E-Book Overview
This collection of previously published papers can be viewed as a story of the gradual emergence of an overarching idea through the course of a life’s work. The idea concerns the way emerging knowledge of developmental processes, biological systems, and therapeutic process can be integrated in terms of basic principles that govern the living system as an ongoing creative process – a process in which there is a continuing impetus, both energizing and motivational, that moves the living system toward an enhanced coherence in its engagement with its surround as it achieves an ever-increasing inclusiveness of complexity. The papers have been selected in a roughly chronological order from a career of early developmental research within the background of psychoanalytic thinking. The biological underpinnings of psychoanalysis can be extended by systems thinking. Our notions of the evolution of consciousness can also be extended from this simple level of a neural machinery essential for adaptation and survival to the capacity for the awareness of one’s own inner state within the flow of one’s engagement with one’s surround. From this enrichment of inner experiencing through evolving self-awareness, the unique organization of the "person" emerges within the developmental process – from expectancies and emotions, to values, meaning, purpose, goals, and "direction". The title of the book has been chosen to capture this sequence. Further evolution of conscious organization will enable the human species to achieve the state of being "together-with" and yet "distinct-from" as the system as a whole, on a wider, more global level, gains increasing coherence as it complexity increases. Hopefully, the implications of this idea will emerge in the reader’s thinking, as the chapters move from the level of adaptation to recognition.
E-Book Content
Living Systems, Evolving Consciousness, and the Emerging Person Psychoanalytic Inquiry Book Series Volume 26 ER9322.indb 1 10/9/07 9:12:58 AM Psychoanalytic Inquiry Book Series Vol. 1: Reflections on Self Psychology – Joseph D. Lichtenberg & Samuel Kaplan (eds.) Vol. 2: Psychoanalysis and Infant Research – Joseph D. Lichtenberg Vol. 4: Structures of Subjectivity: Explorations in Psychoanalytic Phenomenology – George E. Atwood & Robert D. Stolorow Vol. 7: The Borderline Patient: Emerging Concepts in Diagnosis, Psychodynamics, and Treatment, Vol. 2 – James S. Grotstein, Marion F. Solomon, & Joan A. Lang (eds.) Vol. 8: Psychoanalytic Treatment: An Intersubjective Approach – Robert D. Stolorow, Bernard Brandchaft, & George E. Atwood Vol. 9: Female Homosexuality: Choice Without Volition – Elaine V. Siegel Vol. 10: Psychoanalysis and Motivation – Joseph D. Lichtenberg Vol. 11: Cancer Stories: Creativity and Self-Repair – Esther Dreifuss Kattan Vol. 12: Contexts of Being: The Intersubjective Foundations of Psychological Life – Robert D. Stolorow & George E. Atwood Vol. 13: Self and Motivational Systems: Toward a Theory of Psychoanalytic Technique – Joseph D. Lichtenberg, Frank M. Lachmann, & James L. Fosshage Vol. 14: Affects as Process: An Inquiry into the Centrality of Affect in Psychological Life – Joseph M. Jones Vol. 15: Understanding Therapeutic Action: Psychodynamic Concepts of Cure – Lawrence E. Lifson (ed.) Vol. 16: The Clinical Exchange: Techniques Derived from Self and Motivational Systems – Joseph D. Lichtenberg, Frank M. Lachmann, & James L. Fosshage Vol. 17: Working Intersubjectively: Contextualism in Psychoanalytic Practice – Donna M. Orange, George E. Atwood, & Robert D. Stolorow Vol. 18: Kohut, Loewald, and the Postmoderns: A Comparative Study of Self and Relationship – Judith Guss Teicholz Vol. 19: A Spirit of Inquiry: Communication in Psychoanalysis – Joseph D. Lichtenberg, Frank M. Lachmann, & James L. Fosshage Vol. 20: Craft and Spirit: A Guide to Exp