Sacred Psychoanalysis - etheses Repository - University of ...

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AR: in fact there had been elements of faith very much alive it had been a real part of
people’s tradition but it was enshrined in their culture and it was something they were
almost recovering so I will have to do some thinking about that and again it’s to do
with these grand movements shaping and changing
DB: Yes
AR: They create fissures like earthquakes that move you can’t predict when its going
to happen but you do know something shifted
DB: Yes I think the phrase you used in the absence of master narratives I think that’s a
very important thing I don’t think we can think now in terms of master narratives
though I think the theme, I see fundamentalism as a retreat from the frightening
challenge of a world of which there isn’t a master narrative
AR: Yes and I think that suddenly there is fundamentalisms around and it’s a defence
against a critical engagement or openness or it’s the unwillingness to face the
ontological task that goes beyond the particular set of beliefs uhm (pause, soft) you
know when you think that someone else from a different tradition can reach the same
position you have ontologically that’s quite challenging because you say what makes
my beliefs different and distinct from theirs but I think that some of the things that you
do challenge several times in your writing about the defensiveness that can be adopted
in any context uhm uhm (pause, soft) moving on just for time David my 5 th question
is how do issues of religion and spirituality impact your clinical work when you are in
this analytic space and in some ways it’s interesting doing the interview here because
this is very much your space your analytic space (soft laugh DB) you have created
(soft).
DB: How does it impact on clinical work?
AR: yeah
DB: I don’t know I’m not aware that it does really uhm I mean I think it must be there
somewhere in (pause) the background of my motivation for doing the work but in
terms of what I actually try to do with patients I think it continues to be
psychoanalysis. I don’t sort of feel (soft) that my attitude to spirituality gets into it
really uhm (soft)
AR: although in terms of your writing, supposing a client comes and they have a
particular faith or belief that’s personal to them and assuming that it’s not a defensive
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