This Month's Topic

Dr. Paul Brenner will be presenting a short lecture followed by our Council discussion.

Paul's tantalizing topic is:

The Reason for Our Confusion; The collision between our biology, our personal psychology and our cultural instructions.

I am quite excited about this month's Council topic. This council evening will focus on Paul's recent work on how our cultural instructions and media proclamations are often in direct conflict with our own emotional, behavioral and psychological realities. This is the cause for a great deal of stress and chaos in our lives as we try to fit into a cultural stereotype that is often a far cry from what our biology and personal psychology is telling us from deep inside. This has also led to a host of cultural 'norms' that are in fact quite far from normal.

We will look at and discuss how we can be more true to our own emotional and biological realities and identities rather than enduring the pain and chaos of trying to fit into a media and cultural stereotype of what our lives are 'supposed' to look like.

We also looked at calling this Council topic - "Why Am I Experiencing Chaos", or more controversially, "The Myth of Monogamy and Other Absurd Realities."  If you know Paul, you know that his views and insights can often be shocking in the fact that they usually strike pretty close to the bone.  And that is why this dear friend has been such an inspiration and influence in so many people's lives.  There is no B.S. with Paul.  You may not always agree with his concepts, but they always leave you wanting to explore deeper into your own realities.

And that is what the Council of hearts & Minds is all about - opening up topics of discussion that will send you home with fresh ideas, concepts and insights that expand and inform your lives as you evolve the essence of who you are.

Paul Brenner, M.D., Ph.D., is an obstetrician/gynecologist and psychotherapist. He left his successful clinical and academic practice of obstetrics, gynecology, and female cancer surgery in 1976 to counsel individuals with life-threatening illnesses. The understanding he obtained from these individuals led him to explore and practice alternative methods of healing. Dr. Brenner has been at the forefront of the alternative medicine movement.

Dr. Paul Brenner is widely known in the medical community as well as in the self-help field. He has lectured extensively throughout the United States and Europe and has reached national audiences as moderator of the PBS Series "Healing Through Communication". Dr. Brenner's book, "A Shared Creation", Saybrook Publishers, (1988), was selected by the eminent psychologist, Dr. Rollo May for the Mind Age Series. Paul has also authored the book, Seeing Your Life Through New Eyes, and has recently published his latest, Buddha in the Waiting Room.