In this strikingly original book, published to mark the fifth centenary of Teresa of Avila's birth, Dr Peter Tyler takes the writings of the sixteenth-century Spanish reformer and brings them into dialogue with some of the foremost thinkers who have shaped our contemporary notion of self. Starting with Freud and Kant, Tyler shows how the post-modern deconstruction of the self has allowed new possibilities for the spiritual to emerge once again as a vital force in our self-understanding. Key psychological and philosophical notions such as the unconscious, ego and desire are presented in ways that open up the door to the soul. Inspired by Teresa of Avila, Tyler offers possibilities of spiritual freedom to the troubled, contemporary self.