Topic: Path to Sanity:Lessons from ancient Holy Counselors on how to have a sound mind

[Quinault]

Dee Pennock wrote this book that is available thru Light and Life.

A couple things that my husband noticed;

The author never refers to the saints as actual saints. Instead of St. Maximus the Confessor, it is just Maximus the Confessor.

She says that there are three basic passions, but it seems like the more accepted consensus is that there are 7 passions.

She discounts modern psychology as well as any medication to treat mental defects or disabilities.

She believes that all psychological problems stem from sin alone.


Has anyone else read this book or had any experience reading anything by this author. The font is astoundingly large with double spacing. The book is 250 pages but could have easily been 1/3 the size with normal font and spacing.

[Justin Kissel]

I haven't read it, but a few comments...

The author never refers to the saints as actual saints. Instead of St. Maximus the Confessor, it is just Maximus the Confessor.

Was that in an attempt to be more academic sounding, or do you think it was for some other reason?

She discounts modern psychology as well as any medication to treat mental defects or disabilities.

I have bipolar disorder, and I'm a different person when on medication. My schizophrenic (ex-)Father-in-law is an even more extreme case, I've been told.

Has anyone else read this book or had any experience reading anything by this author. The font is astoundingly large with double spacing. The book is 250 pages but could have easily been 1/3 the size with normal font and spacing.

Fwiw, I experienced this once before... in the excellent book by Met. Kallistos How Are We Saved, they spaced and bulleted things and put single statement quotes on an entire page, and pretty much did everything they could to make it four times longer than it really was.

[J Michael]

I read it back in Nov./Dec.  I wasn't bothered in the least by how she referred to the saints.  I found the book interesting and very readable, and some of her suggestions rather helpful, though I don't tend to suffer from depression (that doesn't mean, however, that I've achieved "sanity"  ). 

If I recall correctly, she did not attribute her quotes or references precisely.  This bothered me because I always like to be able to follow up with those kinds of things, especially by being able to see the context in which they were written.  Oh well.

On the whole, it was worth reading and I've recommended it to a friend who does suffer from depression.

She has some interesting variations of the Jesus Prayer.

[J Michael]

I might just add that, having tried a couple of the variations of the Jesus Prayer Ms. Pennock suggests, I've gone back to the basic, "Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me, a sinner."  Every once in a while I'll add something like, "and deliver me from ........." (pride, or impatience, or whatever).

I've found the value in this is that it helps make me consciously aware of where, at a given moment, my spiritual battle is taking place.