Interview for Fredric C. Hartman, Ph.D., 

Author of The Breakthrough in Two Acts

1—There’s an interesting history to your book and your difficulties reading and writing that      other writers might find intriguing and inspiring.

  It was the second after midnight as 1999 was turning into 2000 when I began to write the book. I had just turned 46. Seemed like an interesting moment to begin. I was sitting by the fire. My wife and two young daughters were asleep. The house was quiet. The stage was set for me to try. Thereafter, I wrote from 5-6 am every morning, 7 days a week. I had read somewhere that it takes take two full years of daily, focused writing to find one’s “voice.”  At precisely the two year mark, I found my voice. The next five years I spent writing the book and it was published in 2007. Then every year, I revised the book thoroughly (the new self-published world allowed this), beginning in August until the first of the next year when I would get a new copyright date to keep current. I did this over and over because I actually always had such serious difficulties with language, with reading and writing (and still do). I love reading but I read very slowly. So I got into revising the book to keep cleaning and tightening up the grammar, updating the scientific facts and adjusting it to reflect how I and the mood of the culture were changing. I always kept the outer structure of the book the same (the stage play, scene titles, etc.) and only polished up and revised the prose within it, just like a hard chrysalis remaining the same on the outside as the butterfly keeps forming and transforming within. And so the book has been revised thoroughly at least 13 times with 13 editions being produced, a copy of each of which is in my cabinet.

But now we are in a very dramatic moment in history with the pandemic, civil unrest and economic and political chaos, and the book speaks directly to it like never before. The book now feels complete and finished. It addresses this huge moment of turmoil in the world and in people’s lives with an explanation—a theory—to explain our history of emotional problems as a species, and it offers a remedy—the ingredients of a new outlook—for all the anguish in the world in this moment.

 

2—Why did you choose a stage play as a format for your self-help book?

I wanted the reader to feel like part of a group, a community. A play can have that effect. There can be a very heightened, communal focus in a theater during the performance of a play. Also, as a play, it has to be imagined. Made real by imagining it. Really, my book differs from most self-help books (the stage play with stage directions, the changing font sizes for emphasis, all the famous quotes, etc.) because I wanted it to have a striking effect; I wanted it to be dramatic. There’s a sentence in the book which sums it up nicely: “There are props I use in this performance, seemingly ridiculous at times, but playfully designed to amplify its deadly serious message.”

 

3—And how should the book be read?

A reader can disregard the theatrical, stage play structure of the book and just read the text to find straight-forward self-help book information in it. But because of the serious nature of our present moment, I didn’t want it to be grave, so I built into it a kind of serious playfulness. I also love great literature and found so many beautiful quotes along the way which echoed what I was saying. I included

these in the chapters. And so my book is also a dialogue with quotes, and ideas, from great literature. The other dimension of the book I tried to create is the performance of the role of a psychotherapist. It’s intended to have a therapeutic, moving effect on an audience of readers the way a therapist can affect an individual in treatment. Finally, and urgently, I wanted the book to be an appeal to humanity about a way of looking at, and diagnosing, our whole species in one of our most dangerous moments in history.  It’s because the book is a multidimensional experience at many levels (self-help, a dialogue with quotes from great literature, a performance of a psychologist, entertainment, an appeal to humanity during a great crisis in world history), that I recommend a reader not read the book in one or two or even three sittings. I’m proposing that the book be read in 6 segments at least, as follows, to attend enough to the dimensions of it. I’ve tried to make it like a hologram, or a giant tarot card—a simultaneous experience, like what’s being conveyed in a therapy session. Seems like a lot to read too much all at once, unlike the way a novel would be read.

Up to page 13

Pages 15–47

Pages 48–90

Pages 91–121

Pages 122–149

Pages 149-185

Even smaller segments would do.

 

4—What would you say is your target audience?

I would say any late teen or adult. The book offers a theory based on science and history about why humans have emotional problems, why there’s greed, crime, corruption, oppression, genocide and war. It’s a hopeful book about what I’d like to think could be the next stage in our evolution as a species which every individual can and needs to play a role in. The book is for everyone. But I have a strong feeling that, because of its unusual design, it may appeal more to younger people, late teens and 20s, young adults. The book has a soaring feeling in it in many places. It seeks to generate awe and wonder, inspiration, and touches on great mysteries in the way it uses the universe and scientific facts as poetic metaphors. There’s also enough in the book to keep going back to it for more. And it doesn’t want to be pigeonholed or forced into any category. These things I associate with young people. And, after all, the book is 20 years old now; it’s on the brink of adulthood itself, ready for the world.

 

5—Were there any real life inspirations behind your writing of this book?

Yes, I believe, apart from it being an attempt to overcome the painful time I’ve had with reading and writing, my brother, Doug, was the inspiration. He took his life at 24 (severe bipolar disorder) precisely when I was finishing my doctorate in clinical psychology in 1986. We were the best of friends and loved being together. I miss him. The feeling in this book, the aim in it for a total view of everything in civilization and in the universe—the fun, the playfulness, the ridiculousness—hearkens me back to the way he and I would talk and carry on with each other. And, of course, inspiring the book is also an urge to heal—one and all.

 

6—How do you manage to avoid burn-out? What do you do to maintain your enthusiasm for writing?

Writing, revising are encounters with your deepest nature that you translate into words. You translate this vast wordless universe inside into a vivid strand of words that will somehow evoke what’s important. It’s all quite impossible and humbling. So I take a lot of breaks to stay refreshed. I get away from language except for the little bit of reading I’m able to do each day. I left this book aside each year from January until August. My enthusiasm for it was renewed by the time I went back to it, excited to reshape it with who I and my world had become in the interim.

 

7—What bits of advice would you give to aspiring authors?

Know yourself as deeply as you can. Be in psychotherapy for a while with a good therapist. Write about what pains you and what inspires. Go all the way to the most disturbing and wonderful things. Let yourself feel lost. Don’t stop wondering. Try to feel as much awe as you can because it’s the doorway to a paradigm shift. Learn about nature. Learn words. Be your feral self and stop using words for stretches of time. Read. Read the greatest writing you can find.

 

8—How did you celebrate after finishing this book?

Well, I completed my revisions in early July. I’m celebrating by letting the book just reverberate in my mind, feeling free of the exhausting labor of revising, preparing corrections for the publisher, reading proofs over and over. I’m celebrating by taking long walks, socializing, finding new sources of inspiration for myself as COVID-19 rages, civil unrest breaks out and this whole strange world is transforming before our eyes. 

 

9—What would you say are the most significant cultural influences of your life?

I grew up in the 60s, another time of crisis and transformation like the one we’re in now. All of the social upheavals then left a strong impression on me as I emerged into adulthood. And the space program had a powerful, hopeful effect on me as a boy and adolescent. Young people now probably don’t know that just about every 3-4 months throughout the 1960s there was the launch of a major mission into space toward the goal of going to the Moon. Imagine every 3-4 months for the boy I was to watch a liftoff and a journey into space with the astounding progress, the miraculous, quantum leaps made in each mission, and for years on end! The Beatles and the general explosion of the new music were also full of enchantment to me. The 60s felt like one great launch in many ways and on many occasions.

 

10—What’s next for you?

Because my book feels like it has reached its final form and is looking now like such a strangely direct response to our times, I feel a call to try to get the book out there and see how people feel and think about it. The ideas in it about our human nature and the calamity at our doorsteps, about what explains our troubles as a species based on what happened 14,000 years ago that we haven’t dealt with yet, what needs to happen now and what each person can do with his or her own mind to help make it happen—these ideas are compelling me to try to get it out there now.

And also, my private practice continues to engage and inspire me.