We-psychology (Christianity)

This psychology developed by Fritz Kunkel looks on development and operation of egocentricity as the major obstacle to surrender to God. Here the child is originally in a state of interpersonal connectedness when experience with others is integrated as part of the self, the self not being limited to one's own self but including the "we" experience, the own self with others. The inherent experience of interconnectedness is lost as a child comes in contact with the less then complete (because egocentric) love of his parents. This leads to egocentricity on the part of the child, the ego becoming the (limited) centre of existence instead of the (wider) self. This egocentric life results in alienation, being cut off from creativity and energy which arise from deep relations with others. With the ego forming a protective shell around the personality the resources for truly living are left outside and this leads to crisis. The cure is to lose what appears to be life (the system comprising mistaken ideas and values which forms the ego) in order to gain real life through commitment and engagement involving others. Initially there is an emptiness and indifference. There is knowledge of powerlessness in the individual but of power and responsibility as part of a larger unit. This "we" is seen as created, sent, supported, endowed and used by God, in whom one lives and moves and has one's being. There is then the awareness of being a tool in the hand of God, commissioned with a concrete task. Spirituality is thus self-transcendence and self-surrender.