Psychology and spirituality have a complicated relationship. Dating back to ancient times, we see them treated as sister disciplines which inform and enhance one another. But at some point in the last century, Western psychology decided to divorce itself from Eastern philosophy and spirituality, leaving us with an incomplete way of understanding human experience. Author Margot Esther Borden takes up this story in her new book, Psychology in the Light of the East (Rowman & Littlefield, 2017), and in our interview, we discuss her conviction that our understanding of human nature is best served by attending to the soul as well as the psyche, and be utilizing wisdom from Eastern as well as Western traditions and worldviews.
Margot Esther Borden, M.A., is a psychotherapist, international public speaker, and adjunct professor at Antioch University Midwest. She completed her training in breathwork in Paris and her master of arts in person-centered counseling/humanistic psychology at the University of Durham. She works in India, Europe, and the United States and is coeditor of Spirituality and Business: Exploring Possibilities for a New Management Paradigm.

Eugenio Duarte, Ph.D. is a psychologist and psychoanalyst practicing in New York City. He treats individuals and couples, with specialties in gender and sexuality, eating and body image, and relationship issues. He is a graduate of the psychoanalytic training program at William Alanson White Institute, where he also chairs their monthly LGBTQ Study Group.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices