Introduction

This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book turns to inter-subjectivity as the basis for an ecological identity. It explores the transitional experience of international students making it clear that the difficulties faced once such students find themselves cast into a monocultural milieu such as Australia are extreme. The book also explores the intriguing link between mediation and meditation. It considers the transitional self from the perspective of Neohumanism, a socio-spiritual philosophy proposed by Indian guru and philosopher Prabhat Ranjan Sarkar. The book explains issues pertaining to trans-sexual identity in which the struggle hinges on ‘a new discourse [that] appears to be a poetics of resistance [that] adds to this identity’. It approaches identity through the lens of modernity, suggesting that selfhood is in flux because of the pervasive nihilism of our time that we experience as a ‘loss of horizon’.