Fear of Life. Dr. Alexander Lowen M.D.

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      Books by Alexander Lowen, M.D.

       The Language of the Body (1958) Originally published as Physical Dynamics of Character Structure

       Love and Orgasm: A Revolutionary Guide to Sexual Fulfillment (1965)

       The Betrayal of the Body (1967)

       Pleasure: A Creative Approach to Life (1970)

       Bioenergetics: The Revolutionary Therapy That Uses the Language of the Body to Heal the Problems of the Mind (1976)

       Depression and the Body: The Biological Basis of Faith and Reality (1977)

      The Way to Vibrant Health: A Manual of Bioenergetic Exercises, co-author Leslie Lowen (1977)

       Fear of Life (1980)

       Narcissism: Denial of the True Self (1984)

       Love, Sex, and Your Heart (1988)

       The Spirituality of the Body: Bioenergetics for Grace and Harmony (1990)

       Joy: The Surrender to the Body and to Life (1995)

       Honoring the Body: The Autobiography of Alexander Lowen, M.D. (2004)

       The Voice of the Body: Selected Public Lectures 1962-1982 (2005)

       Fear of Life

      Alexander Lowen, M.D.

      The Alexander Lowen Foundation

      www.lowenfoundation.org

      Fear of Life

      Published by The Alexander Lowen Foundation

       1852 Texas Hill Rd.

      Hinesburg, VT 05461 USA

      Phone: [phone]

      www.lowenfoundation.org

      Copyright © 1980 by Alexander Lowen, M.D.

      All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photo-copying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the Publisher.

      Except in the United States of America, this book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, re-sold, hired out, or otherwise circulated without the publisher's prior consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent publisher.

      Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data

      Lowen, Alexander

      Fear of Life

      1. Neuroses. 2. Fear. 3. Life. I. Title

      RC530.L68 1981 616.85'2 81-9991 AACR2

      Library of Congress Control Number 2003111107

      ISBN 978-1-938485-02-2 (paperback)

      ISBN 978-1-938485-03-9 (ebook)

      First Edition by The Alexander Lowen Foundation, 2012

       Printed in the United States of America

      Dedicated with love to ROWFRETA L. WALKER I hitched my wagon to your star.

       Contents

       INTRODUCTION

       1. THE NEUROTIC CHARACTER

       The Oedipal Problem

       The Oedipus Legend

       The Oedipus Complex

       2. FATE AND CHARACTER

       The Operation of Fate

       The Nature of Fate

       The Fate of Love

       3. BEING AND FATE

       Being as Authenticity

       Being as Sexuality

       Being as Not-Doing

       4. THE FEAR OF BEING

       The Fear of Living and of Dying

       The Fear of Sex

       The Fear of Insanity

       5. A THERAPY FOR BEING

       The Spiral of Growth

       Breakthrough and Breakdown

       Castration Anxiety

       6. A HEROIC ATTITUDE TO LIFE

       Regression and Progression

       Despair, Death, and Rebirth

       7. THE OEDIPAL CONFLICT BECOMES A FACT OF MODERN LIFE

       The Rise of the Ego to Dominance

       The Hierarchy of Power and Power Struggles

       Progress Produces Conflict

       8. THE WISDOM OF FAILURE

       The Riddle of the Sphinx

       Reconciling the Contradictions

       The Wisdom of the Sphinx

       NOTES

      What a thing is man! Among all wonders

      The wonder of the world is man himself.

      Yea, wondrous is man's Sagacity:

      Through this he climbeth on high

      Through this also he falleth.

      In the confidence of his power he stumbleth;

      In