The universe contains three unavoidable domains: uncertainty, the need for constant work, and pain. We can meet the demands of these domains, which encapsulate the problems we all face, only by accessing the unconscious and harnessing our Life Force. While therapist Phil Stutz offers some symptom relief in The Tools, Coming Alive, and Lessons for Living, supplying a framework for understanding how to engage with our lives head-on, True and False Magic brings his entire worldview together into an actionable process—one that you can return to again and again.

Readers will encounter familiar Stutz-ian concepts like Life Force, Part X, and the Realm of Illusion, but the methods conveyed here are stitched together into both a meta-theory and a map-like protocol. Stutz’s method has long been praised by his high-powered clientele, but now anyone can follow along with the prescriptive exercises to access their unconscious and overcome life’s many hurdles.