THE REFLEXION OF SELF IN THE MIRROR OF WESTERN AND EASTERN CULTURE

Abstract

The main objective of this paper is to attempt to define the concept of self in western, science-based thinking and practice, also through the eastern, religiousbased interpretations. It has been highlighted the multidimensional nature of self, as the achievements of western academic insights. On the other hand, it has been analyzed the holistic and combining essence of self, which is characteristic for the Eastern doctrines. We have presented some contemporary models of personality (Five-Factor Model, Six-Factor Model, Seven-Factor Model, The Big Two and The Big One), in order to describe the structure of what is called the manifest self. The concept of exclusive self has been introduced, as the counterpart to the aspirations of self-negation in the East. The possibility of synthesis of western and eastern effort to approach and understand the self, has been discussed with the reference to the basic postulates of transpersonal psychology (which is known as ''the fourth force in psychology''). It was concluded that the self should be understood as an axis of personality, i.e., as a dynamic force whose significant characteristic is flexibility. Self possesses mechanisms that hold together all components of personality, and the existence of its various layers can best be understood as a shift of consciousness from the surface to deep parts of the psyche and vice versa.