What's the book about?
Well, it's my most psychology focused book, very much about mental health. Very much about joy, in fact. The book is my take on the burgeoning field of positive psychology and how the science of transcendence is pointing toward a surprising convergence between mental health and spirituality. If you've read Hunting Magic Eels, you'll recall how I describe "the Ache," the psychological symptoms we're observing in post-Christian culture. If Hunting Magic Eels tells that story from a negative perspective, as an "ache," The Shape of Joy describes the same phenomenon from a positive perspective, how that hole within ourselves can be filled.
The thesis of The Shape of Joy is that joy has a shape, that mental health has a geometry. You see that metaphor play out across the three sections of the book.
Part 1 is entitled "Curved Inward." In this section I describe how the modern self, following the legacy of Sigmund Freud, has collapsed in upon itself. The modern self is introverted, inward-looking, self-absorbed, and self-referential. We're trapped in our heads. The major symptoms of this inward-facing self is neurotic rumination and mental wandering, both of which cause unhappiness. Sadly, however, modern self-help and therapeutic recommendations for mental health have only doubled-down on this self-referentiality. I closely examine and point out the problems with the widespread therapeutic, educational, and parenting assumption that self-esteem provides the foundation for psychological health and resiliency. Attaching our mental health to this sort of self-referentiality, trying to achieve happiness through self-regard, has only exacerbated our psychological fragility.
This brings us to Part 2 of the book entitled "Turning Away." Here I discuss how the first step toward joy is a step back from the self. I survey the research on ego volume, mindfulness, and humility to show how inner peace is associated with getting some distance between yourself and your ego. Embodied, grounded awareness (practices of mindfulness) and hypo-egoic self-forgetting (humility) are examples of the mental health benefits of "turning away" from our internal drama to engage with the world.
I use the science of awe to pivot from Part 2 to Part 3, which is entitled "Curved Outward." Awe has been associated with a "small ego," a humbler, relational self that is connected to a larger reality. Awe and the quiet ego illustrate that we need to do more than step back from ourselves. We need to take one additional step, what I call "the outward turn." In Part 3 I survey the science of transcendence, noting how over the last twenty years positive psychology has been pointing us toward self-transcendence as the secret to health and happiness. Here we explore the surprising convergence between science and spirituality. Gratitude, wonder, hope, mattering, meaning in life, and joy all flow out of self-transcendence, looking beyond yourself. The modern self-referential self--fragile, ruminative, anxious and neurotic--needs to be flipped inside out. We need to step back from our noisy egos and then make an outward turn. Joy has a shape.
A simple theological way to describe the trajectory of The Shape of Joy is to say the book makes an Augustinian journey, starting off with our restless hearts and walking toward a Rest found beyond ourselves.
Finally, I try to keep this space free of self-promotional sales pitches, but publication days are the one day I'll stop regular programming to make an ask.
First of all, I hope you're as interested and excited as I am about The Shape of Joy. And even if the book is not your cup of tea, maybe consider buying a copy to give as a gift. As you know, I keep my writing here free of charge, so if you've ever wanted to say "thank you" by way of financial support, buying The Shape of Joy is something you can do for me to express appreciation.
Also, if you get your book club, small group, or Bible class to read The Shape of Joy I'd love to say thank you back by Zooming in for a chat as the author. And for the pastors out there, the book can also preach. I'd love to share its message with your community.
Even if you can't buy the book today there is still something you can do to help me. Go to Amazon and share the book with your online community, like on Facebook or Twitter, with a simple note from the bland but descriptively true ("Richard Beck has a new book out.") to something more excited ("Can't wait to read this new book by Richard Beck!)." One of the reasons I’m a pretty well-kept secret is that I don’t do social media, which keeps me healthy but creates a bit of a marketing problem. Any social media love you can spare today for the book would be greatly appreciated.
And if you do read the book, I pray it blesses you. The Shape of Joy fills a unique gap in books addressing our current mental health crisis. On the one hand, The Shape of Joy is more clear, direct, and unapologetic in making connections to faith and spirituality than best-selling positive psychology books have been. Psychologists are often shy about God and routinely fail to be explicit about where their research is pointing. On the other hand, unlike many spirituality and self-help books, The Shape of Joy is grounded in empirical research. A walk through the endnotes is a self-guided tour through the science of happiness and well-being. The Shape of Joy is both deeply spiritual and rigorously scientific.
Thank you for following the blog and all your support!
