Psychoanalysis, Mysticism and the Problem of Epistemology: Defining the Indefinable (Psyche and Soul)

"This book presents key psychoanalytic theories from a fresh perspective: that of the mystical element. The author explores the depth-structure of central assumptions in psychoanalytic theory to uncover the mystical core of conventional analytic thinking. Exploring authors from Freud and Ferenczi, through Bion and Winnicott, to contemporary voices such as Ogden, Bollas and Eigen, the book shows that psychoanalysis has always operated on the assumption of psychic overlap, a "soul-to-soul" contact, between patient and analyst. Surprisingly, the book shows how this "magical" facet goes hand in hand with a pragmatic worldview that explores the epistemological complexities of psychoanalysis in search of a way to join the subjective, even the mystical, with the practical aim of serving as a validated mental health discipline. This is accomplished through an interdisciplinary and intertextual encounter between psychoanalysis and the innovative pairing of William James' pragmatic philosophy and Martin Buber's dialogic thought. The author's paradoxical stance surrounding the nature and role of psychoanalysis and its mystical facet resonate the great challenge embedded in Winnicott's insistence on tolerating paradox and Bion's demand to respect all parts of the (psychoanalytic) truth, in this case, the practical and mundane alongside the mystical and magical. The book's broad, interdisciplinary outlook will captivate both psychoanalysts and psychoanalytic therapists as well as scholars of philosophy"-- Provided by publisher Cover Endorsements Half Title Series Page Title Page Copyright Page Dedication Contents Acknowledgments Introduction Chapter 1: Defining the ineffable: What is the mystical? Classical definitions The mystical as a meeting - Michael Eigen Beyond the definition: A fuller portrait of James's mystical experience Martin Buber's mysticism of the human encounter The "Weltanschauung" of in-between mysticism The mystical encounter in therapy - A definition References Chapter 2: A brief history of the mystical in psychoanalysis Freud: The mysterious unconscious Freud the man of science and the Jungian threat Klein and Bion - The mysticism of thinking together Winnicott - The mysticism of playing together American ego-psychology and Kohut - The painful choice between poles Kohut, Bion, and Winnicott - Differences and agreements about unity, truth and faith The mystical element in contemporary psychoanalysis Eigen and Ghent - The mystical as inherent in the psyche and the psychoanalytic cure The mystical element after the relational revolution Notes References Chapter 3: Psychoanalysis, pragmatism, and the epistemology of faith Empirical results versus good stories The pragmatic answer Experience as "materia prima" - An epistemological question and answer James on the question of validity The will to believe and the sentiment of rationality The role of faith and the humanistic universe The pluralistic universe as an intimate place The pluralistic and intimate universe in James and Buber James, Buber and Winnicott: The ontology and epistemology of transitional space Faith and trust: Toward a new epistemological anchor Faith and trust in James' writings Faith and trust in Buber The epistemology of faith in psychoanalysis Note References Chapter 4: Freud and Ferenczi - In the beginning there was a split Freud - Religion as mass pathology The "Other Freud" - The saga of the telepathic unconscious Mystical experience and telepathy The Freud-Ferenczi rift - Law of the mother versus law of the father The clinical diary Emotional coldness and the porous existence of the self The qualities of the mystical connection: Healing or madness? Madness, wholeness, transcendence A developmental theory The feminine principle and its split Concluding remarks: The fate of the mystical element in early psychoanalysis The nature of the mystical element in early psychoanalysis Notes References Chapter 5: Bion: Doubt and faith - Dreaming the ineffable truth The field of the ineffable: Science, religion and mysticism The Messianic idea and the (psychoanalytic) establishment Bion's O and the epistemology of faith Between the religious and the psychoanalytic - The epistemology of faith A Jamesian reading of Bion The absolute O and the possibility of meeting Conclusion References Chapter 6: Playing and unity: The Winnicottian revolution The magic of unity Two ways of living together Magic and the third reality Magical thinking versus "true magic" Irreducible loneliness and underlying relatedness: the paradox of transitional mysticism Religious experience and the third reality Paradox: The mystical dwelling place of the human psyche Paradox as a revolution The mystical experience and the mysticism of experiencing Winnicott, pragmatism and James' pluralistic universe The epistemic revolution: New mysticism and pragmatism in psychoanalysis Note References Chapter 7: Ogden: Stepping out of the shadow - The shared psychoanalytic psyche speaks The analytic third The first accomplishment - Integration The second accomplishment - The dream of the analytic third: Dreaming (Bionian) analysis into existence Finally: What does it mean to listen with one's unconscious? The third accomplishment - A historical presence in psychoanalysis Ogden and Buber Ogden and the mystical element The "more" and the pragmatic Conclusion Note References Chapter 8: Bollas: The shadow of the divine unconscious The transformational object: Parent-infant relations from an esthetic perspective The sacred and the esthetic: Illusion or intimate knowledge? The epistemology of faith through the prism of the esthetic Early Bollas and the mysticism of encounter Bollas' late period - The divine unconscious Free association and the dream-model of the mind The father, the mother and the eroticism of unconscious creation The aim of psychoanalytic treatment: Surrender to the greater us The communicative unconscious and the hidden other Conceptualization in crisis: Together or apart? The separate sense Numinous transference To communicate or not communicate: The collapse of the Winnicottian paradox Pragmatic thinking about the late Bollas' mysticism Concluding philosophical reflections on late Bollas Note References Chapter 9: Eigen: Faith and turbulence - The psychoanalytic mystic Basic assumptions Self and other Psychosis Evil and the ideal: God and the devil in culture and the human psyche Destruction The face The ideal The mystical Faith - The mystical as a position Faith and catastrophe Faith and the mystical Varieties of mysticism The phenomenology of the mystical and the three levels: Is everyone a mystic? Paradoxical monism Poetic writing and theory The epistemology of faith and pragmatism in Eigen's writings Eigen and the sentiment of rationality Conclusion - The fate of the messianic idea References Conclusion Note References Index