The Fourth Instinct: The Call of the Soul - Hardcover

The Fourth Instinct is an exploration of mankind's forgotten instinct - the most neglected and least understood part of human nature. It is the instinct that compels us to go beyond survival, beyond sexuality, and beyond status and power to find spiritual fulfillment and meaning in our lives. For years biologists and psychologists have described human nature primarily in terms of the three basic instincts. They have explained the instincts that link us to the past, Arianna Huffington writes, but have neglected the instinct that links us to our future. We know more about what we share with the apes than what we share with the angels. Citing a wide variety of examples from our cultural and social landscape, she shows how seeking fulfillment solely through the first three instincts leads inevitably to the aggression, depression, and addiction that scar so many lives. It is only by following the call of the Fourth Instinct, she argues, that we can transform our lives and our relationships with others. She speaks of the need to create a critical mass to change our culture - one person, one problem, one community at a time. In The Fourth Instinct Arianna Huffington describes the dead ends we are led down when we are obsessed by the pursuit of success, wealth, and recognition. She also explores the many threads that can help us find our way back to the still, spiritual center of our lives. Religion, art, science, relationships, and even pain and loss can become threads of meaning from which to weave a new life. Almost every generation believes it lives at a defining moment in history. Some actually do. Arianna Huffington believes that ours is one of them. When she lectures around the country aglimmer of recognition flashes across people's faces when she speaks of our growing longing to find meaning and purpose in our lives as we approach the new millennium. Despite our technological wizardry and cultural sophistication, we have begun searching once more for answers to life's simplest yet most important questions: Who are we? Why are we here? What are our lives about? Based on years of research chronicling people's concerns and hopes, and filled with Arianna Huffington's own personal experiences and insights, The Fourth Instinct is a brilliant and provocative exploration of these age-old questions; it will bring inspiration and purpose to every life it touches.

Survival, sex and the quest for power--these are the basic human instincts. The fourth instinct, biologically based in every human being, according to Huffington, is the drive for spiritual fulfillment. Huffington wears many hats. As a scholar, she wrote controversial biographies of Picasso and Maria Callas. She is also a socialite, whose husband ran for governor of California in 1994. Her spiritualism grew out of her evolution from daughter to wife and mother, and she supports her belief in The Fourth Instinct with stories about her family. She has a heavy Greek accent and a voice that emanates femininity. Initially, this combination distracts from her reading. However, as she unfolds her concept of spiritual fulfillment, her voice and accent become part of the charm of her beliefs. D.W.K. (c)AudioFile, Portland, Maine