For readers who are familiar with Albert Ellis's thought about rational-emotive therapy, I would suggest that Tony can be described as Albert Ellis on steroids.
But what would Tony call the healthy way to be?
According to him, the healthy way to be would be to be without attachments, because by definition attachments are not healthy. Nevertheless, he does not regularly use the root word of "attachments" to suggest a name for the alternate healthy way to be. For example, he only occasionally uses the term non-attachment to characterize the healthy way to be.
Instead of using the term non-attachment repeatedly, he uses the term "love" to characterize the healthy way to be -- to be in love. So according to Tony, when we experience love as the healthy way to be, then we are free of attachments, which is to say that our ego-consciousness is not encumbered by the baggage of attachments. For him, freedom involves being free of unhealthy baggage.
In this way, he uses the term "love" to name and explain the mystic experience of the sacred in the present moment.
Tricky, eh?
I should mention that the Canadian Jesuit philosopher and theologian Bernard Lonergan (1904-1984) formulated five transcendental precepts for people to follow that are 100% compatible with Tony's basic advice about love unencumbered by baggage, as he puts it:
(1) Be Attentive.
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