Sacred Psychoanalysis - etheses Repository - University of ...

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO. REFLEXIVE COMMENTARY AND
ANALYSIS
A key idea developed in chapter one of part A was that ontological being (that finds some
though not complete expression in religion and spirituality) precedes the dominant forms of
epistemological knowing found in psychoanalysis. 379 The previous chapter charted the
lived experience of the researcher entering into the private world of psychoanalysts in their
consulting rooms and once within this psychically contained space delving further into their
private space of religious and spiritual belief or unbelief. 380 Training as a psychoanalyst
imposes an epistemological imperative (Elliott 2004) which when added to a hermeneutic of
suspicion (Ricoeur 1970) and a collective need to belong to a self-defined and self-limiting
group for approval and recognition (Leavy 1988) excludes other forms of knowing and
being (Davies 2009).
Contemporary psychoanalysis has evolved a new paradigmatic identity that privilege
pluralistic and intersubjective approaches to knowing, thus offering new opportunities for
religious and spiritual engagement. The previous chapter examined the lived experience of
contemporary psychoanalysts through the reflexive and intersubjective engagement of my
‘being there’, exploring the ontological and biographical origins that developed before
psychoanalytic training, and the beliefs and values emerging during and after training. For
some (JG, PM, JB, AP) this has been a re-fashioning of their identity where they shrugged
off an implicit psychoanalytic identity in order to discover a new identity that recognized all
379 Though the two are closely related and should not be seen in isolation (McLeod 2001).
380 Rachel, a colleague and friend, who proof-read this thesis pencilled a reflexive comment on the margin of
the page. ‘This evokes the picture of a small boy sitting on someone’s lap and then snuggling in very close,
looking in the pockets, examining the buttons, feeling the material – very intimate’. This captures something
of these encounters and demonstrates how texts have an ongoing life that can impact others, beyond those
intended.
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