the broader constructs and effects of human political and social organization throughout modern history. It stands as capstone to Dr. Bar-Levav's legacy , a coda to what a difference one man made in the lives of countless individuals in the course of his profesional practice. Fear - Anger-Hurt-Hate-Happiness-Sadness-Love the prime matter of human motivation are the building blocks of Dr. Bar-Levav's thesis. These basic components of human motivation are offset starkly against the human capacity to reason as a touchstone in the analysis of man's historic struggle for self possession and attainable satisfaction and fulfillment. Thus it is that Dr. Bar-Levav takes us along the path of tension between the elements of human emotion and the human capacity for reasoning ; a sometimes harrowing , sometimes poignant , always riveting journey which perforce entreats the reader to examine the state of his/her own mental capacities and functioning abilities ( and the critical limitations thereof ) in ways which are , at once , eye-opening and life expanding. And in ways which relate the same tension and what dilemmas are posed with it to the disposition of social and political forces both at large and within history. Dr. Bar-Levav was an extraordinary individual who graced - and in some cases literally saved - the lives of many good people who were entrusted to his care. His work lives on as a condign expression of that legacy in all its richness and texture.

Unusual. Dense. Ahead of its time.

This book is one that must be read slowly and thought about each step of the way. It is not difficult. A sensitive 6th grader can understand it. But an intellectualizing Ph.D may be too thick-headed to see the personal and societal implications of this work. It is a completely different understanding of what motivates humankind. Its range of application is from emotional illness to societal disputes. I cannot believe that this book is out of print, except that it is ahead of its time.