Sacred Psychoanalysis - etheses Repository - University of ...

that speaks beyond the intersubjective encounter, as a revealing of other and Other. They
point to the possibility of transformation that is one rationale for psychoanalysis itself, but
allows for the possibility of much more. Several interviewees also noted that in such
moments what is being referred to is beyond words, a place where language and metaphor
fail, taking us into the realm of the mysterious, the awesome, the ineffable, the numinous,
and the mystical (Ostow 2001; Klein 2003). Loewald refers to these as ‘intimations of
eternity’ linking these to faith between the analyst and patient that bring ultimate concerns
into a dialectic and unity of being (Nields 2003). Black concludes,
that the ‘internal good object’ of modern psychoanalysis is exactly continuous with
the fundamental good objects of the mature religions. If in places they seem to
contradict one other, that is … because one of the parties … is holding onto
convictions as a matter of introjected belief rather than genuine understanding
(Black 2000a: 24)
Mystery and Mystical
The biblical narrative of salvation begins with creation and ends with eschatology, passing
through exodus, exile, incarnation, crucifixion, resurrection, and the coming of the Spirit,
the Church and its sacraments (Higgins 2003). Within a Roman Catholic faith tradition
particular focus is placed on the Eucharist (Mass), where the words of a priest transform
consecrated elements of bread and wine, into the body and blood of Christ, termed
transubstantiation. 544 Believers are transformed by entering into the re-experience of a once
for all sacrifice that is re-enacted. Although Rizzuto did not discuss this concept she did
refer to Casel, whose work offers a theological and philosophical account of mystery:
mystery understood theoretically through the theology of Casel and the psychoanalytic ideas
of Freud and Winnicott, and experientially through the symbolic world experienced in a
544 This is one of several theological disputes that divided the Christian Church from the Reformation onwards.
338