David Yau Fai Ho
Enlightened or Mad?
A Psychologist Glimpses into Mystical Magnanimity
19.00 USD
355 pages, paperback, english language
published: November 2014
ISBN 978-1-937570-51-4
About the book
I had no history of psychiatric disturbance prior to age fifty-eight. Then I experienced episodes of “madness” that profoundly changed my life—all of exuberance, none of depression. Manic symptoms were manifest. Yet, my mind retained its logicality and self-reflectiveness. I had glimpses of magnanimity, tranquility, and freedom from inner turmoil. I became a more colorful person, more sensitive, generous, and loving during the episodes. I was forced to ask myself, “Am I enlightened or mad?” The response to this question is a self-study of my life as a spiritual journey.
Table of Contents
Foreword 9
Preface 11
Chapter 1:
Tales from My Two Worlds 17
Psychohistory: Mammalia and Mother Worship 18
Family Background: Two Girls for One Boy 22
From Childhood to Grandparenthood: What is Filial Piety? 28
The Age of Turbulence: Adolescence and Early Adulthood 34
Education in and out of the Classroom 41
Across the Pacific on My Way to Discover a New World 49
Reverse Culture Shock in an Anachronistic University 57
The Golden Age of My Life 61
Confucianism, Shame, and Thought Liberation 69
From Marginality to World Citizenship: The Will to Master 72
My Spiritual Journey Is Incomplete 80
Chapter 2:
Episodes of Madness: All of Exuberance, None of Depression 83
Glimpses into the Mystical-Transcendental 88
Loneliness and Anguish amid Exuberance 98
Aesthetic Sensibilities: Music, Art, Creative Writing 103
Extraordinary Experiences: Audacity or the
Courage-to-Be? 110
The Empty Mind: Gone with Repression and Overcontrol 114
Now Get Physical: I Could Have Danced All Night 121
Body-Mind-Spirit Health: Interconnectedness 127
Unanswered Questions 131
Chapter 3:
From Psychiatry to Spirituality 135
An Early Self Case Study 136
A Self-Diagnostic Exercise in Psychiatry 146
Being Atypical in Madness as in Normality 150
Sequential Learning and Coping: Practical Suggestions 156
Spiritual Fulfillment versus Spiritual Emptiness:
A Dynamic Process 162
Spirituality: Relational and Ecumenical 171
Witnessing My Ineptitude and Decline: Acceptance 176
Dialogic Action Therapy 181
Dynamic Relaxation and Meditation 184
Chapter 4:
Glimpses of Enlightenment in the Midst of Madness 193
Fleeting Experiences of Enlightenment 194
Dialectics between Spirituality and Madness 199
Madness, Creativity, and Religiosity 204
Forbearance, Forgiveness, Hope, and Meaning
Reconstruction 212
In Love with Madness 221
Poetry and Spirituality Drive Each Other 226
Chapter 5:
In Search of Spirituality-in-Communion:
Transcultural and Playful 231
Life as a Playful Journey: Intercultural Encounters 231
Insights from the East: Psychological Decentering 239
Spirituality-in-Communion or Spirituality-in-
Isolation? 249
Christianity: Ambivalence 251
Quakers and Unitarian Universalists 257
A Religious Experience 262
Epilogue:
I’m Getting There 265
Madness in China 266
A Laowantong (Aged-Naughty-Childlike) Professor 269
The Dark Side of Life:
Alienation on an Unprecedented Scale 273
A Living Buddha in a Schizophrenic City 277
This May Not Be the Last Episode 279
Back to the Original Question 282
Sharing My Karma with Fellow Travelers 284
The Art of Loving for All Seasons 286
Appendix A:
Guide to Spiritual Self-Evaluation 289
1. Reflectiveness-Decentering versus Dogmatism-Egocentricity 290
2. Heightened Sensibilities versus Psychic
Numbing/Turmoil 295
3. Acceptance versus Denial 304
4. Humility versus Arrogance 308
5. Existential Quest versus Hedonistic-Materialistic
Pursuits 311
6. Transcendence versus Self-Encapsulation 316
7. Self-Actualization versus Alienation 321
Appendix B:
Strategies of Coping 325
1. Forbearance versus Intolerance 326
2. Forgiveness versus Vengefulness 333
3. Hope versus Despair 341
4. Meaning Reconstruction versus Entrenchment 349
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About the author
Professor David Yau Fai Ho has authored numerous scholarly contributions in psychology, psychiatry, and education. He has held professorial appointments in Asia and North America. He was the first Asian to serve as President of the International Council of Psychologists (1988–1989). In separation, being a psychologist steeped in a bilingual-bicultural background, experiencing glimpses of enlightenment, or having episodes of madness may not be that uncommon. But the confluence of all these is rare, if not unique.
Endorsements
This is an extraordinary book. It transforms the reader into a new and more dignified person. The book has the potential to unite the reader‘s body, mind, and spirit. It harnesses destructive forces to serve creative purposes. It manifests the Buddhist notion of impermanence—nothing is, everything becomes—as sublimely as the notion of universal love.
Evelin Lindner, Dr. med., Dr. psychol.,
Founding President of Human Dignity and Humiliation Studies
Ho is a relentless bridge-builder. Actually, he doesn’t only build bridges; Ho is a bridge himself. David/YF are literal bridges between East and West, between psychiatry and spirituality, between poetry and prose, between internal struggle and cultural evolution.
Rev. Dr. Tom Owen-Towle