Eros plays the unruly bastard in Freud's late metapsychology and the lead essay in this collection. The author establishes his motif by describing the uncanny coming of Eros and its unwelcome persistence in the writings of Sigmund Freud with particular attention to his two major books-The Interpretation of Dreams and Civilization and its Discontents. Offering a continuing invocation to Eros, these essays use literary allusions to encourage disorderly ways of thinking about psychology while teasing the related human needs for security, certainty, and control. The author, a psychologist, makes 'patriarchy' his 'straight man, ' and in doing so, often finds 'self-mockery' to be the play. Contents: Eros Plays; A One Page Explanatory Summary of 'Eros Plays'; Testing the Taste of Spit: A Novel Introduction to Psychology; How Firm a Foundation; PsychoBabel-Man's Quest Goes on...Until it Ends; Androgony

Don Miguel Ruiz, the author of the classic The Four Agreements and one of the most influential spiritual leaders in the world today, offers students of mystery a new path of knowledge through the most powerful force in the uni-verse: love.

Free Play is about the inner sources of spontaneous creation. It is about why we create and what we learn when we do. It is about the flow of unhindered creative energy: the joy of making art in all its varied forms. An international bestseller and beloved classic, Free Play is an inspiring and provocative book, directed toward people in any field who want to contact, honor, and strengthen their own creative powers. It reveals how inspiration arises within us, how that inspiration may be blocked, derailed or obscured, and how finally it can be liberated—how we can be liberated—to speak or sing, write or paint, dance or play, with our own authentic voice. Stephen Nachmanovitch, a pioneer in free improvisation, integrates material from a wide variety of sources among the arts, sciences, and spiritual traditions of humanity, drawing on unusual quotes, amusing and illuminating anecdotes, and original metaphors. The whole enterprise of improvisation in life and art, of recovering free play and awakening creativity, is about being true to ourselves and our visions. Free Play brings us into direct, active contact with boundless creative energies that we may not even know we had.

John Lyly, Shakespeare's forerunner in English comedy, wrote eight highly individual plays. This study of the plays, with each chapter devoted to a different play, concentrates on the courtly aspects of Lyly's work - he wrote all but one of his plays for court performance. In particular, it examines the relationship of Lylian drama to royal panegyric, a kind of writing which he did much to establish. However, the plays also present a parody of panegyric, and thus might also be said to have a counter-courtly aspect.