Sacred Psychoanalysis - etheses Repository - University of ...

day characteristic of Los Angeles. JG opened the door, his lunch clearly interrupted and
wondered who I was. I don't know who was more shocked as it became clear that JG had
not realized I was coming for the interview. While we had agreed a date and a time JG had
been expecting a confirmatory e-mail before the event. JG, maybe seeing my stunned
expression, recovered his composure and offered to see me for forty-five minutes later that
afternoon if I could come back. The door closed. I trudged back to my hotel in Westwood,
near UCLA. My whole purpose in coming to LA was to see JG, he was the ‘jewel in the
crown’. At the newly appointed time, JG warmly greeted me and showed me to his study.
He was very apologetic and said that he had rearranged his schedule for the following day
and to give me some time then as well. I was overjoyed, as paradoxically our ‘not meeting’
had resulted in ‘greater meeting’.
Personal ontology
JG carries with him a sense of destiny, a destiny that he amusingly refers to as being there
since sitting on the lap of Tagore when JG was aged four. Tagore, a noted Indian writer,
poet and mystic was fascinated with many of the themes that JG has pursued including: the
humanity of God and the divinity of Man; nature mysticism; a fascination with science,
physics and astronomy; psychoanalytic thought and literature; later becoming the founder of
new movements that challenged imperialism and colonialism (Biswas 2003). JG found such
a guru in the person and words of Bion, who JG describes as a genius, and has spent a
lifetime advocating and developing his ideas (Grotstein 2007). There is therefore a vital
correspondence between Bion and JG’s ideas including the following:
• Faith in the creative response of your own unconscious
• Ontology focused on the ability to encounter O and be transformed by O
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