You Are A City: Alchemists, Flaneurs, and the Psychic Experience of Urbanism - Paperback

As a follow-up to his previous book, Temenos, Will Selman's latest effort focuses on the experiential side of being in a city or town, and how we might consider them as both a tool and setting for spiritual reflection and psychological growth. The physical elements of the city, its streets and structures, are envisioned as psychological archetypes; the various aspects of our individual personalities are considered as "citizens" of our private "interior city." Several tools and techniques of reflection are described, including those of the medieval alchemists and the "flaneur." A few words from the Introduction give a sense of what awaits the reader:

This is a book about connecting more deeply with soul by making use of the city as a tool and setting for psychic exploration. The city itself is here understood as the embodiment of collective soul, and its elements reflect the inner complexity of our individual souls. Physical urban space is rarely thought of in such a way; normally we assume that spiritual activities ought to take place in a quiet room or in green nature like a mountaintop or under a tree by a stream, or a wild beach at sunset. While that is of course appropriate, I say that the city also can provide such a setting. Beyond that, what this book seeks to promote is an understanding of civilization, including both cities and our individual inner lives, as a series of long cycles of human psychic development over tens of thousands of years. We are in the midst of in the midst of yet another dramatic shift in these ongoing cycles of history, and the city - or town, village, or your very own neighborhood- is a highly valuable tool in our understanding of this process. It can provide insights into not only one's personal journey of inner growth, but also the ongoing project of human psychic evolution.