Sacred Psychoanalysis - etheses Repository - University of ...

that has multiple dimensions including the mystical (Eigen 1992, 1993, 1998, 2001a, 2001b,
2004). Within each strand there is an acceptance of paradox, a desire to experience rather
than explain, although theory is not ignored, rather it takes on a more creative dimension
(Benjamin 2005a).
Within other chapters in this section of the thesis there have been implicit connections with
self-psychology, interpersonal, intersubjective and relational forms of psychoanalysis as
they form a complex tapestry of contemporary engagement. This has led to an inclusive
stance, vital for further engagement with the wider social, cultural, intellectual,
philosophical and psychological approaches. Despite early and evolving engagement with
Buddhism, specifically religious engagement with psychoanalysis is still embryonic as an
unfolding dialogue (Safran 2003). Lewis Aron, an influential figure in relational
psychoanalysis, found opposition to bringing religion and psychoanalysis together. 334
Influenced by Buber, Aron argued that analysts’ religious and spiritual beliefs are both
underplayed and vital for real intersubjective encounter. Examining his own Jewish faith,
Aron finds covenant at its core expressed through mutuality between God and people. This
requires the analyst to encounter his own mutuality in relation to God and in doing so allows
this as a potential intersubjective dimension to the analytic relationship. 335
taken in this thesis, as with Jung, is to note the importance of his work but not deal with it in detail (Nobus
2000; Bailly 2009).
334
Lewis Aron is the Director of the New York University, Postdoctoral Program in Psychotherapy and
Psychoanalysis, a group that also includes Benjamin and Eigen. He was the founding president of the
International Association for Relational Psychoanalysis and Psychotherapy (whose members also include
Benjamin, Eigen, Jones, Philips, and Rubin) and was formerly President of the Division of Psychoanalysis
(39) of the American Psychological Association. It was at a Division 39 conference in 2003 that Aron
expressed his ideas which were met with ‘outrage. “Why are you bringing God into a professional meeting? If
I want to hear about God I can go to my church or synagogue: why bring God into a psychoanalytic
forum?”’(Aron 2004: 443).
335
Aron writes about Jonah and finds a universal application of this biblical narrative about how, and who, we
dialogue with (Aron 2008).
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