Children and EEs/EHEs Record Type: Review   ID: 751
Reclaiming the Inner Child Abrams, Jeremiah (Ed.).
This anthology is divided into six parts, which the editor describes as follows: "Part 1 examines the mythic dimensions of the inner child theme, the innate images of childhood and childlikeness that we all carry. Here we meet the archetype of the child and the divine child, the poetic and mysterious child-god filled with promise and possibility, reverie and wonder, rebirth and renewal, the very highest and best in all of us. Part 2 carries the theme of abandonment—figurative, literal, intentional, unintentional; the abandoned, repressed, unloved, or lost child, the victim of fate, circumstance, and neglect. Part 3 focuses on the paradigmatic problem of narcissistic disturbances, the minefield most children have to cross, the inner dilemma of our time. Here we learn about the effects of inner conflicts on the formation of self, self-concept, and character. We meet the puer aeternus, the eternal youth who, in order to avoid further loss, hovers above life, living only provisionally. Though exuberant and charming, this disturbed inner child is not yet willing to take life for real. Part 4 is about the wounded child, the child as victim, abused, abandoned, neglected, a product of dysfunctional family life or societal indifference. Where there is wounding there is also healing, and all the pieces in this section also address the healing of that wounded inner child. Part 5 moves up and out, beyond the vale of tears and injury, to the practical tasks of recovering the younger self, of realizing the child's gifts and embracing its vitality. Part 6 examines the revitalization of child-rearing practices through knowledge and awareness of the child within" (p. 11). Each part begins with section introductions, and each selection is also introduced. This book is important for this website because it is in childhood that we are most likely to experience EHEs.
Publisher Information:	Los Angeles, CA: Jeremy P. Tarcher, 1990. 323p. Bibl: 317-320; Chap. bibl: 303-311; 3 figs; 1 table

Previous review in this category

List All Titles in This Category (16) Book Reviews Menu

Next review in this category

All website graphics, materials and content copyright © 1997-2003
by EHE Network. All rights reserved. For permissions
please contact EHEN's Executive Director, Rhea A. White.

Web Media Management by Palyne Gaenir of ScienceHorizon.

Exceptional Human Experience Network

www.ehe.org