Here’s a small sample of the many comments that are regularly sent in from readers.
I am so glad I did not give up my multi-year quest to find the truth within myself. I literally found your website this week and to me it was like discovering a billion dollars in the form of knowledge. With deep and sincere gratitude. – PB
Tall thanks for such a helpful, effective site, I just got your Phantom book via my Kindle and look forward to studying-working with it. . . . Thanks again for a super site, it’s appreciated! – DM
I had an epiphany today- that the reason so many people do not accept evolution as a sound scientific principle is fear of knowledge and truth. So I Googled “Fear of knowledge” and ended up at your website. Wow! You have great insight and command of the language … Thank you so very much for helping to say what needs to be said. – YS
Thank you for nailing it; I knew there was more to my indecision than difficulty making decisions. I feel you are exactly right about the underlying causes. I’ve not heard it described this way before. It was eye-opening. The solution isn’t going to be easy but at least it’s out in the open. Thank you. – AL
I’m floored and still in disbelief. I’ve battled drugs and alcohol for 30 years. Three month long rehab – Big Book based. I’ve been fighting with all my strength to stay sober. Since I got out 3 months ago, I’ve had 4 relapses and recoveries. As soon as I start to feel amazing and want to actually live life, somehow I end up with a needle in my arm. I was hopeless looking for answers and found your website. I have a bunch of psychology background, so I was able to take the info and run with it. Can hardly take my eyes off the screen. It makes so much sense, I had such extreme inner critic and passivity … I’m so grateful! – WM
I stumbled on your blog while looking for more information on Fear of Intimacy, and I am really enjoying reading your insights! I just wanted to let you know it’s really great knowing there are psychotherapists out there (although VERY few it seems) that go deeper into the roots of human behavior rather than only knowing symptoms and what Rx’s are out there for them. – FT
I just happened upon your website. Wow!!! Thank you so much for your work …. I will now try to put the pieces of the puzzle together. Warmest regards. — TL
The more I read your material, I’m able to keep recognizing times when inner passivity is at play, letting me make excuses, getting down on myself. The more I get used to recognizing this, the better I can grasp the self-confidence I know deep inside I deserve. Thank you so much for your insight. I truly appreciate this. – NJ
Thank you, sir! Yes, you summed it all up quite nicely and succinctly. It’s amazing to me how the brain libidinizes it all, as you said so eloquently! Thanks again!! — JK
No, I have never been suicidal, but up until reading “Why We Suffer” I have to admit to never have really enjoyed living my life. I have a Masters degree, a loving husband, a supportive family, but I have also been plagued by anxiety to the point where I have never really been able to enjoy the many blessings I have. No amount of running around with various pursuits was able to wear away the nagging sense of anxiety that plagued my psyche. Your book IS the tool I need to get my emotional life in check and really begin not only to truly enjoy my own life, but bring joy into the lives of others. Thank you for your brilliantly written, highly rational work! I have considered many treatment options but none have been as clearly effective as yours!! Thank you for making the knowledge affordable and available to us all. Know that your work will save many people from a life of misery. – GF
I came across your website, Why We Suffer, after a Google search for “persistent thoughts of suicide,” which I have been struggling with for quite some time now. I found many of the articles you’ve written to be enlightening as to the root cause of this tedious and tenacious affliction. The concept of an inner critic and inner passivity rings true in my experience. I plan to implement the strategies you’ve outlined on your blog to banish my inner critic from dominating my thoughts and sabotaging my actions both now and in the future. – CE
I just wanted to thank you so much for your insights on inner passivity. I was led to look again at your site today and I resonated so deeply with the concepts you trace out as excellent descriptions of what can fuel my own dissatisfaction. I recognize what a difficult vocation (and I mean vocation) it must be to be working on concepts as glum as these :-/. But as I reflect, the faculty you use to look at these things, to name them, to accept them as landmarks (and detours) of our humanity, is the light. So thanks. – TK
I just found out your website through google search today. Thank you so much for putting this information there. I was aware of the inner critic but first time I hear about the inner passivity. That’s really helpful, thanks, Kind regards. – MM
I’ve just discovered your work on inner passivity and it is … wonderful. I’ve been finding my own meandering way towards it myself very slowly, through meditation and eastern philosophies, but this has added a complementary psychological dimension that is really bringing it all together for me. Simply – a heartfelt thank you. – WS
The analysis in this writing is astounding. I have never seen articles and felt as blown away by the complete understanding from the other end without even sharing specific circumstantial information with the other party. I hope you keep writing. Your words and insights are incredibly powerful and I am so glad there is someone who is as enlightened in the realm of suffering within relationships and the self as you are. – EM
It is about five months now that I am practicing these deep psychological principles, and I have to say that only now am I beginning to have a real perception of how deeply ingrained inner passivity is. It is almost mind-boggling how strongly entrenched this emotional condition is. Maybe it will take one year or more to get rid of it. Interestingly, deeply investigating the psyche reveals multiple emotional layers . . . Now I know the way to go. – NB
