Renate Daniel

The Self: Quest for Meaning in a Changing World

With a foreword by Verena Kast

164 pages, ISBN 978-3-85630-781-3

Whoever engages in C.G. Jung’s concept of the self will be confronted with questions relating to humanity, and concepts of God, the divine and faith. Jung deems it necessary to treat these topics on a psychological level because of the far-reaching implications they have on the way we live and relate to each other. But they also impact on ethical attitudes, ideologies, social processes and therapeutic models. Scientific evidence usually proves difficult. A certain open-mindedness towards this topic is expected on the part of the reader, and it would be helpful to embrace the ideas put forward ‘without prejudice’ for the moment. This book aims to help readers become more aware of their own ideas and convictions and how these may influence one’s self-image and worldview.

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Contents

About the author

Foreword by Verena Kast

Introduction

1. C.G. Jung’s Concept of Ego and Self

   Ego, Ego-Consciousness and Ego-Complex in C.G. Jung’s Teachings

   The Self in C.G. Jung’s Teachings

   The Paradox of the Self

   Symbols of the Self

   The Self as God the Father – the Ego as the Child of God

   The Development of the Self

   Abstraction of the Image of God

2. Fate and the Self over the Course of Time

   Diffusion of Responsibility

   Concepts of Fate are Subject to the Zeitgeist

   Concepts of Illness Depend on the Zeitgeist

   The Human Share of Evil

   The Burden of Guilt

   The Devil in Today’s World

   Spiders and Stones as Symbols of the Self

   Machsal

3. Borderline Experiences: Birth and Death

   From Home to Hospital – Childbirth as a Medical Procedure

   Reproductive Medicine

   From Home to Hospital – Death as a Medical Procedure

   Who Owns Death?

   Death as a Narcissistic Injury

   Guidelines for Active Euthanasia?

4. The Eye as a Symbol of the Self

   Being Seen

   Seeing as a Means of Power and Autonomy

   On the Difficulty of Trusting

   On the Nature of Beauty

   Beauty is in the Eye of the Beholder and the Respective (Sub-)Culture

   Beauty is no longer God-given, but Hard Work

   Beauty in Psychotherapeutic Practice

   Transference and Countertransference of Beauty

5. The Dark Self

   Christ as a Self-Symbol?

   Cannibalism

   Emptiness

   The Dark Self in Therapy

   Banishing Evil? On Trending Taboos

6. The Ego, the Self and Time

   To Whom Does Time Belong?

   Quality and Demands of Time

   Accelerated Life

   The Unlived Life

   Mental Illness as a Consequence of Modern Time Use

   Eternity

Afterword

Literature

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Renate Daniel, M.D., a specialist in psychiatry, psychotherapy and psychoanalysis and Director of Programs at the C.G. Jung Institute in Zürich, has been a psychotherapist in private practice for many years. She is the ­author of Nur Mut! Die Kunst, schwierige Situationen zu meistern (2011) as well as numerous published articles.