Beyond the Line/Beyond the Self: Flirting with Rural Teaching

The philosopher, Adam Phillips (1994), discusses the productive pleasures of flirtation, the usefulness of a light touch, and the virtue of being un-committed. These qualities he links to Freud's arguments in relation to the value of free-association. Writes Phillips (1994, xii), 'Free association itself is the psychic act of relinquishing, as far as possible, one's slavish devotion to internal censors.' The issue of censors as powers that prevent certain unconscious ideas and memories from emerging into consciousness is relevant to the performance of teaching selves.