Kirk J. Schneider, Ph. D.

Media Kit

Awakening to AweAwakening to Awe: Personal Stories of Profound Transformation

By Dr. Kirk Schneider

Awakening to Awe (www.KirkJSchneider.com), Pub. Date: August 2009, Publisher: Jason Aronson.

Advance praise for the book:

“Awakening to Awe” is an intelligent and inspiring call to revive a sense of mystery. Kirk Schneider draws on the very best of psychological and spiritual thinkers and in plain language shows ways to re-invent this society spiritually. His ideas and style are perfectly suited to this all-important theme.”
- Thomas Moore, author of “Care of the Soul” and “Writing in the Sand

“Readers will truly enjoy and be uplifted by the journey with Schneider as they embrace this new positive lens…”
- Judy Kuriansky, Clinical Psychologist, Media Spokesperson; Adjunct Faculty, Columbia University.

“A key to a new kind of therapy…”
- Sam Keen, Author, Fire in the Belly

You have heard young people use the expression “awwwwesome”. They are glimpsing but not yet embracing awe. This is a book about a quiet yet emerging underground movement...the embrace of AWE.

When reading this book YOU will embark on a “great adventure” into “awwwwesomeness”, and will have a much deeper understanding of it by the end.

You will also find out reasons why you are in credit card debt, why our nation is in debt, why we coddle billionaires and glorify military superiority, and why we minimize healthcare and education for our children.

So would you want to go on this journey? Would you cherish every moment of the opportunity, and gather up all your strength to participate? And would you have any inclinations to devalue, exploit, or even kill yourself or others along the way? Or to trim, skim, or prettify the experience?

… Maybe, but it is unlikely.

And yet here we are, a couple of hundred thousand years of humanity, and still, as a whole, negligent of our great adventure – bathed in denial, snared by greed, and numbed by indifference … Why? What can we do about it? What ARE people doing about it? “Awakening to Awe” can show us; and in the process help us find our way back …

In this book you will understand:

  1. How to connect to awe in your every day life
  2. How just knowing you woke up this morning is an awe-inspiring experience
  3. How awe is with us every step of the way if we learn how to slow down
  4. How awe helps us to focus on what we love

KIRK J. SCHNEIDER, Ph.D., is a licensed psychologist and leading spokesperson for contemporary humanistic psychology. Dr. Schneider is current editor of the Journal of Humanistic Psychology, vice-president of the Existential-Humanistic Institute (EHI), and adjunct faculty at Saybrook Graduate School, the California Institute of Integral Studies, and the Institute for Transpersonal Psychology. He is also a Fellow of three divisions of the American Psychological Association (Humanistic, Clinical, and Independent Practice) as well as a frequent speaker at conferences and in the media. He has authored or coauthored eight books.

6 Suggested Topics Dr. Schneider Can Speak On

  1. Psychotherapy and its value, especially existential-humanistic or existential-integrative therapy
  2. Religion and Spirituality, especially in relation to cultivating awe
  3. Why our attraction to horror films and stories
  4. Existential Psychology
  5. The role of awe in an evolving vision of society (e.g., educational system, work setting, legislative setting, religious/spiritual settings).
  6. The relation of awe to personal and social transformation (including the phenomenon of classic horror books and films, as well as great films in general)

Suggested Questions to Ask Dr. Schneider

  1. Why do you feel awe is so important in one's life? How does awe heal?
  2. With all of the many books you have written, how did this one come about?
  3. Would any of your contributors to the book come on radio and TV and personally talk about their experience with awe?
  4. Tell us more about the man who is involved in the youth violence work and how he got involved in working with gang members.
  5. What has been some of your personal experiences of awe in your life?
  6. Why do you feel we need it now more than ever?
  7. How do you get through to people who are in deep denial? Or do you even try?
  8. Have you experienced other cultures (or religions) that understand the experience of awe, such as the indigenous cultures? If so, which ones?
  9. How does our culture limit people from experiencing awe?

Audio

Video

 American Psychological Association Interview with Kirk Schneider, Ph.D. on Existential-Humanistic Therapy
Psychotherapy and the Mystery of Being
Recorded at the International Conference on Personal Meaning, Toronto Canada, July 25, 2008 by TV Ontario's "Big Ideas" program.

Media Contact

Sherri Rosen Publicity
212-222-1183
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New York City 10026
www.sherrirosen.com