overselfn.
/ˈəʊvəsɛlf/, U.S. /ˈoʊvərˌsɛlf/ 1. The finer, stronger, or more assertive part of a person's nature.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > disposition or character > [noun] > stronger part of character
overself1888
1888 E. Clodd Story of Creation xi. 223 The terrible mass of wrong-doing can only be lessened and finally removed by suppression of the over-self.
1908 Daily Chron. 30 Apr. 3/1 It is the Shakespeare that projected his over-self into two score of masterpieces of poetry and drama that is Shakespeare for us.
1930 Amer. Jrnl. Sociol. 35 701 I think that Cooley was Emersonian in finding the individual self in an overself, but he does not depend upon such a doctrine for his sociology.
1978 K. A. McClane Moons & Low Times 2 To destroy the distance from self To overself.
2. A supreme spiritual being; (Hinduism) the Supreme Spirit, with which yogis try to unite their selves through meditation, etc.
ΘΚΠ
society > faith > sect > non-Christian religions > Hinduism > systems of philosophy > [noun] > yoga > over-self
overself1906
1906 Jrnl. Philos., Psychol. & Sci. Methods 3 524 Especially is it from the standpoint of his own selfhood that man reaches out and apprehends the Over-self which he calls God.
1960 J. Hewitt Yoga 7 The Yogi believes that there is a universal Overself with whom he can make contact and identify himself in moments of higher consciousness.
1960 J. Hewitt Yoga xi. 155 To the Yogi Samadhi is the merging of the individual Soul or Self with the universal Soul or Overself.
1996 Inner Bookshop (Oxford) Catal. 1996–7 59 (title) Quest of the overself. Practices, yoga, meditation, etc.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2004; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1888