Explorations into the Self

Book excerpt: This rewarding work is the product of sustained observation of and reflection on phenomena arising out of three broad topics in the field of analytical psychology. Firstly it analyses and evaluates the ambiguity in Jung's definitions and metaphors about the self, while at the same time expounding the theory of the self as a dynamic system, evolving through deintegration and reintegration processes during early infancy and childhood. Secondly it investigates the relation of the ego to the self, giving notable consideration to psychoanalytic work. Finally the presence of the self, behind or within both the religious and the alchemical experience, is explored. Fordham's innovative and original view of the self further extends our understanding of its dynamics and helps to establish some sense of the complementariness as well as differences between Jung and Klein.