Contemporary Psychoanalysis And Eastern Thought

This book explores the convergence of psychoanalysis and Asian thought. It explores key theoretical issues. What role does paradox play in psychological transformations? How can the oriental emphasis on attaining “no-self” be reconciled with the western emphasis on achieving an integrated self? The book also inquires into pragmatic questions concerning the nature of psychological change and the practice of psychotherapy. The Taoist I Ching is explored as a framework for understanding the therapeutic process. Principles from martial arts philosophy and strategy are applied to clinical work. Combining theoretical analyses, case studies, empirical data, literary references, and anecdotes, this book is intended for researchers as well as clinicians, and beginning students as well as scholars.

Relational psychoanalysis and modern Jewish philosophy have much to say about the dynamics of human relationships, but there has been no detailed, thorough, and constructive examination that brings together these two incisive discourses. Contemporary Psychoanalysis and Modern Jewish Philosophy: Two Languages of Love explores the critical similarities and differences between the two disciplines, casting new light on both the analytic and philosophical understandings of how relationships develop, flourish, and fail. For psychoanalysts such as Hans Loewald, Stephen Mitchell, and Jessica Benjamin, love is seen as a fundamental life force, a key to human motivation, and the transformative core of Freud’s therapeutic "talking cure." The Jewish philosophers Franz Rosenzweig, Martin Buber, and Emmanuel Levinas envision love as having both a human and divine dimension, expressed through the dual commandments to love God and the neighbor. The two languages are brought to life through chapters that investigate: the relationship between self-love and love of the other, the dynamics of intersubjectivity, the methods and possibilities of human transformation, the "magical" powers of language, the goal of achieving a meaningful life, the significance of responsibility for others, and the challenge that death poses to life’s fullness. This multidisciplinary study, drawing on psychology, philosophy, religion, and feminism, provides an important contribution to contemporary scientific and humanistic interest in the social and relational dimensions of human living. The book will appeal especially to clinicians, theorists, and scholars of psychoanalysis, philosophy of religion, and Jewish studies as well as advanced students studying in these fields.

Ever since Freud put religion on the couch in "The Future of an Illusion," there has been an uneasy peace, with occasional skirmishes, between these two great disciplines of subjectivity. As prime meaning givers, God and the unconscious have vied for supremacy in our thinking about ourselves, especially our thinking about our human nature, our moral stature, and our destiny. Freud, in his bold manner, found projection, fear, and denial to be the wellspring of religion's domination over man. In analogous fashion, those giving primacy to the soul over the unconscious have long dismissed psychoanalysis as mechanistic, reductionistic, and hence inadequate to the examination of spirituality. Soul on the Couch is premised on the belief that discourse about the soul and discourse from the couch can inform, and not simply ignore, one another. It brings together scholars and psychoanalysts at the forefront of an interdisciplinary dialogue that is vitally important to the growth of both disciplines. Their essays are not only models of reflective inquiry; they also illuminate the syntheses that emerge when analysts and scholars of religion bridge the gap that has long separated them and speak to one another.

Thinking for Clinicians provides analysts of all orientations with the tools and context for working critically within psychoanalytic theory and practice. It does this through detailed chapters on some of the philosophers whose work is especially relevant for contemporary theory and clinical writing: Emmanuel Levinas, Martin Buber, Ludwig Wittgenstein, Maurice Merleau-Ponty, and Hans-Georg Gadamer. Orange presents the historical background for their ideas, along with clinical vignettes to help contextualize their theories, further grounding them in real-world experience. With a hermeneutic sensibility firmly in mind, Thinking for Clinicians rewards as it challenges and will be a valuable reference for clinicians who seek a better understanding of the philosophical bases of contemporary psychoanalytic theory.

André Green attempts the complex task of identifying and examining the key ideas for a contemporary psychoanalytic practice. This undertaking is motivated both by the need for an outline of the evolution of psychoanalysis since Freud's death, and by the hope of tackling the fragmentation which has led to the current 'crisis of psychoanalysis'. In three sections covering the theoretical and practical aspects of psychoanalysis, and analysing the current state of the field, André Green provides a stimulating overview of the principal concepts that have guided his work. Subjects covered include: Transference and countertransference Psychoanalysis and Psychotherapy: modalities and results Language-speech-discourse in psychoanalysis Recognition of the unconscious This unique contemporary perspective on the psychoanalytic enterprise will fascinate all those with an interest in the problems that face the field and the opportunities for its future development.

Psychoanalysis has transformed our culture. We constantly use and refer to ideas from psychoanalysis, often unconsciously. Psychology, philosophy, politics, sociology, women's studies, anthropology, literary studies, cultural studies, and other disciplines have been permeated by the competing schools of psychoanalysis. But what of psychoanalysis itself? Where is it going one hundred years after Freud's own speculations took shape? Does it still have a role to play in cultural debate, or should it perhaps be abandoned? Speculations After Freud confronts the dilemmas of contemporary psychoanalysis by bringing together some of the most influential and best known writers on psychoanalysis, philosophy and culture. The advocates and critics of psychoanalysis, both institutional and theoretical, critically appraise the powerful role psychoanalytic speculation plays in all areas of culture.

Presents the latest psychoanalytic "theories" and their relevance for religious studies. The author, a clinical psychologist and professor of religion, builds on more recent theories in which the self is constued as a matrix of interalized relationships, investigates ways in which religious beliefs, practices, and experiences reflect the structure of the relational self.

Sudhir Kakar, India&Rsquo;S Foremost Psychoanalyst, Has For Long Tried To Infuse The Pre-Eminently Western Discipline Of Psychoanalysis With Ideas And Views From The East In Both His Practice And His Best-Selling Books. In Mad And Divine, He Takes On The Separation Of The Spirit And The Body Favoured By Psychoanalysis, As He Cautions That A Focus On The Body, To The Exclusion Of The Spirit, Is A Denial Of A Person&Rsquo;S Wholeness. Similarly, To Focus On The Spirit Alone Is To Hold In Contempt The Body That Makes Us Human. Ever Respectful Of And Sympathetic To A Person&Rsquo;S Spiritual Life And Strivings, Kakar Takes Us On A Tour Through The Many Rooms Of The Mansion Of Spirituality. He Looks At The Interplay, At Times Playful, At Others Deadly Serious, Between Spirit And Psyche, And The Moments Of Creativity And Transformation When The Spirit Cools The Fire Of Desire Or Thaws The Ice Of Self-Centredness. He Looks At This Interplay And These Moments In Religious Ritual And In Healing Traditions, Both Eastern And Western, As Also In The Lives Of Some Extraordinary Men. The First Peek Is Into The Well-Documented Childhood Of Rajneesh, &Lsquo;A Pioneer In The Globalization Of Spirituality&Rsquo;, But The Focus Here Is On The Vision Of The Spirit&Rsquo;S Soaring And Not The Oft-Repeated Tragedy Of Its Fall. In His Elucidation Of The Part Played By Sexuality In The Making Of A Saint, Kakar Examines The Life Of Drukpa Kunley, Who Through Overtly Scandalous Parables, Songs And Actions Vigorously Pushes Against The Boundary Of All That Is Tabooed. And To Rethink The Role Of The Spiritual In Collective Life, Kakar Examines Gandhi&Rsquo;S Practical Spirituality&Mdash;His Vision Of How We Need To Engage Ourselves In Our Political And Social Worlds. Enriched With A Novelist&Rsquo;S Felicity Of Language And An Analyst&Rsquo;S Piercing Insight And Startling Interpretation, Mad And Divine Is A Valuable Addition To The Literature On The Integration Of The Spirit And Psyche In The Evolving Psychology Of An Individual, Showing As It Does That When The Spirit Soars It Pulls Up The Psyche In Its Wake.