Cultural Addiction

The Architecture of the Soul introduces and maps out a model of the human person that represents a new way of interpreting and treating human— and by extension global— dysfunction. Arising from the transpersonal and integral schools of psychology, this model provides an alternative to the view of the human person as a product of brain chemistry, whose dysfunctional behavior can be treated through pharmaceuticals and traditional psychology. Based on the author's years of clinical experience treating addiction, the book posits a human psyche made up of three zones of awareness. The first two are reached by present-day psychology, focusing on cognitive and affective disorders, and therapies that treat addictive disorders. The crucial third zone, called Tertiary Awareness, is the 'rudder' of the human personality that contains deep bio- and eco-wisdoms that must be brought to consciousness and cultivated. In explaining how to integrate self and spirit, the author demonstrates how people must be made aware of this zone if we are to survive as a species and a planet.

Addiction, argues Albert LaChance in this insightful book, affects more than the individual who suffers from it. Cultural Addiction shows how contemporary lifestyles have become addictive, consuming the planet's resources—soil, air, water—in a destructive way that comprises earth's life systems and endangers the survival of both humankind and other species. This book presents a 12-step program for recovery from these dangerous lifestyles. Identifying such traits as egocentricity, materialism, overeating and drinking, and apathy as products of addiction, the author draws on the world's spiritual traditions—Hinduism, Buddhism, shamanism, Christianity, and others—to show individuals and communities how to work together to overcome these problems. The 12-step Greenspirit program empowers people to change the way they live in their environment. This “cultural therapy” in turn creates a renewed culture dedicated to protecting—and respecting—the planet.

Albert J. LaChance, Ph.D., LADC, CAS, DAPA, is a certified addiction specialist and a licensed addictions counselor who has treated individuals, families, and groups since 1991.