The Meaning of Things

The Meaning of Things PDF Author: Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9780521287746
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 324

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Book Description
The meaning of things is a study of the significance of material possessions in contemporary urban life, and of the ways people carve meaning out of their domestic environment. Drawing on a survey of eighty families in Chicago who were interviewed on the subject of their feelings about common household objects, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi and Eugene Rochberg-Halton provide a unique perspective on materialism, American culture, and the self. They begin by reviewing what social scientists and philosophers have said about the transactions between people and things. In the model of 'personhood' that the authors develop, goal-directed action and the cultivation of meaning through signs assume central importance. They then relate theoretical issues to the results of their survey. An important finding is the distinction between objects valued for action and those valued for contemplation. The authors compare families who have warm emotional attachments to their homes with those in which a common set of positive meanings is lacking, and interpret the different patterns of involvement. They then trace the cultivation of meaning in case studies of four families. Finally, the authors address what they describe as the current crisis of environmental and material exploitation, and suggest that human capacities for the creation and redirection of meaning offer the only hope for survival. A wide range of scholars - urban and family sociologists, clinical, developmental and environmental psychologists, cultural anthropologists and philosophers, and many general readers - will find this book stimulating and compelling.

The Meaning of Things

The Meaning of Things PDF Author: Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9780521287746
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 324

Get Book Here

Book Description
The meaning of things is a study of the significance of material possessions in contemporary urban life, and of the ways people carve meaning out of their domestic environment. Drawing on a survey of eighty families in Chicago who were interviewed on the subject of their feelings about common household objects, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi and Eugene Rochberg-Halton provide a unique perspective on materialism, American culture, and the self. They begin by reviewing what social scientists and philosophers have said about the transactions between people and things. In the model of 'personhood' that the authors develop, goal-directed action and the cultivation of meaning through signs assume central importance. They then relate theoretical issues to the results of their survey. An important finding is the distinction between objects valued for action and those valued for contemplation. The authors compare families who have warm emotional attachments to their homes with those in which a common set of positive meanings is lacking, and interpret the different patterns of involvement. They then trace the cultivation of meaning in case studies of four families. Finally, the authors address what they describe as the current crisis of environmental and material exploitation, and suggest that human capacities for the creation and redirection of meaning offer the only hope for survival. A wide range of scholars - urban and family sociologists, clinical, developmental and environmental psychologists, cultural anthropologists and philosophers, and many general readers - will find this book stimulating and compelling.

Self, Symbols, and Society

Self, Symbols, and Society PDF Author: Nathan Rousseau
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 9780742516311
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 392

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Book Description
Students of social psychology can read in this new text original writings assembled from the founders of sociology in the nineteenth century to the latest influential works by contemporary sociologists today. Readers can gain from this book a greater appreciation of social history, deeper self-knowledge, and a heightened sense of civic concern and responsibility. Visit our website for sample chapters!

Symbols and the Self

Symbols and the Self PDF Author: Violet Shelley
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Parapsychology
Languages : en
Pages : 60

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Book Description


The Dream Book

The Dream Book PDF Author: Betty Bethards
Publisher: SCB Distributors
ISBN: 0967979064
Category : Self-Help
Languages : en
Pages : 200

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Book Description
What does it mean if you dream you're being chased by someone in a dream night after night? What if you're flying, or falling, or spitting out teeth? Should you be embarrassed if you happen to be walking through Grand Central Station in the nude? You dream every night, even if you don't remember your dreams. Dreams are an important key to self-discovery, offering insight, guidance, and inspirations. All dreams--even nightmares--contain positive messages. The trick is learning to decipher the symbolism so you can understand what your dreams are trying to tell you. The Dream Book: includes interpretation of 1,650 dream symbols, along with explanations of recurring dreams, prophetic dreams, violent dreams, dreams about snakes, aboutsex, money, death, and more. You'll also learn to remember your dreams more clearly and discover ways to use them to solve problems in waking hours.

The Book of Symbols

The Book of Symbols PDF Author: Archive for Research in Archetypal Symbolism
Publisher: Taschen America Llc
ISBN: 9783836514484
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 807

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Book Description
Offers photograph illustrations and essays on numerous symbols and symbolic imagery, exploring their archetypal meanings as well as cultural and historical context for how different groups have interpreted them.

The Undiscovered Self

The Undiscovered Self PDF Author: C. G. Jung
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 1400839173
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 157

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Book Description
These two essays, written late in Jung's life, reflect his responses to the shattering experience of World War II and the dawn of mass society. Among his most influential works, "The Undiscovered Self" is a plea for his generation--and those to come--to continue the individual work of self-discovery and not abandon needed psychological reflection for the easy ephemera of mass culture. Only individual awareness of both the conscious and unconscious aspects of the human psyche, Jung tells us, will allow the great work of human culture to continue and thrive. Jung's reflections on self-knowledge and the exploration of the unconscious carry over into the second essay, "Symbols and the Interpretation of Dreams," completed shortly before his death in 1961. Describing dreams as communications from the unconscious, Jung explains how the symbols that occur in dreams compensate for repressed emotions and intuitions. This essay brings together Jung's fully evolved thoughts on the analysis of dreams and the healing of the rift between consciousness and the unconscious, ideas that are central to his system of psychology. This paperback edition of Jung's classic work includes a new foreword by Sonu Shamdasani, Philemon Professor of Jung History at University College London.

The Meaning of Things

The Meaning of Things PDF Author: Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Dwellings
Languages : en
Pages : 304

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Book Description


Dreamwork and Self-Healing

Dreamwork and Self-Healing PDF Author: Greg Bogart
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 0429912994
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 347

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Book Description
There have been many previous books on the physiology of dreaming, the history of dream interpretation, and the meaning of specific dream symbols. But there have been relatively few books exploring the moment-by-moment process of interpreting dreams. This book guides you through this interpretive process, and illustrates how dreamwork promotes emotional, relational, and spiritual transformation. It explores how working with dreams enhances our emotional life, deepens our capacity for relationship, and helps us gracefully navigate change and transitions. The author shows that dreamwork is a natural antidepressant, is effective in transforming anger, bereavement, couples conflicts and impasses, and aids the process of individuation. The book explores archetypal themes and complexes, synchronistic experiences and spiritual awakening in dreams, and representations of the body in dreams. The final chapter, "Taming Wild Horses", explores animal dream symbolism and its importance for enhancing our human sexuality. The book also describes the Dream Mandala, a method of self-transformation through the union of opposites - the charged polarities of the personality.

Psyche and Symbol

Psyche and Symbol PDF Author: C. G. Jung
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 0691019037
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 426

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Book Description
The archetypes of human experience which derive from the deepest unconscious mind and reveal themselves in the universal symbols of art and religion as well as in the individual symbolic creations of particular people are, for C. G. Jung, the key to the cure of souls, the cornerstone of his therapeutic work. This volume explains the function and origin of these symbols. Here the reader will find not only a general orientation to Jung's point of view but extensive studies of the symbolic process and its integrating function in human psychology as it is reflected in the characteristic spiritual productions of Europe and Asia. Violet de Laszlo has selected for inclusion in Psyche and Symbol five selections from Aion: "The Ego," "The Shadow," "The Syzygy: Anima and Animus," "The Self," and "Christ, A Symbol of the Self." The book continues with "The Phenomenology of the Spirit in Fairy Tales," "The Psychology of the Child Archetype," and "Transformation Symbolism in the Mass." Also included are the foreword to the Cary Banes translation of the I Ching, two chapters from Synchronicity: An Acausal Connecting Principle, "Psychological Commentary on The Tibetan Book of the Dead," and "Commentary on The Secret of the Golden Flower."

The Meaning of Things

The Meaning of Things PDF Author: A.C. Grayling
Publisher: Hachette UK
ISBN: 1780221169
Category : Self-Help
Languages : en
Pages : 173

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Book Description
A refreshing distillation of insights into the human condition, by one of the best-known and most popular philosophers in the UK. Thinking about life, what it means and what it holds in store does not have to be a despondent experience, but rather can be enlightening and uplifting. A life truly worth living is one that is informed and considered so a degree of philosophical insight into the inevitabilities of the human condition is inherently important and such an approach will help us to deal with real personal dilemmas. This book is an accessible, lively and thought-provoking series of linked commentaries, based on A. C. Grayling's 'The Last Word' column in the GUARDIAN. Its aim is not to persuade readers to accept one particular philosophical point of view or theory, but to help us consider the wonderful range of insights which can be drawn from an immeasurably rich history of philosophical thought. Concepts covered include courage, love, betrayal, ambition, cruelty, wisdom, passion, beauty and death. This will be a wonderfully stimulating read and act as an invaluable guide as to what is truly important in living life, whether facing success, failure, justice, wrong, love, loss or any of the other profound experience life throws out.