Sacred Psychoanalysis - etheses Repository - University of ...

multiplicity of ethnic diners and restaurants. Two streets of Mack delivery trucks and
yellow cabs as the frenetic pace of New York life shifted into top gear, the noise
reverberating all around on a cold December day. Occasional glances at the map kept me
on course until I arrived ten minutes before the appointment, my stomach telling me I was
nervous.
I had never met JB before; all our contact had been through e-mail – a virtual meeting
sparse in detail and texture. As I stood outside the 19 th street apartment block, it all felt very
real, this is why I was in New York. The glass doors swung open to reveal a uniformed
receptionist who pointed me to the elevators.
The silent and swift transition ended as the elevators doors parted - like the subway -
revealing a long and light-filled corridor. At the right door I offered a tentative knock: the
door swung open to reveal JB, in reality more diminutive than my mind’s projection.
‘Alistair Ross?’, she inquired in a distinctive American accent as she welcomed me in and
led me through to the consulting room, with a galley kitchen to one side. Large windows
ran down one side opening out the size of the room. Sitting in the proffered chair and
setting up the recording equipment JB offered me coffee. ‘I need coffee’ she said and when
I said ‘I don’t drink coffee, only Earl Grey tea’, she laughed playfully and remarked ‘How
English’. There was to be much laughter in the interview – indicating a sense of shared
exploration and a relaxed examination of areas close to the heart: psychoanalysis, the
sacred, the spiritual, the religious and perhaps a touch of anxiety.
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