Sacred Psychoanalysis - etheses Repository - University of ...

psychotherapy, creates new possibilities of redemption by providing self-containing forms’
(Wright 2006: 188).
It was this re-discovery of the symbolic in maternal and cultural forms that opened new
avenues for religion and spirituality, seen in the work of Kristeva. Kristeva’s work is too
complex for brief summary but she has consistently wrestled with issues of gender, culture,
language, religion and psychoanalysis and evolved her own distinctive conceptual
framework. 265 Jonte-Pace believes Kristeva finds ‘a solution to the problem of our
“discontent” in exile, otherness … [that] we encounter in our own unconscious. “Eternal
exile” (1977:8-9) becomes Kristeva’s vantage point for a new hermeneutic of religion and a
new formulation of ethics, politics and psychoanalysis’ (Jonte-Pace 1997: 264). 266
Feminist thought has exposed Freud’s limited understanding of religion related to his
exclusive focus on a masculine god and patriarchical religion. A symbolic, feminine view
of spiritual experience fitted with developments in feminist theology (Slee 2004a, 2004b)
and within psychoanalytic theory. Wright’s application and extension of Winnicott’s work
demonstrates new possibilities for developing a sacred dimension that authenticates
expression of spirituality, gendered being and psychoanalytic encounter (Wright 2009).
This largely under-developed area offers potential for further engagement and could provide
new opportunities for Hindu religious ideas in which the goddess plays a crucial role. 267
265
See the discussion of some of Kristeva’s ideas in the previous chapter.
266
The importance of a hermeneutic understanding of religious, spiritual and psychoanalytic engagement is
dealt with in chapter twenty-five.
267
See chapter thirteen. Symington was one of the few psychoanalysts whose all-encompassing view of
mature religion incorporated Hinduism, though he still makes little reference to the maternal dimension
(Symington 1998).
118