'het zelf' bestaat niet

Zijn advies om kinderen op de basisschool te leren mediteren vind ik geweldig

Terminology

I need to interject here that while Sullivan’s theory of personality and personality functioning is quite similar to the Enneagram’s dynamics, his terminology is the exact opposite! What Sullivan calls “personality” is what the Enneagram means by essence or real self; and what Sullivan calls “self” is what the Enneagram describes as ego or false personality. So I’m taking the liberty of altering his nomenclature. When Sullivan speaks of “personality”, I’m going to call this “self.” And when he speaks of “self,” I’m going to call this the “conditioned self,” which is similar to the Gurdjieffian and enneagramatic notion of ego or personality. And I’m going to continue using multi-syllabic words to sound erudite.

In Sullivan’s theory, the self is the entire functioning of the person, our patterns of behavior and experience – the totality of who we are. This is similar to what Gurdjieff means by essence. The conditioned self is made up of reflected appraisals -- who others take us to be and subsequently who we take ourselves to be. As children we come to appraise ourselves as we are appraised by others. This is reminiscent of Gurdjieff’s notion of personality.

The Conditioned Self

The conditioned-self system is a complex organization of experiences derived from interactions with significant others. It involves our strategies for avoiding anxiety and establishing security. It focuses on actions that lead to approval or disapproval. Conditioned-self dynamisms are created by anxiety and are systems of anxiety-diminishing behavior.