Walter E. Conn

Understanding the Self in Self-Transcendence

Based on the work of William James and Bernard Lonergan, this article proposes an understanding of the self as a duplex, dialectical, first-person reality constituted by consciousness and experienced as “I” and “me.”

Self-Transcendence, the True Self, and Self-Love

This essay presents a unified view of Bernard Lonergans model of self-transcendence, Thomas Mertons notion of the true self, and Erich Fromms meaning of self-love.

Pastoral counseling for self-transcendence: The integration of psychology and theology

ConclusionIn the concept of self-transcendence pastoral counseling can integrate psychology and theology by seeing them as two complementary interpretations of the single radical drive of the human spirit. By moving beyond ourselves in creative understanding, realistic judgment, responsible decision, and generous love we both realize our authentic being (true self) and respond to the gospels call to loving service of the neighbor. A psychology that understands self-realization as self-transcendence and a theology that recognizes the gospel as a call to self-transcendence require no connecting bridge or reconciliation, only the discovery of their intrinsic unity as interpretations of the same fundamental human drive for self-transcendence.

The Self in Post-Freudian Psychoanalytic Theory

This article relates a theory of the duplex self constituted by consciousness and experienced as “I” and “me” to the various post-Freudian interpretations of the self.

Moral Development as Self-Transcendence

This essay explicates a contribution of developmental moral psychology to religious ethics in the task of interpreting the relationship between religion and morality. It argues that a criterion of self-transcendence is implicit in the developmental perspectives of major psychological theorists, and from this that the same drive for self-transcendence which grounds religious experience also constitutes the dynamic factor in moral consciousness—that both authentic morality and genuine religion are expressions of a single radical dynamism of the human spirit.