Non-Fiction / Self Help
Date Published: Originally 2007 - Revised 2015
Dr. Hartman tells the story about our vulnerability to painful emotions, which flare up from the depths of our minds, casting spells over us. As the book unfolds, he develops two powerful ways to strengthen our consciousness enough to break these spells: one, by recognizing and grappling with the two surprisingly simple thoughts that lie at the heart—and generate the pain—in each of our negative emotions, and two, by learning to stay focused on the present moment—the single moment we spend our entire lives in—whose mysterious, unexpected nature he describes in vivid detail.
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Excerpt
The Beginning
The lights go down to total darkness and come back up.
Classical music is playing softly in the waiting room.
Human Consciousness is sitting in the chair furthest from the door
to Dr.
Hartman’s office, trying to read a magazine. Dr. Hartman is in his
office on
his way to the waiting room door.
DR. HARTMAN: Emerges from his office into the waiting room and
looks right at Human Consciousness. “Hello,” he says with a very
subtle
smile, “Come in.”
HUMAN CONSCIOUSNESS: Puts the magazine in the rack and follows
Dr. Hartman into the office, becoming a little tentative, trying
to
take it all in.
DR. HARTMAN: “Anywhere you like.” As he sits in his chair.
HUMAN CONSCIOUSNESS: Looks around a little more at the furnishings
and sits down in the free-form bentwood chair opposite Dr.
Hartman’s,
bouncing a little in it, looking at Dr. Hartman and feeling a
little odd.
xx
Overture to Just One:
Consciousness, You Mean the World
to Me
[Dr. Hartman is sitting in his chair, crossing a leg. Among other
things in
this scene, Human Consciousness is
drawn to the sounds of trucks and cars
driving by, and a jet flying
overhead, and a bee that keeps bumping into the
window behind Dr. Hartman. No
matter how many people may be present in
the theater of life and no matter
what Dr. Hartman tries to say or how fervently
he says it, sometimes it seems that
Human Consciousness is barely there.]
Let’s stop kidding ourselves. It doesn’t matter which human I happen to
be
working with. Whenever anyone comes to me for help, it’s the
consciousness
brought into my office that needs the help. It’s not a man, and
it’s not a
woman. My real patient is consciousness, which is not something we
just
have; it’s something we are. It’s us. We are consciousness, or we’re nothing at
all. It’s this consciousness I try to seize hold of and change in
my work—the
one single consciousness and, if I could ever get its full
attention, the whole
collective human thing.
And no, this is not a book or a play, exactly. And it’s not a
vaudeville
variety show, either. It’s an appeal, a very serious appeal
directly to consciousness
to learn to see, to dare to pull free from the grip of the pain
from
the past and be here in this moment. It’s a holler, a shout. It’s
a scream, a
scream full of love, the kind of scream only a psychotherapist can
utter.
Because consciousness can be some of the trickiest material to
handle that
this wide world has ever known. What it really takes to do this
job thoroughly
is a good, solid, evolved civilization. But until civilization is
equal
to the task, lone practitioners like me will take it on. I’ll
rival civilization.
I’ll do what civilization can’t do. I’ll be everything you need me
to be to
help make you strong and healthy.
About the Author
I'm a clinical psychologist in private practice and make my home on Long Island, New York.
The Beginning
The lights go down to total darkness and come back up.
Classical music is playing softly in the waiting room.
Human Consciousness is sitting in the chair furthest from the door
to Dr.
Hartman’s office, trying to read a magazine. Dr. Hartman is in his
office on
his way to the waiting room door.
DR. HARTMAN: Emerges from his office into the waiting room and
looks right at Human Consciousness. “Hello,” he says with a very
subtle
smile, “Come in.”
HUMAN CONSCIOUSNESS: Puts the magazine in the rack and follows
Dr. Hartman into the office, becoming a little tentative, trying
to
take it all in.
DR. HARTMAN: “Anywhere you like.” As he sits in his chair.
HUMAN CONSCIOUSNESS: Looks around a little more at the furnishings
and sits down in the free-form bentwood chair opposite Dr.
Hartman’s,
bouncing a little in it, looking at Dr. Hartman and feeling a
little odd.
xx
Overture to Just One:
Consciousness, You Mean the World
to Me
[Dr. Hartman is sitting in his chair, crossing a leg. Among other
things in
this scene, Human Consciousness is
drawn to the sounds of trucks and cars
driving by, and a jet flying
overhead, and a bee that keeps bumping into the
window behind Dr. Hartman. No
matter how many people may be present in
the theater of life and no matter
what Dr. Hartman tries to say or how fervently
he says it, sometimes it seems that
Human Consciousness is barely there.]
Let’s stop kidding ourselves. It doesn’t matter which human I happen to
be
working with. Whenever anyone comes to me for help, it’s the
consciousness
brought into my office that needs the help. It’s not a man, and
it’s not a
woman. My real patient is consciousness, which is not something we
just
have; it’s something we are. It’s us. We are consciousness, or we’re nothing at
all. It’s this consciousness I try to seize hold of and change in
my work—the
one single consciousness and, if I could ever get its full
attention, the whole
collective human thing.
And no, this is not a book or a play, exactly. And it’s not a
vaudeville
variety show, either. It’s an appeal, a very serious appeal
directly to consciousness
to learn to see, to dare to pull free from the grip of the pain
from
the past and be here in this moment. It’s a holler, a shout. It’s
a scream, a
scream full of love, the kind of scream only a psychotherapist can
utter.
Because consciousness can be some of the trickiest material to
handle that
this wide world has ever known. What it really takes to do this
job thoroughly
is a good, solid, evolved civilization. But until civilization is
equal
to the task, lone practitioners like me will take it on. I’ll
rival civilization.
I’ll do what civilization can’t do. I’ll be everything you need me
to be to
help make you strong and healthy.
I'm a clinical psychologist in private practice and make my home on Long Island, New York.
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