Many of us face the difficulty of trying to change something in our nature, only to find that it is either difficult or virtually impossible. The key to solving this problem actually lies in a deeper understanding of the true nature of our psychological being. We are actually composed of various different "parts" or "planes" of action that combine together, interact with one another and impinge upon one another. This understanding allows us to differentiate between a mental idea, a force of will, an emotional movement, a vital energy, or a physical structure, and thereby more clearly understand the results of our psychological efforts and growth activities.

'The concept of the "self" has remained puzzling and controversial. Indeed, far from gaining clarity, it seems to become ever more complex; for many different people, starting from different premises and having different goals have come to "appropriate" this term. The author has made what seems to me to be a most valuable contribution by sticking firmly to an experiential approach. The author has thought hard and deeply about the different ways in which we experience the "I" and drawn on his own "I" experience as well as on those of his patients and Jung himself. 'The author tells us in his introduction that the main aim of his book is to illustrate the migratory nature of the feeling of "I" and that the goal of analysis is to "facilitate and open up interaction and intercommunication between our various selves".

His memoir, My Many Selves, is both an incisive self-examination and a creative approach to retelling his life. Writing his autobiography became a quest to harmonize the diverse, discordant parts of his identity and resolve the conflicts in what he thought and believed. To see himself clearly and whole, he broke his self down, personified the fragments, uncovered their roots in his life, and engaged his multiple identities and experiences in dialogue. Basic to his story and to its lifelong concerns with ethics and rhetoric was his youth in rural Utah. He valued that background, while acknowledging its ambiguous influence on him, and continued to identify himself as Mormon, though he renounced most Latter-day Saint doctrines. Wayne Booth died in October 2005, soon after completing work on his autobiography.

To Know Our Many Selves profiles the history of Canadian studies, which began as early as the 1840s with the Study of Canada. In discussing this comprehensive examination of culture, Hoerder highlights its unique interdisciplinary approach, which included both sociological and political angles. Years later, as the study of other ethnicities was added to the cultural story of Canada, a solid foundation was formed for the nation's master narrative.

Why you are a different you at different times and how that’s both normal and healthy • Reveals that each of us is made up of multiple selves, any of which can come to the forefront in different situations • Offers examples of healthy multiple selves from psychology, neuroscience, pop culture, literature, and ancient cultures and traditions • Explores how to harmonize our selves and learn to access whichever one is best for a given situation Offering groundbreaking insight into the dynamic nature of personality, James Fadiman and Jordan Gruber show that each of us is comprised of distinct, autonomous, and inherently valuable “selves.” They also show that honoring each of these selves is a key to improved ways of living, loving, and working. Explaining that it is normal to have multiple selves, the authors offer insights into why we all are inconsistent at times, allowing us to become more accepting of the different parts of who we and other people are. They explore, through extensive reviews, how the concept of healthy multiple selves has been supported in science, popular culture, spirituality, philosophy, art, literature, and ancient traditions and cite well-known people, including David Bowie and Beyoncé, who describe accessing another self at a pivotal point in their lives to resolve a pressing challenge. Instead of seeing the existence of many selves as a flaw or pathology, the authors reveal that the healthiest people, mentally and emotionally, are those that have naturally learned to appreciate and work in harmony with their own symphony of selves. They identify “the Single Self Assumption” as the prime reason why the benefits of having multiple selves has been ignored. This assumption holds that we each are or ought to be a single consistent self, yet we all recognize, in reality, that we are different in different situations. Offering a pragmatic approach, the authors show how you can prepare for situations by shifting to the appropriate self, rather than being “switched” or “triggered” into a sub-optimal part of who you are. They also show how recognizing your selves provides increased access to skills, talent, and creativity; enhanced energy; and improved healing and pain management. Appreciating your diverse selves will give you more empathy toward yourself and others. By harmonizing your symphony of selves, you can learn to be “in the right mind at the right time” more often.

When we first meet Kit, she's a fox. Nineteen-year-old Kit works for the research department of Shen Corporation as a phenomenaut. She's been “jumping”--projecting her consciousness, through a neurological interface--into the bodies of lab-grown animals made for the purpose of research for seven years, which is longer than anyone else at ShenCorp, and longer than any of the scientists thought possible. She experiences a multitude of other lives--fighting and fleeing as predator and prey, as mammal, bird, and reptile--in the hope that her work will help humans better understand the other species living alongside them. Her closest friend is Buckley, her Neuro--the computer engineer who guides a phenomenaut through consciousness projection. His is the voice, therefore, that's always in Kit's head and is the thread of continuity that connects her to the human world when she's an animal. But when ShenCorp's mission takes a more commercial--and ominous--turn, Kit is no longer sure of her safety. Propelling the reader into the bodies of the other creatures that share our world, The Many Selves of Katherine North takes place in the near future but shows us a dazzling world far, far from the realm of our experience.

This highly acclaimed, groundbreaking work describes the Psychology of Selves and the Voice Dialogue method. Internationally renowned psychologists Hal and Sidra Stone introduce the reader to the Pusher, Critic, Protector/Controller, and all the other members of your inner family. They have refined the process to the point where voice dialogue is considered one of the most effective techniques in psychology today.

Who are we? Why are we alive? What are we here to do? What is the meaning and significance of our lives? These questions nag at us at times in our everyday lives until finally we take them up and try to unravel the mystery of our existence and the existence of the universal creation. Sri Aurobindo and the Mother have taken up these questions and provided a way of understanding and a method for progress in finding and applying the solutions we find. They do so by showing us the complex and multiple different ‘selves’ that make up what we believe to be a unified external personality. In fact, we are not so simple, and not so unified in our being. There are conflicting drives and forces at work which create internal conflict and, in many cases, defeat us in the achievement of our highest goals and aspirations. By understanding this complex makeup of our being, we are able to find a path to liberation from this bondage without at the same time, having to totally abandon all action in the world. Our Many Selves: Practical Yogic Psychology, compiled by Dr. A.S. Dalal from the writings of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother, is an extremely useful text to aid us in the process of self-discovery and self-actualization. It is a benefit to spiritual seekers regardless of the specific path followed, as it is not based on any particular religious or philosophical dogma. At the same time, the deeper understanding provided by this text can aid even those who are not actively and consciously practicing yoga for the sake of self-knowledge or self-realization, as it will help each individual work through the pressures, the internal debates, and inner conflicts that frequently impact the individual's ability to act and succeed in their intended goals, even when they are purely based on fulfilling the external personality. If we can understand the forces that bring us to feeding addictions, procrastinating, living an unhealthy and imbalanced lifestyle, sabotaging our relations with others, then we can begin to achieve a more harmonious and successful life however we choose to define success. Dr. Dala states: “This book is meant to bear out Sri Aurobindo’s oft-quoted statement, ‘Yoga is nothing but practical psychology.’ Generally, yoga is viewed as made up of certain set practices and certain rules and norms pertaining to one’s outer life. In contrast to this view Our Many Selves… present Yoga as consisting essentially in inner psychological work aimed at the transformation of consciousness.”

John M. Doris presents a new account of agency and responsibility, which reconciles our understanding of ourselves as moral agents with psychological research on the unconscious mind. Much philosophical theorizing maintains that the exercise of morally responsible agency consists in judgment and behavior ordered by accurate reflection. On such theories, when human beings are able to direct their lives in the manner philosophers have dignified with the honorific 'agency', it's because they know what they're doing, and why they're doing it. This understanding is compromised by quantities of psychological research on unconscious processing, which suggests that accurate reflection is distressingly uncommon; very often behavior is ordered by surprisingly inaccurate self-awareness. Thus, if agency requires accurate reflection, people seldom exercise agency, and skepticism about agency threatens. To counter the skeptical threat, John M. Doris proposes an alternative theory that requires neither reflection nor accurate self-awareness: he identifies a dialogic form of agency where self-direction is facilitated by exchange of the rationalizations with which people explain and justify themselves to one another. The result is a stoutly interdisciplinary theory sensitive to both what human beings are like—creatures with opaque and unruly psychologies-and what they need: an account of agency sufficient to support a practice of moral responsibility.