"Soren Kierkegaard's Purity of Heart Is to Will One Thing fell into my
hands when I was twenty years old. I was traveling alone, seeing Europe
for the first time, and being without a great deal of money, was not
seduced by the sensuous pleasures of the Parisian world. I had found a
paperback English translation on sale in a bin of used books outside a
bookshop. Purity of Heart became one of the two or three most
important books of my life."
"I felt myself become the individual to whom Kierkegaard was speaking,
and in this stirring to life in the center of my being, I realized for
the first time consciously what I now call conscience. For me,
conscience is much more than the internalized pressure of parents and
society to conform to certain arbitrary norms. It is influenced and
shaped by culture and society, as we shall see in these explorations,
but its roots lie much deeper and its meaning is more transcendent and
fateful." [From the Preface]
Murray Stein, using case studies from his clinical practice, examples of
well-known persons, and Greek legend and mythology, illustrates the
distinction between two poles of conscience - one firmly embedded in the
community of humankind, the other reaching out to the universe as a
whole.
Murray Stein, Ph.D. is a supervising training analyst and former
president of The International School of Analytical Psychology in
Zurich, Switzerland (ISAP Zurich). His most recent books include
Outside Inside and All Around, Minding the Self and The Principle of
Individuation. From 2001 to 2004 he was president of the International
Association for Analytical Psychology. He lectures internationally on
topics related to Analytical Psychology and its applications in the
contemporary world. He is publisher emeritus of Chiron Publications and
is the focus of many Asheville Jung Center online seminars.
