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Dennis MacCombie, Ph.D.

Who am I?  That, of course can be seen as the ultimate question.  It can also be used as a contemplation or as a koan.  For the present purpose it is commonly followed by a summary of experiences and achievements.  I will try to answer in several ways that are both complimentary to each other and at the same time inseparable and interwoven.  The first has to do with academic experience, the second involves life experiences and the third relates to the personal, or spiritual, if you will, path I follow.  My intended goal is to allow you to know me a bit better, at least at the relative level, than would be possible in a standard biography.

The Academic Procession

Following my discharge from the military (which certainly had been an educational experience in and of itself) in 1969, I entered college and received my undergraduate degree in Psychology from Indiana University in Bloomington.  I completed my doctoral work in Developmental Psychology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill where I focused on social development and social interaction in children.  I joined the psychology faculty at Kent State University where I shifted my focus to psychological development across the lifespan.  Although curiosity pulled me towards research, a desire to more directly impact on the human condition drew me to hands-on work and I added a specialization in Clinical Psychology.
 
My initial approach to psychological work arose out of humanistic and existential ground.  I have extensive training in Rational Emotive Therapy (RET) as well as five years of training in Gestalt Therapy from the Gestalt Institute of Cleveland.  In the early ninety’s, through some of my explorations at the Gestalt Institute, I was drawn to the older wisdom traditions of the East.  Early on I became intrigued and enchanted by the wisdom of Taoism and explored how it might be applied to parenting (which was of special interest at the time, then having two young sons).  Explorations of Zen, Buddhism and Nonduality have followed. 

The Vicissitudes of Life

I first read the quote at the start of this page in a book by Thich Nhat Hanh and it captures for me a primary thread that runs throughout my life.  At some level there has always been a quest to understand the mind and why people think and behave the way they do. 

My journey of understanding begins earlier in adolescence but the clearest memory I have comes from when I was serving in the army during the time of the Vietnam War.  I was stationed at Fort Monroe, Virginia and spent much of my free time in the bookstore at the College of William and Mary in nearby Williamsburg.  Trying to better understand myself, as well as the craziness of the military experience and the ongoing war, I remember when I bought an unlikely pair of books—one on Freudian psychology and another on Skinnerian Behaviorism.  Reading these books—truly the yin and yang of psychological thinking of the time—offered some understanding and also left much puzzlement, but the seeds of my curiosity were fertilized and watered.

Following college, graduate school and my time teaching at Kent State I met and married another psychologist, and in time we had two sons.  We worked as clinical psychologists, created a family together, enjoyed our lives, traveled and so on.  Marriage and family life had their complexities but all-in-all life was good.

Next, life became a little more complicated and significantly less happy as death, change and disease appeared.  My wife died from a brain tumor in the mid-ninety’s, the storm and thunder of adolescent change came soon after and then my own experience of cancer followed some time later.  It was the latter, and the final realization that I might not, in fact, live forever, that propelled me deeper into the study of Buddhism and the development of a deep and meaningful meditation practice. 

A path to follow

I have attended retreats/teachings with Thich Nhat Hahn, the Dalai Lama and others.  Much support has come from sitting with the Cleveland Insight Meditation group.  I have spent countless mindful hours on the cushion and even more hours in deep mindful awareness off the cushion at the “urging” of J. Krishnamurti’s writings.

My Buddhist studies have taken me to The Barre Center for Buddhist Studies in Barre, Massachusetts where I have studied Buddhist psychology under the guidance of Dr. Andrew Olendzki, explored the use of mindfulness in therapy and received teachings from Stephen and Martine Batchelor. 

I find much truth, and much to agree with, in the writings of Eckhart Tolle and A. H. Almass among many others.  And over the past few years I have had the extensive benefit of learning from Peter Fenner and experiencing his Radiant Mind training.  The latter has led me to deeper explorations of Nonduality. 

Post Script

I am remarried now to Susan, a friend and colleague from our days at the Gestalt Institute.  She “arrived” in time to support me and my sons through their adolescence as well as my successful engagement with cancer.

Our son Daniel recently graduated from Brown University and is currently working in Ecuador starting up a company to grow and import a unique rain forest grown tea that will not only offer a useful new product but will be developed in such a way as to benefit both the environment and the indigenous population.  Our son Michael is finishing his undergraduate degree with a triple focus on public policy, education and economics.

Susan and I live in the woods outside the small town of Chagrin Falls, Ohio.  We continue our spiritual practices, our work and our learning among the trees of an old growth forest where we listen to the quiet conversations of cicadas, owls and other woodland creatures.  We continue to pursue our understanding of how the mind works while at the same time exploring the nondual space of unconditioned awareness, living our lives at the boundary of understanding and presence.