superself

English

Alternative forms

• super-self

Etymology

super- +‎ self

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˌs(j)uːpəˈsɛlf/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˌs(j)uːpɚsɛlf/, /ˌs(j)uːpɚˈsɛlf/
• Hyphenation: su‧per‧self

Noun

superself (plural superselves)

1. A superior self.
   • 1906, William Frend De Morgan, Somehow Good‎^[1], Grosset & Dunlap, page 476:

     Her superself dismissed it as a fancy; and, therefore, being put on its mettle to justify that action, it pointed out to herthat, after that, it would be the merest cowardice to shirk finding out about Dr. Conrad's young lady.

   • 1913, John Kerry King, Southeast Asia in Perspective‎^[2], University of California, page 150:

     He was the only one it seemed, be cause of his exuberance, his optimism, his healthy face and appetite and talk, that was untainted. The doctors told me I should die, but Etienne could heal me. And there was many a pretty face that smiled in disease; and many a life there hideous. But Etienne was perfect and young and powerful. They said it was his superself. But I never believed it.

   • 1919, The Ladies' Home Journal 1919-01: Volume 36‎^[3], The Meredith Corporation, page 13:

     Agatha Porter’s eyes were full of a beautiful sincerity and generous sweetness that transformed her guests into their superselves by some magic of the moment, so that the train of people who came and went in her house were always a little better than their best through her, and thereby happy and anxious to come again.

   • 1967, John Kerry King, Southeast Asia in Perspective‎^[4], J.H. Richards, page 30:

     Pirandello’s To Find Oneself is a largely discursive rehash of the dramatist’s everlasting theme that we have no stable identity—the illustration in this case is effected in the person of a star actress—and that to find oneself one must create a superself through art.

   • 1979, Dale Maurice Riepe, Indian Philosophy Since Independence‎^[5], B.R. Grüner, →ISBN, page 346:

     Indian epistemology frequently includes superminds and superselves, largely unrelated to nature, the universe as physical (what else could it be?), or physical objects taken atomistically or in molar fashion, especially by Indian philosophers relatively untouched by Western empiricism and materialism.

   • 2012, Jane Roberts, Seth Speaks:

     You are, using an analogy again, sent out by a superself who strongly desired existence in physical form. You are no puppet of this superself. You will follow your own lines of development […]