This paper attempts to consider how the emergence of new viewpoints on the theoretical understanding of the 'self' as a psychic phenomenon will reflect important nuances for analytic listening and necessitate some fundamental theoretical reconsiderations. Kohut's formulations are highlighted as having made a unique impact in these areas. Shifting dimensions of analytic listening, bearing on the conceptualization of the meaning of 'empathy', may permit more subtle elucidation of a developmental ontogeny of the 'self', viewed in its creative, maturational, as well as pathological lights. Striking parallels with current directions in infancy research suggest that a special bonus of such exploration may be the offer of a bridge between the fields of analytic and infant observation.