The Human Odyssey (Quickstart): Our Journey of Life from Infancy to Eternity (The Human Odyssey Series): Martin, Hugh, Martin, Amalia Kaye: 9781503228382: Amazon.com: Books (original) (raw)

Review

CONCEPTION FOR HEAD & HEART."I must say I'm blown away by this theory. It's a conception that satisfies both my head & my heart - a fascinating new way of viewing human behavior that at the same time is relevant to the practical concerns of my daily life..."
***NEW MODEL, NEW FORMAT."This is a FANTASTIC BOOK! I GIVE IT 10 STARS ON A SCALE OF 5!!! I don't use superlatives often, but this book actually is 'fantastic' -- for two reasons: 1) The book presents a terrific new model of human development. 2) It presents that model in a terrific new way." -- IntegralWorld.netAN IMPRESSIVELY COMPILED, HANDS-ON TOOL FOR SELF DISCOVERY AND GROWTH."A comprehensive primer for understanding human development that will engage the reader in a most thoughtful exploration... a most engaging, fun, provocative and illuminating way to explore the complexities and meaning of one's life journey."
-- Sally Thomason, author of The Living Spirit of the Crone: Turning Aging Inside OutA CASUAL STROLL THROUGH MY OWN INTERIOR"The best comparison is my travel guide to France from DK Publishing. In the section on Provence, for example, each pair of facing pages is laid out like a collage - with different sections on towns, countryside, history, food, inns, art, etc. - all interlaced so I can browse easily from one topic to the other, just like I would do if I were wandering the byways of Avignon or Saint Remy. Like my travel guide, The Human Odyssey escorts me on a casual stroll through my own interior -- with the experience of actually 'being there'..." -- IntegralWorld.net

From the Author

[To see more reviews of the Human Odyssey Series, search 'Martin, Human Odyssey.']***The following comments from readers best express my own intentions regarding this book:LIKE A COMPANION VOLUME FOR A PBS MINISERIES."When I first came upon The Human Odyssey, I didn't quite know what to make of it. The book had come highly recommended by a friend, and yet it didn't fit into any convenient niche. Is it penetrating academic study, like Thomas Kuhn's The Structure of Scientific Revolutions? (The book features two of the foremost thinkers of our time, Ken Wilber and Joseph Campbell.) Is it a lavish art book, like the Getty Foundation's Symbolism in Art? (About half the book is devoted to stunning works of art, engaging photos, and hilarious cartoons.) Is it a sensitive self-discovery book, like Julia Cameron's The Artist's Way? (Each section is accompanied by detailed exercises (called 'Personal Explorations') that enable the reader to apply a given concept in their own life.)
The answer is: All of the above. But the book also reminds me of another popular genre. It's like those companion volumes that come with any new PBS miniseries -- books like Jacob Bronowski's The Ascent of Man, James Burke's The Day the Universe Changed, or Joseph Campbell's The Power of Myth. Like those books, The Human Odysseycovers a vast sweep of ideas and is full of thought-provoking insights, yet it's also replete with illustrations and asides that make it easy to get into..." -- IntegralWorld.net
***NEW MODEL OF HUMAN DEVELOPMENT, NEW WAY OF PRESENTING IT."This is a FANTASTIC BOOK! I GIVE IT 10 STARS ON A SCALE OF 5!!! I don't use superlatives often, but this book actually is 'fantastic' -- for two reasons: First, the book presents a terrific new model of human development. Second, it presents that model in a terrific new way.

• New Model. "The new model presented in this book is called ADAPT - short for All Dimensions, All Participants, All Processes, All Pathfinders, Together. In a nutshell, this model is a blueprint for life. It tells me where my life has been, where I'm going, and how to navigate some of the major hazards I'll encounter along the way. As a prescription for living a life that is rich and rewarding, this model truly is 'fantastic.' It's been a major help in my counseling practice and my relationships with colleagues. For my wife, it's shown her new ways to teach her elementary school class and to enlist the enthusiastic support of parents and administrators. For both of us, it's been a big help in our marriage and a big influence on how we raise our kids...
• "How did the authors come up with this extraordinary new theory? Evidently, by combining the work of two great modern thinkers, Ken Wilber and Joseph Campbell. On the Wilber side, they began with all the features of human growth from Wilber's famous Theory of Everything (AQAL+) from Integral Psychology: Levels, Lines, States, Quadrants, Self, Types, and so forth. On the Campbell side, they began with the 17 steps from Campbell's classic Hero's Journey: The Call to Adventure, Belly of the Whale, Road of Trials, Meeting with the Goddess, Atonement with the Father, Ultimate Boon, and so forth. Then (and this to me is the brilliant part) they introduced these two great men to each other (figuratively speaking, of course) and brought them into dialog!...
• New Format. "Rather than the tedious, mind-numbing prose of many scholarly studies, rather than the cheery and vapid encouragement of many self-help books, rather than the simplistic generalizations of many popular bestsellers, the authors have devised a method of presentation that speaks to the reader simultaneously from several different perspectives and on several different levels of depth and significance...
• "So how do the Martins do this, especially with a subject as complicated as human development? Well, to begin with, the book is printed in ravishing color on a huge 8x11 oversize format - so each two facing pages present the reader with a vast and engaging visual expanse, where lots of diverse information can be presented without clutter. Where feasible, each concept of human development is shown on its own two-page spread, and each such concept is presented in six different ways -- - conceptual, symbolic, visual, structural, analytical, and experiential.
• "The closest comparison I can think of is my travel guide to France from DK Publishing. In the section on Provence, for example, each pair of facing pages is laid out like a collage - with different sections on the towns, the countryside, the history, the food, the country inns, the art, the walks, etc. - all interlaced in a reader-friendly format, where I can browse easily from one topic to the other, just like I would do if I were wandering the streets and byways of Avignon or Saint Remy. Like my travel guide, a book like The Human Odyssey conveys the experience of actually 'being there'..." -- IntegralWorld.net

***MY TRUE POTENTIAL AS A CREATIVE."ADAPT has woken me up to see my true potential as a creative. "Right now I am going through the young adult stage--trying to form an identity independent of my parents. This is probably one of the scariest stages because there are so many decisions to make with not a lot of life experience--yet. ADAPT has made me realize this stage is natural and the only thing you can do is let the growth happen--not stunt it or deform it in anyway through any compensations or your own imagination." -- Olivia G., College student. Santa Rosa, CA
***DEMYSTIFIES THE BIG QUESTION."Within a masterful framework, overlapping two of our greatest "pathfinders," Ken Wilbur and Joseph Campbell, Hugh Martin explores the complex journey of human growth and makes the wisdom of the authors and the processes of the journey highly accessible and enjoyable. As Judith Blackstone demystifies how to become enlightened in her book The Enlightenment Process, Hugh Martin demystifies the big question that all of us carry, "What is the Meaning of Life?" -- Rebecca C., Actress, Life Coach. Sayulita, Mexico
***YOUR REAL COMMON CORE."Being a teacher, I ask myself why this isn't part of required curriculum for every student -both young and old. In the new rush to pursue Common Core, what could be more commonly at every person's core than a deep longing to know your unique calling and a compass to navigate the labyrinth of choices. Personally I wish this complete manual of life was around when I was taking all those wrong turns, going through rough transitions, and passing up opportune moments of truth. This book's journey is definitely humorous, poignant, scary, and exhilarating. One feels you could read this book for a lifetime and still find layers of unexpected and meaningful treasure..." -- Kaye C., Teacher, City Council member. Sonoma County, CA
***ROADMAP TO THE INEFFABLE."The book is an effective demystification of life's most relevant questions. As demystification goes however, the book succeeds in becoming quite mystical. Are you feeling overwhelmed by all the convoluted systems of a modern world? Does the daily grind seem purposeless and impossible? Pick up Mr. Martins book, it is a roadmap to the ineffable..." -- JayJay, composer/musician, San Francisco
***ARCHETYPES OF THE SOUL'S JOURNEY."The best part is the usage of Joseph Campbell's seminal works to weave the stages of development into a journey of the Archetypes. Archetypes are of course, means through which we express our deepest-seated desires and life callings. It is by their force that we move through the stages of human growth, so Mr. Martin's inclusion of them is beautiful and visionary. ..." -- Patrick D., CEO, import company. Colorado Springs, CO.

From the Inside Flap

PROLOGUE: REPRIEVE FROM DEATH.
A book on the Meaning of Life? In our pragmatic and skeptical age, this seems like an absurd and pretentious notion. Yet, deep inside us, these are the questions we all ask: What is life all about? What gives life meaning and purpose? How should I live my life, and why? In an attempt to address such questions, author Hugh Martin describes his own personal journey -- a Hero's Journey that leads ultimately to the book you are now reading:
"Why is life so precious to me? Why have I spent so many years pondering what it means to be alive? When you hear my answers to such questions, dear reader, you will understand how I came to write a book like The Human Odyssey. To begin my story, I'd like to take you back to my early years at Esalen Institute -- that fabled growth retreat on California's Big Sur coast...
.The Magic of Esalen.

• "I first discovered Esalen in the Spring of 1965, just three years after its founding. At that point, I was in a chronic state of shock. I had recently been diagnosed with advanced-stage Hodgkin's Disease lymphatic cancer, and given just two years to live. To make the best of my last days on earth, I had dropped the intensive stress of graduate school, and traveled via Berkeley to California's rugged Big Sur coast in search of a new life. With my young wife (a 'Joan Baez with curves') and baby daughter, I settled into a little cabin in the redwoods, only accessible in mid-winter by an undulating suspension footbridge over a raging stream. From there, my family and I commuted to Esalen Institute, for volunteer work developing the grounds of the new growth center.
• "While at Esalen, we meshed with the Esalen community, and plunged into the Esalen experience - brutal hotseats with the infamous gestalt therapist Fritz Perls, soul-stripping encounter groups with the tough-but-caring Will Schutz, graceful Tai Chi ballets with Yoda-like Gia Fu Feng, exuberant dance, pounding drums, soothing sensory awareness by the hotspring mineral baths, mind-searing acid trips on windy ridge-tops, free sex, savage fist fights, and group hugs."

The Siren Call.
"One particular episode of my tumultuous Esalen experience stands out above all others -- what I call my 'Siren Call.' Here is how I remember it...

• "On a chilly, misty morning I approached the rickety little farmhouse on the bluff. The Esalen yard crew had just left for their day's chores, and the little building was deserted. From the eaves, god's-eyes twisted in the wind, and Tibetan prayer flags fluttered in the breeze. The tinkling of wind chimes welcomed me as I stepped cautiously across the creaky porch.
• Inside, a weathered oak dining table littered with the remains of breakfast - half eaten sausages, scraps of cinnamon roll, a syrupy plate. On the chair, a gauzy tie-dye shirt and one scuffed huarache. A tattered poster of Gentle Wilderness high country taped to the fridge, snapshots of a gaudy party with faces pressed toward the camera -- a faint, lingering smell in the air of damp leaves and fresh-smoked sinsemilla. Despite the clutter, the scene bathed me in warmth. I felt a glow of excitement, of anticipation, of mystery. Driven by who knows what urge, I sought to experience at least vicariously a lifestyle I'd been too timid or too inhibited to adopt.
• "By the wall, on an album cover next to the phonograph turntable, the pale, chiseled face of a cool, hard-edged young man stared out at me: Not challenging, just waiting for me to make my move. I placed the needle on the scratchy record, flipped the switch, and the turntable began to spin. From the speakers came the croon of a hollow, poignant, nasal voice - echoing as if from a far distance:

Hey! Mr. Tambourine Man, play a song for me,
I'm not sleepy and there is no place I'm going to.
Hey! Mr. Tambourine Man, play a song for me,
In the jingle jangle morning I'll come followin' you.

• "I listened and lingered, becoming more and more transfixed. As I immersed myself in the music, I was ravished, entranced, enchanted, enthralled. My eyes watered, and my lungs released in a burst of exhilaration. Chills ran up my spine and flowed out my fingertips. As I continued to listen, the sound gushed through my system, soaking the parched landscape of my soul, awakening buried longings, kindling my spirit. I felt a surge of aliveness, a chorus of hope, a great welling-up of the Everlasting Yes!
• "I didn't know it at the time, but that of all Esalen experiences was the pivotal moment that changed my life. For the first time, like Odysseus tied to the mast, I was hearing: The Siren Song of the Growth Continuum. Unknown to myself, I had decided to relinquish my fears and doubts -- to toss caution to the soft sea breeze, to follow the Tambourine Man deep inside me, to take the chances necessary in the quest for true happiness, to yield myself to change and growth when every fiber of my being yearned for it. In that short moment, my cancer began a grudging retreat. I had decided to live."

Blessings In The Shadow Of Death.
"My Esalen experience was just the culmination of a wrenching path of self-discovery that had begun about a year earlier. My shocking wake-up call came as a devastating physical and emotional collapse -- a breakdown that obliterated the safe, predictable world I had known. I call it the 'Great Fever.'

• The Great Fever.
• "When the Great Fever came, it came with a violent, torrential rush. A raging, searing, brain-frying, stormy blast that brought agonizing groans for relief. When the fever hit, I'd been recuperating from a grueling graduate school semester at the home of a dear aunt in tree-lined suburban Chicago. It wasn't a good place to get sick. My aunt was already distraught. My dear 97-year-old Grandpa - for all his life the mighty oak that sustained and supported the family - was crumbling and fading fast in the upstairs guest bedroom.
• "With Gramp dying upstairs, I began to die below. When I became sick, the only place for me was a little cot in my aunt's dank basement - amidst dusty boxes, chattering pipes, and an old ringer washing machine that throbbed in my ear. There I lay - tossing, and sweating, and moaning - with Susan (my first wife) trying to comfort me, while tending our one-year-old baby. With the fever raging at 105 for almost two weeks, and the dawning recognition that this was no ordinary flu, they finally checked me into St. Luke's Hospital for extensive tests.
• "When the results were in, Susan sat gravely by my bedside. It didn't look good. The lymph node biopsy had revealed cancerous tissues - virulent Hodgkin's Disease.Worse yet, the lymph nodes were engorged and corrupted throughout my whole body - indicating that the cancer had spread too far, and was incurable. I was given two years to live.
• The Reaction.
• "Once I got over the initial shock of my situation, and went into temporary remission, I began changing my plans. If I had only two years to live, I certainly wasn't going to spend them in the stacks of some musty library - and I certainly wasn't going to suffer through any more icy Midwest winters. Anxious, confused, and desperate, I groped my way toward a new path: With whatever moments I had left, with whatever strength and hope I could summon up, I would learn to drink deeply of the best life had to offer..." [continued]

From the Back Cover

LIFE IS TOUGH(From comedian George Carlin:
How humans OUGHT to develop)
Life is tough.
It takes up a lot of your time.
What do you get at the end of it?
A Death! What's that, a bonus?
I think the life cycle is all backwards.
You should die first, get it out of the way...
Then you live in an old age home.
You get kicked out when you're too young...
You get a gold watch.
You go to work.
You work forty years
Until you're young enough
To enjoy your retirement...
You do drugs, alcohol, you party,
You get ready for high school...
You go to grade school.
You become a kid, you play,
You have no responsibilities...
You become a little baby.
You go back into the womb.
You spend your last nine months floating...
And you finish it off with an orgasm!***
THE GROWTH MENTALITY.
The world is made up of two kinds of people - the few who grow, and the many who don't. Those who grow are called Cultural Creatives -- or Seekers, or Self-Actualizers, or Translucents, or Enlightened Beings. Those who don't are called Droids, or Zombies, or Stepford Wives, or Couch Potatoes, or Flatlanders, or Meatheads (at least by the Creatives!). The Cultural Creatives seek various forms of Growth -- enlightenment, enlivenment, maturity, individuality, fulfillment, out-of-the-box thinking, the cutting edge, or realizing their human potential. The Droids generally seek stasis - in the form of comfort, security, stability, conformity, herd mentality, status quo, and fitting into the most convenient niche. The Creatives often see life as a journey or a quest. The Droids rarely contemplate life at all.
Cultural Creatives are often involved in radical politics (at both ends of the spectrum), environmental issues, the human potential movement, esoteric religion, the arts. They need not be in the vanguard. They need not be of a particular political or religious persuasion. But they are all involved in, committed to, and passionate about Personal Growth, radical self-expression, spiritual evolution, transformation of consciousness, and other forms of self-improvement and enlightenment. In brief, Cultural Creatives are people who adopt the Growth Mentality.
.CREATIVES VERSUS DROIDS.
In the language of this book...

• Creatives spend much of their time in the Internal Realms of Psyche, Body, and Spirit.
• Droids are mostly limited to the external Realm of Everyday Life.
• Creatives frequently receive the Hero's Call to Adventure, and often heed the call.
• Droids rarely receive the Call, and seldom answer it.
• The Creatives often ride the cyclone to Oz. Their world is in Technicolor.
• The Droids are left back home in Kansas. Their world is black-and-white.
• Creatives are often out surfing the Growth Continuum.
• Droids are Stuck in Lodi Again.

***AN IMPRESSIVELY COMPILED, HANDS-ON TOOL FOR SELF DISCOVERY AND GROWTH.
"Hugh and Amalia Martin have taken what here-to-fore has been an interesting but rather academic exploration of human development and created a comprehensive, beautifully illustrated, (sometimes funny--sometimes transcendent), workbook for an individual to not only know, but to grow "thy self." The Human Odyssey is an impressively compiled, hands-on tool for self discovery and growth. It also provides a mechanism for counselors, therapists and teachers to help clients and students understand and independently expand their knowledge of and experience with, what it means to be human...
"The Martins' grounding in the academic and professional literature is obvious. Their succinct, jargon free statements come alive with wonderful, arresting illustrations ranging from comic strip to fine art. Not only do they engage both the right and left hemispheres of the brain, the workbook is designed to access the various learning styles different individuals employ. One of its finest features is a series of provocative questions at the end of each section--extremely well designed and if thoughtfully answered, illuminating...
"The Martin's integrative approach, beautifully frame life's Odyssey by combining Ken Wilber's analytical brilliance in tandem with Joseph's Campbell' insights from mythology and Jungian archetypical understanding. It is a comprehensive primer for understanding human development that will engage the reader in a most thoughtful exploration... a most engaging, fun, provocative and illuminating way to explore the complexities and meaning of one's life journey."
-- Sally Thomason, author of The Living Spirit of the Crone: Turning Aging Inside Out
***
BEYOND INSIGHTFUL... A LIFE COMPANION.
"...I sincerely appreciate that this in an interactive book about relationships....relationships with yourself, your significant other, your children, and humanity... "The Human Odyssey" demonstrates how within templates there are different ways to understand, take initiative and respond to life choices. This book meets you where you are in your desire to wrap yourself around the multitude of concepts presented. You can be exposed to many concepts by simply picking up the book for a light read. On the other hand, you can spend hours delving into a plethora of human development concepts... The layout reminds me of the "choose your own adventure" type books where the story threads unfold depending on which chapters you select to read. In this scenario, you can choose which topics you are interested in learning about by selecting what conceptual threads you want to choose, and then follow, for your personal intellectual and/or practical journey. Enjoy the flavorful illustrations and comics along the way! This book is beyond insightful. I congratulate Hugh Martin and Amalia Kaye Martin for creating a literary and intellectual work that improves quality of life by placing our lives into focus. "The Human Odyssey" is a life companion." -- Chris D. W.
***
WHERE NO MAN HAS GONE BEFORE. "What you have here is the bible of human growth and development. Mr. Martin's Human Odyssey is a systematic exploration of what it means to be human and beyond. Using as it's launching point analogous models of human growth from two pioneers in the field: Ken Wilber's AQAL and Joseph Campbell's Hero's Journey, Mr. Martin continues and surpasses the work of these men, creating an entirely new model of human development, ADAPT... If you've ever yearned to understand your life and choices at a heart and head level in the broader context of eternity, then this book is for you. Mr. Martin has gone where no man has gone before..." -- Samuel W., Actor, Social Activist.Washington, DC