Abstract
When we are genuinely surprised by someone we know well, the surprise is likely to become a milestone in the relationship with that person. In the previous chapter, we looked at the experience of coming to be present to the other “as if for the first time.” In this experience, we discover in a compelling and concrete way that the personhood of the other far exceeds the image we had of him or her. A deepening of the relationship characteristically follows.
Keywords
- Psychoanalytic Theory
- Ambivalent Feeling
- Campus Ministry
- Good Breast
- Psychic Structure
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Maturity, like all coming to oneself, requires a break with what has been inherited. We come to ourselves only in confrontation with the other.
Erwin Straus1
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Notes
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© 2008 Steen Halling
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Halling, S. (2008). On Being Disillusioned by a Significant Other. In: Intimacy, Transcendence, and Psychology. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230610255_3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230610255_3
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