Sacred Psychoanalysis - etheses Repository - University of ...

A third theoretical approach involves going beyond convergence around core concepts or
experiences and sees each discipline contributing to the development of the other in critical
interface. Such an approach requires the willingness to engage with the other as a valid
partner or horizon in this hermeneutic enterprise – still an issue of contention for many.
Akhtar is a prominent figure in this development engaging with Christianity (Akhtar and
Parens 2001), Hinduism (Akhtar 2005) and Islam (Akhtar 2008). Roland has approached
this area from both cultural and psychoanalytic perspectives, finding the confluence of the
two highly creative (Roland 1988, 1996, 2005). Kurtz examines Hindu religious beliefs
within a family context and explores how psychoanalysis can be modified in order to
engage with these traditions, rather than historically it being the other way around (Kurtz
1992). 310 Cunningham also engages with the Christian tradition, Yoga, and Vedanta, one of
the six systems of Hindu philosophy. As the ‘most central tenet of Vedanta is the
supremacy of individual experience as the final arbiter of spiritual truth, with the inner
realization of truth being the culmination of Vedanta’ (Cunningham 2006: 234),
psychoanalysis can be seen as a spiritual practice. The result is a complementarity where a
psychological equilibrium brought about through psychoanalysis is a ‘prerequisite to
receptivity to spiritual experience. In turn spiritual experience provides perspective that
decreases vulnerability … and supports psychological balance’(Cunningham 2006: 234).
Cunningham concludes that what psychoanalysis and Hinduism as a form of spirituality
have in common transcends differences and enhances each other.
A fourth approach is to see psychoanalysis as an expression of universal religious truths
enshrined within aspects of Hinduism. Kripal argues that despite obvious differences
310 For a perceptive but critical review see (Lidz 1993).
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