Why I Hate You and You Hate Me

'Man' himself is the source of the dark forces against which he is constantly struggling. The book shows how is possible to transcend this basic malice by knowing how, what, why and when it arises. Envy, greed, jealousy and narcissism (the flip side of envy) are the essential components of the negative side of the self. Their positive counterparts are gratitude, generosity and compassion. Each element does not exist in isolation from the other. The interplay of these forces of hate and love create the underlying structure of our lives, which on a personal level is called "character" and on the social level is called "culture". When malice predominates the result is murder and mayhem, vandalism and war. This encompasses the blind butchery of our environment and fellow creatures which permeates so many areas of the world, such as Libya, Ireland, Congo, Cambodia, or central London during recent demonstrations. This study will focus on the negative or angry constituents of the personality. But it will not ignore love. On the contra,ry the author will demonstrate that when people overlook or deny the negative elements in their emotional life (because of guilt or fear), then the positive ones suffer too. As always, love and hate, benevolence and malevolence are inexorably intertwined. The overall purpose of the book is to develop a detailed understanding of mankind's capacity for destruction, as well as for making good.

Joseph H. Berke is a psychoanalytic psychotherapist working with individuals and families. He is a lecturer, writer and teacher and has lived in London since 1965. Beforehand he attended Columbia College of Columbia University and graduated from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University in New York. Dr Berke moved to London to study with R.D. Laing and assisted in establishing the Kingsley Hall Community. There he helped Mary Barnes, a middle-aged nurse who had been diagnosed with schizophrenia, to pass through a severe regression. Barnes later became a noted artist, writer and mystic. The book which Barnes and Berke co-authored ('Mary Barnes: Two Accounts of a Journey Through Madness') was adapted as a stage play and has been performed in many countries. It has now been optioned as a feature film. Dr Berke and colleagues founded the Arbours Housing Association in London in order provide personal, psychotherapeutic care and shelter for people in emotional distress. Later he founded and was the director of the Arbours Crisis Centre. He is the author of many papers and books on psychotherapy, social psychiatry, psychosis, therapeutic communities and transpersonal psychology as well as on Kabbalah and Hassidism.