ABSTRACT
Western urban culture seems to have turned the self into a locus of experimentation. Commentators like the German philosopher Peter Sloterdijk (1996) and German sociologist Peter Gross (1999) have argued that Nietzsche's imperative to create one's self rather than just finding it, is rapidly becoming a dominant ethos. From body piercing through S&M, from mind-expanding drugs to creating new forms of religious ritual and experience, the global village seems to be turning into a space for endless experimentation. Foucault's (1984) post-Nietzschean dictum that the self should be treated like a work of art in progress seems to have become the norm rather than the exception. This chapter is an attempt to explore the consequences of this idea clinically and theoretically.
