Psyche and the Sacred

In Psyche and the Sacred, Samuel Bendeck Sotillos delivers a provocative call to restore sacred psychology and ancient wisdom to modern mental health. Modern Western psychotherapy presents itself as universal, yet its one-size-fits-all model often sidelines the deeper, time-tested ways humans have understood healing, meaning, and the soul. In privileging a narrow framework, contemporary psychology has silenced sacred and cross-cultural wisdom traditions that once formed the foundation of mental well-being. This book challenges the culture of Western psychotherapy by asking a deeper question: what has psychology lost along the way? Moving beyond surface calls to “decolonize” therapy, it offers a clear-eyed diagnosis of the field’s spiritual and metaphysical blind spots. Sotillos offers examples of the power of psychological healing when grounded in the tenets and methodologies of indigenous traditions as well as Abrahamic religions, establishing a wide tent for the spiritually curious. By reclaiming a pluralistic, sacred understanding of the psyche shared across the world’s wisdom traditions, Psyche and the Sacred argues for a richer, more humane approach to mental health, one capable of addressing the full depth of what it means to be human. As one reviewer writes, it is “a thread out of the labyrinth… a path back to wholeness.”

Pages: 220, Paperback, Sentient Publications