Being at Home in Conscious Performance

EncantoEditions

PUBLISHER OF PHILOSOPHICAL TEXTS

Mark D. Morelli, SELF-POSSESSION: BEING AT HOME IN CONSCIOUS PERFORMANCE [2nd Edition,2019] paperback, 358 pp. ISBN 978-0-578-50787-3  Library of Congress Control Number: 2016910822

$35.95 US

This book is a meditative exploration of our inescapable and fluid relationship to the fundamental ideals of Meaning, Objectivity, Knowledge, Truth, Reality, and Value upon which we depend to inform and guide our living. It is an attempt to describe the elusive interior experience of these basic notions at work in our conscious performance. It is inspired by the work of Bernard Lonergan, but it is not an account of his ideas. It is an independent exercise in taking possession of oneself as a seeker of meaning and value.

REVIEWS

“This book is remarkable in many ways: it is accessible and profound, humorous in a tongue-in-cheek kind of way and serious, very interesting to read in such a way that it is hard to put down, and very fundamental in confronting basic issues of human thinking and living such as selfhood, authenticity, knowing, objectivity, truth, and freedom.” James Marsh, Professor Emeritus, Philosophy, Fordham University

“It is as if music and color is washing over the rather austere architecture of INSIGHT, allowing it to do its real work in the life of the reader.” Tom Cosgrove, Professor of Civil Engineering, University of Limerick

“For those who want a pedagogically oriented introduction to what Lonergan called self-appropriation, for those who want to appropriate the philosophical basis for Catholic theology, for those who simply want to get to know themselves better, I could not recommend this book more highly. It is an important book. The stakes are high, impacting nothing less than the direction of our culture and our universities, as well as the ‘counter-cultures’ that hopefully are our Catholic universities.” Richard M. Liddy, University Professor of Catholic Thought and Culture, Seton Hall University

“I have to confess that I am not equipped to follow Lonergan very far, except to get his drift. Reading your version of his language, brought into the world of every day, is a true wonder.” Richard Dawson, Restorative Justice Services, Otautahi Christchurch, New Zealand

“. . . Morelli’s meditations are just the opposite of logic puzzles and trolley problems. Morelli’s meditations are existential lures into the philosophical act itself.” Thomas Jeannot, Professor of Philosophy, Gonzaga University

‘This is exactly what the doctor ordered. My thinking is that Catholic universities need to develop a core curriculum of philosophy courses that teach students self-appropriation and also links self-appropriation to the skills for discerning the religious or spiritual or mystical dimension of their own conscious experiences. Your book does the former beautifully and provides a splendid intro into the second.” Kenneth Melchin, Professor Emeritus, Theology, St. Paul University