On The IDP Experience: Dr. Miles Neale and Living in the 21st Century

Miles Neale, I’m happy to report, lives in the 21st Century. I know what you’re thinking: Don’t we all? Well no, actually. I’ve studied with many Buddhist teachers and a good number of them live in the past. They talk as if they’d never heard of psychology, biology or the scientific method. They slavishly repeat Buddhist concepts and methodologies without connecting these to contemporary science. Dr. Neale, on the other hand, relates tradition to emerging knowledge.

 

In his recent class on Buddhist Psychology, Dr. Neale related the Buddhist concept of karma (as taught in the Nalanda tradition) with Attachment Theory. There are four types of attachment:

 

• Secure attachment—Children are distressed when parents leave, but feel secure when they

return.

 

• Ambivalent attachment—Children cannot nurture themselves when there is “poor parental

availability.”

 

• Avoidant attachment—Children are distressed by parental neuroses and fail develop a

preference for their parents over others.

 

• Disorganized attachment—Children are so confused by their parents’ behaviors and their own emotions that they shuttle ceaselessly between seeking parental attachments and rejecting them.

 

Parental behavior and our reactions to it influence us throughout childhood and into adulthood.

Understanding how attachments cause suffering is central both to Buddhism and contemporary

psychology. Kudos to Miles Neale for teaching the insights offered by both of these disciplines.

A note from Lani: Dr. Miles Neale's class is still available for Home Study. Get all previous lectures in podcast form and listen at your leisure!: http://www.theidproject.org/events/2010/11/10/homestudy-buddhist-studies-empathy-psychotherapy-mind-training-global-consciousnes.