Sacred Psychoanalysis - etheses Repository - University of ...

Rubin adds positively that spirituality is ‘a multifarious term that has a lot of dimensions’
but sees a danger that ‘we speak past each other because we think we are referring to the
same … kinds of spirituality’ (JR 267-269).
A psychoanalytic vision is to enable ‘people heal their wounds’ (JB 721) and ‘seen from a
spiritual point of view, … raising them to a higher level of being and interaction and
connection with the world’ (JB 727-729). ‘In a purely free associative mode spirituality
probably has more benign associations … about having a space in oneself, where one is …
disconnected from what is immediately impacting and can have a broader perspective on
life’ (AL 451-456). This does not mean spirituality is a free-floating form of religion, or
religion without rules or restrictions. Rubin offers a coherent and systematic view of the
role of spirituality applied in a psychoanalytic context. He describes spiritualities of unity,
character, meaning, self and practice in a pluralistic form that offers well-being – both
spiritual and psychical (JR 268f.) accounting for the deepest connection that human beings
can experience. 476 In absolute contrast AN sees dangers in ‘mystical spirituality’ (AN 425)
avoiding the deepest sufferings of human life, offering escape rather than engagement.
Bobrow thinks ‘spiritual experience can arise right within … analysis … it can arise
anywhere, but it needs to be identified ... cultivated … experienced for what it is’ (JBR 272-
274). Like O it needs to be experienced which is often beyond the ability of analysts - ‘they
don’t understand just how powerful and destabilizing and revolutionary that O is, it is the
476 Rubin develops these further in his chapter in (Black 2006).
285