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cupation with enhancing self-esteem, and remediation of the false self and the disco-
instead she recommends attending to out- very of the true self are, likewise, brought
ward experiences and fulfilling one’s aims about ultimately through divine grace,
in life, striving to meet self-determined though God does work within the psycho-
goals; it’s good to pursue behaviors and vir- social order.
tues that do not yet feel authentic to one- Another serious flaw that stems from ejec-
self, so long as the desire to change in these ting God is that the secular perspective
ways is authentic. purports that the final goals of true self-
Lastly, Harter (2012) recommends mindful- understanding are to enjoy experiences of
ness, which she describes as “living in the self, other, and engaging in culture. But the-
moment” but not “for the moment,” atten- se are subordinate goals in a Christian per-
ding to the world you live in so that you can spective, where these goals are a means of
make the most out of the present moment growing more aware of God and receptive
instead of being pent up in the past or fu- of his love.
ture. In my book, I offer several more examples
There’s a lot to like and appreciate about of how the secular perspective falls short,
what Winnicott and Harter say. Their re- but despite the significant lacuna in their
search contributes valuable insight into the theories about the ethical and spiritual or-
false self and true self, particularly in terms ders of life, their attention to the develop-
of human development. mental and social aspects of the self has
However, neither Winnicott nor Harter in- yielded important insights that a substan-
cluded God or the spiritual realm in their tial psychology of the self should not omit.
thinking about these things, except to
speak dismissively. One’s biology, psycholo- A Christian Perspective: The Self, False
gy, social life, and even morality are impor- Self, True Self, and Interventions
tant, but not any supposedly divine source Harter, Winnicott, Merton, Kierkegaard,
behind our existence. For Winnicott (1986), Luther, and Augustine agree that self-re-
God is merely a projection of our innate flection is not only an essential aspect of
moral sense. And while Harter (2012) ap- our life as human beings, but one that can
provingly quotes Buddhist scholars, recom- make or break us. Self-consciousness enab-
mending meditation and mindfulness, she les us to know ourselves, to know ourselves
admits these practices can be stripped of in relation to others, and to be shaped by
their “religious trappings” without losing that knowledge, for either good or bad.
their effectiveness. No one shows that more perceptively than
That Winnicott and Harter exclude God and psychologists like Winnicott and Harter—
the spiritual realm from their discourse is when it comes to the developmental, psy-
not only impermissible in a Christian per- chological, and sociological levels. But as
spective but crippling to their theory of Scripture reveals, there is a deeper spiri-
health. While they rightly discern the im- tual level that is more fundamental and si-
portance of the psychosocial order, by ma- gnificant. The ability to know ourselves, or
king it primary they end up missing the real self-consciousness, is primarily given to us
problem and its solution. so that we can know ourselves in relation
False self-understanding is due to to God. The self is not merely an individual
humanity’s fallen condition, which is fun- or social construct, but a gift from God to
damentally a moral and spiritual issue. The enable relationship with God.
God made us capable for self-understan-
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