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Polarities of
Experience The Psychology of the Real by Richard Rubens
About Polarities of Experience This is a
book about choices—the choices we make that shape our Experience, Expression, and Intimacy. These choices determine the nature of what our life is and what it will
be. Based on decades of clinical
practice, teaching, and writing, The
Polarities of Experience is a series of deeply personal philosophical
reflections by psychoanalyst Richard Rubens on dealing with the realities of
our world and the people in it. The Polarities of Experience is an exploration of how the
ability to remain close to the immediacy of experience determines the
direction our life moves. The closer to reality the direction of our choices, the
more positive and meaningful our life becomes; the further we retreat from reality into the direction of depression, aggression,
inequality, or authoritarianism, the more diminished life becomes. This book explores ten Polarities—spectrums along which our choices
position us. Once we understand
them, these Polarities enable us to improve our choices and generate positive
change in the life we create. Can we accept the loss that comes with
growth and change, or do we retreat into depression? Do we positively express our
selfhood, or do we become aggressive?
Can we be intimate, or must we avoid it by substituting power, abuse,
dependence, or deceit? Do we
accept our freedom and the responsibility that goes with it, or do we run to
authoritarianism? Can we accept
the novelty and mixed nature of the world and the separateness of people in
it, or must we distort in ways that prevent us from growing and becoming
healthy and mature? The Polarities of Experience provides numerous personal examples which bring
life and clarity to the book’s philosophical ideas. Seasoned
psychoanalysts will find useful and novel approaches to familiar concepts;
those with no background in psychology will find a fascinating introduction
to sophisticated ways of thinking about relationships and the meaning of
being an individual in the world.
The Polarities of Experience
will lead you to a more positive and creative understanding of self-assertion
in the world, intimacy in relationships, and healthy personal functioning. |
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