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The description of this book on the jacket as “The theme of the tenth Present Question Conference” explains its being, for it consists of a series of lectures given at this conference. The Editor, founder of the “Present Question” conferences and an analytical psychologist, describes in his Preface how the idea arose of which they are the expression. Deeply concerned with the effects of specialization on the individual and on the society of which he is a part, he gathered together year after year people of like mind from many fields of knowledge in an attempt to bring about communication. He himself says that the emphasis was on “fostering and deepening face-to-face discussion”. and this is what the book inevitably lacks. Nevertheless, the lectures are stimulating enough to induce thought and might well be used by study groups.
Mr. Westmann starts the ball rolling with an essay on “Man's relationship to himself”. in which he uses some of the central concepts of analytical psychology to explicate his theme. His diagnosis of the ills of our time is contained in the following sentence: “Man today suffers within his own soul the tyrannical rule of the part over the whole. The shifting of the self, as the vital centre of personality, out to the periphery, and its identification with narrow specialisms, has led directly to the impersonality of modern life, has distorted personal relationships, and falsified our recognition of personal and collective responsibility.” Vitally interested in the rise of dictatorships, he asserts that “the symbolism of the totalitarian state derives its compelling power from the fact that it represents an exteriorisation of the archetype self in a distorted form”. His plea is that man should know himself. His inspiration appears to be based on the idea that this process may be assisted by meeting the “parts” face to face in the hope that some integration may occur. This is reminiscent of the work of therapeutic groups but is necessarily a less