HONORING THE SELF --- PERSONAL INTEGRITY AND THE HEROIC POTENTIALS OF HUMAN NATURE by Nathaniel Branden, Jeremy P. Tarcher, Los Angeles, 1983

    INTRODUCTION (p1-7)

      Of all the judgments that we pass in life, noe is as important as the one we pass on ourselves, for that judgment touches the very center of our existence. We stand in the midst of an almost infinite network of relationships. Relationships to other people, to things, and to the universe itself!

      Of all our relationships, the one we can never escape is the relationship to ourselves. No significant aspect of our thinking, motivation, feelings, or behavior is unaffected by our self-evaluation, which is the degree of personal acceptance, either positive or negative of ourselves. We are not only conscious, but also self-conscious, which is either our glory or our burden.

      We monitor, assess, and question ourselves in a way possible to no other species. We ask: "Who am I? What do I want? Where am I going? What is my purpose in life? Is my behavior appropriate to this purpose? Am I proud or ashamed of my choices and actions? Am I happy or unhappy to be who I am?"

      We have the ability to ask ourselves such questions, or to ignore them. But the questions are always there, waiting for our response, even if we choose to pretend they do not exist or do not concern us, since they are the fundamental aspect of our human existence.

      This book is about the ultimate human encounter, which is the relationship of the "I" to the "me," or the "ego" to the "SELF." The issues involved by this encounter reach into and impact virtually every significant human experience --- from the level of our Self-Esteem to the kind of person we are likely to fall inlove with, to the ambitions and life-goals we are likely to set for ourselves, to our most intimately personal sense of what it means to be a human being. (p1)

      At each step in this book, there will be a confrontation with some form of the question:

      "Shall I honor or shall I betray my "SELF"?
    PART 1--- THE DYNAMICS OF SELF-ESTEEM (p9-110)

      1) Self-Esteem in human life (p11-18)

      2) The need for Self-Esteem (p19-30

      3) Self-Esteem and child-parent relationships (p31-49)

      4) Generating positive Self-Esteem (p50-65)

      5) The problem of guilt (p66-75)

      6) Motivation by fear (p76-91)

      7) Self-Esteem, work, and love (p92-110)

    PART 2 --- THE STRUGGLE FOR INDIVIDUATION (p111-35)

      8) Evolving toward autonomy (p131-139)

      9) The problem of self-alienation (p140-161)

      10) The art of being (p162-190)

      11) Death anxiety (p191-201)

      12) Psychotherapy (p204-235)

    PART 3 --- EGOISM (p203-5)

      12) Rational Selfishness (p205-223)

      13) Self-sacrifice (p224-229)

      14) Individualism and the free society (p230-241)

      15) Self-Esteem and beyond (p242-256)

    BIBLIOGRAPHY (p257-262)

    INDEX (p263-271)

    ABOUT THE AUTHOR (p273)

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