Sacred Psychoanalysis - etheses Repository - University of ...

psychoanalysis and this is the purpose of the chapters in part B. This led to immersion 527 in
the textual narrative accounts of religion, spirituality and contemporary psychoanalysis,
resulting in a chronological account of developments in the UK and the USA from the
1970s which marked the beginning of small but significant changes in religious, spiritual
and psychoanalytic engagement. Underpinning various forms of religious, spiritual and
psychoanalytic engagement were three entwined threads.
Firstly, there is the motivation of the psychoanalyst to enter into an area fraught with
disapproval, rejection, and criticism. The strength to go against a professional culture
requires personal resources, and in the case of early pioneers this was an explicit faith
tradition that went beyond simply religious observance (Meissner 1984a, 1987; Malone
2005). 528 Importantly such pioneers were ‘insiders’ and participants with a voice in
psychoanalytic culture, yet also existed at the margins or liminal space where new discovery
or engagement was possible. It is clear from the depth of engagement detailed in part B,
that a wide range of analysts from different psychoanalytic cultures and different religious
and spiritual traditions were highly motivated to do the complex and technical task required
for such sustained and detailed dialogue. While Meissner’s seminal text Psychoanalysis
and Religious Experience stems from 1984, he subsequently returns to this engagement
again and again from differing perspectives and adds new insights covering faith
development, values and ethics, grace, cults, the messianic and the future, mysticism, the
527 A detailed and sustained focus on the subject involving reading and re-reading books, articles and texts,
such as interview transcripts, and seeing what thoughts, feelings, and insights crystallize as a result. See
Borkan’s chapter on ‘Immersion/Crystallization’ (Borkan 1999).
528 Given what is perceived to be the dominance of Jewish analysts in psychoanalysis, religious observance in
and of itself does not lead to religious or spiritual engagement. There are however motivations other than the
religious. Where there is a sufficient degree of narcissism the person sets their own standards or rules
regardless of those held within a profession, as clearly seen in the case of Masud Khan (Khan 1988;
Willoughby 2004).
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