‘History’ at Psychology, Philosophy and Real Life

In this second of the series on sense of self and how it differs across cultures, I am going to look at the interconnected or relational self, and how awareness of how interdependent we are might lead to fear of others.

It seems to me that a good life is a mix of these three realms: the sensual enjoyment of the physical, the pleasure of discovering and expressing our uniqueness and the delight we take in what is beyond ourselves.

Our conceptualizations of the situations we find ourselves in can not only place us at a disadvantage, but can literally do us harm.

I’d like to say that it is an essential part of psychotherapy to contribute to making the world a better place.

The experiment is to get in touch with 100 years before and after your birth. Why 100 years? This is the time span that we are fairly directly personally connected to: from our grandparents to our grandchildren, roughly speaking.