The Ego and the Dynamic Ground: A Transpersonal Theory of Human Development, Second Edition / Edition 2

by Michael Washburn

Overview

This book maps the course of human development from the earliest stages of ego development to the highest stages of ego transcendence.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780791422564
Publisher:	State University of New York Press
Publication date:	01/25/1995
Series:	Suny Series in Transpersonal and Humanisti
Edition description:	Revised
Pages:	288
Sales rank:	209,056
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 8.80(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

Michael Washburn is Associate Professor of Philosophy at Indiana University at South Bend.

Table of Contents

Preface to First Edition

Preface to Second Edition

Introduction

1. Transpersonal Theory: Two Basic Paradigms

The Dynamic-Dialectical Paradigm

The Structural-Hierarchical Paradigm

Choosing Between the Paradigms

Conclusion

2. The Body Ego

Original Embedment

The Emergence of the Ego from the Dynamic Ground and the Initial Appearance of the Great Mother

The Splitting of the Great Mother

Conflict with the Great Mother and Primal Repression

The Body Project, the Oedipus Complex, and Primal Repression

Conclusion

3. The Body Ego: Cognitive and Affective Development

The Presymbolic Stage

The Referential-Protosymbolic Stage

The Symbolic-Protoconceptual Stage

Conclusion

4. The Mental Ego

The Mental Ego's Crisis of Awakening in Adolescence

Earning Being and Value in Early Adulthood

The Mental Ego and Cognition

The Mental Ego's Difficulties at Midlife

Conclusion

5. The Unconscious

The Dynamic Ground

The Instinctual-Archetypal Unconscious

The Body Unconscious

Primal Repression

The Personal Unconscious

Conclusion

6. Meditation: The Royal Road to the Unconscious

A Definition of Meditation

Meditation and Prayer

Meditation and the Unconscious

Meditation Before and After Crossing the Threshold of Primal Repression

Beyond Meditation

Conclusion

7. Regression in the Service of Transcendence

Stage One: Withdrawal from the World

Stage Two: Encounter with the Prepersonal Unconscious

Conclusion

8. Regeneration in Spirit

General Features of the Regeneration Process

Specific Features of the Regeneration Process

Conclusion

9. Integration

Dualism Transcended: The Coincidentia Oppositorum

The Horizons of Integrated Life

Conclusion

Notes

Bibliography

Index

Editorial Reviews

"I find it a psychologically more pertinent synthesis of the claims, experiences, and insights in transpersonal development than Wilber's paradigm. It is neater, more parsimonious, and more powerful." — James N. Mosel

"Washburn brings together many insights from psychotherapy and from meditation in an incomparably illuminating map of emotional-spiritual processes of transformation." — Donald Evans

From the Publisher