Sacred Psychoanalysis - etheses Repository - University of ...

where many chose to begin. The primary sources of religious knowledge came from their
upbringing – principally Jewish, though this was no guarantee of subsequent belief or
practice (Rizzuto 1979). Two viewed themselves as traditional atheists/agnostics from a
Jewish background, cultural rather than religious.
I was raised as a cultural Jew, I was not bar-mitzvahed … My parents were and are
atheists. I was an agnostic … who probably wasn’t at all certain that God existed …
who became … very spiritual after the mystical experience (JR 165-170). 443
Phillips grew up with a conscious awareness of deep historical and cultural roots. Bobrow
acknowledges ‘we were cultural Jews, very much identified as … my tribe, but it’s never
been a spiritual path’ (JBR 356-357).
While Frosh discusses the impact of Judaism within psychoanalysis, the impact of a Jewish
dimension in engaging with other religious traditions is difficult to identify (Frosh 2006).
Within the British psychoanalytic world where ‘the Jewish culture is very strong’ (PM 632)
there were concerns about anti-Semitism, which surfaced in the case of Masud Khan
(Hopkins 2006; Willoughby 2004). 444 Mollon adds ‘my impression is that people from a
Jewish tradition if they’re not practising religious Jews they become … rather anti and
phobic of anything religious ’ (PM 628-630). 445 Lemma adopts a neutral approach ‘a lot of
people who taught me [were] or have been Jewish but it didn’t … feel like a dominant
influence … that doesn’t means it’s not active at some level but it certainly isn’t
experienced’ (AL 859-863).
443 This primary experience shaped Rubin’s world-view combining illusion and reality that goes beyond rigid
classification, which he retained in his subsequent analytic training.
444 Masud Khan, a leading member of the Independent group and closely linked with Winnicott, saw his
brilliant career descend into scandal through: ethical breaches – he slept with several patients and financially
exploited others; grandiosity bordering on mania; alcoholism and anti-Semitic comments in his final book.
This led to his final expulsion from the psychoanalytic community. However Philips found him enormously
helpful. See (Willoughby 2004) for a detailed and balanced discussion.
445 These thoughts were substantiated in my interview with AN.
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