Sacred Psychoanalysis - etheses Repository - University of ...

evelation, in a more challenging fashion than Pfister, requires considerable courage and
faith. 532 Such courage or faith stems from the core of a person’s being, that they bring into
their development of a psychoanalytic being (Molino 1997; Spezzano and Gargiulo 1997;
Sayers 2003). It is not surprising therefore that several psychoanalysts interviewed used the
metaphor of ‘coming out’ to capture these new developments, utilizing the struggle for a
minority, repressed and disenfranchised group to be accepted by the dominant status quo.
Secondly, a chorus of voices from the literature and the interviews harmonize on the note
that religion and spirituality are vital aspects of human personhood, even if they do not
adopt religious or spiritual beliefs themselves. Benjamin sees these as the core issues of
being. Phillips argues that the words, ideas, symbols, and rituals associated with religion
are very powerful and cannot be ignored. Lemma sees the transforming power of belief in
often-destructive experiences of clients. Rubin and Jones explore how the depth of being
requires going beyond just psychoanalysis. Mollon values Freud as a pioneer whose ideas
about how being is constituted was just a start and new ideas have emerged. The inclusion
of a spiritual dimension is required to meet the needs of people today who, if given
opportunity, talk about such matters when they examine the depths of their lives in the
presence of a therapist they trust. Grotstein sees psychoanalysis and spirituality united in
encounters within the unconscious that have multiple dimensions that embrace psyche and
soul. By contrast, Black and AN are more reserved. They view the role of religion as
important if it can avoid an inherent fundamentalism, but that it, like psychoanalysis has the
potential to change others for the good.
532 Pfister represented a liberal German Protestant theological tradition that saw Jesus as the ultimate example
of love uniting all humankind on the basis of goodness and love.
327