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Appendix 4. Ontological Foundations
These are stated as a set of overlapping assumptions, rather than any form of systematic or
integrated structure, although as presented here they do approximate a developmental
framework.
1. People exist in relationship from the moment conception leads to viable and sustainable
life. 575 This ontological assumption is based on my personal experience of twinhood
and subsequent work with lone twins. Lone twins understand the experience of other,
even in utero, and subsequently loss, if that twin dies even before birth (Piontelli 1986,
1992, 2002; Woodward 1998; Sandbank 1999; Lewin 2004).
2. The formation of the psyche/spirit/soul also occurs from conception and also contains a
relational dimensionality by which we can apprehend God/Other (Fiddes 2000a). A
capacity for Other/God is part of the fabric of embodied being/self that inhabits cell,
memory, psyche and soul (Newell 2000).
3. The expressing quality of this relationship is mediated through: body; touch; sound;
smell; and eye contact (Bick 1968; Winnicott 1971; Wright 1991) which are especially
important at a very early stage of psychological development (Stern 1985; Waddell
2002).
4. The absence of sustained and appropriate experiences of human relationship can lead to
at best: the creation of a protective false self characterized by intellectualization and
splitting (Gomez 1996; Willoughby 2004; Abram 2007); or at worst an experience of
entering the abyss of non-being (Lake 1966), destruction and damage to true self, and a
psychotic deadness conveyed by the ‘black hole’ metaphor (Grotstein 2000; Ashton
2007; Loly 2009).
5. We are not conscious of these influences/events but they have an existence in the
unconscious, which appears in life through significant events, significant relationships
and significant experiences, both psychological and spiritual (Grotstein 2001).
In the depths of the unconscious, in pure symmetry, we find the Godhead, the
awesome Other within – the “Subject of subjects, which can never be the object - the
source of our being and friend of sanity and madness, of creation and destruction, of
Grace and Terror (Mollon 2000: 71).
6. There is a revelatory dimension to human experience that speaks of a transcendent
Other. This is experienced aesthetically, intellectually, therapeutically, and spiritually
either individually or as part of a faith community. This often involves the spiritual
575 The philosophical issues around the origins of life have been dominated by the abortion debate and a
particular theological stance taken both by the Roman Catholic Church and American fundamentalist Christian
groups. Summary discussions of these issues can be found in Jones et. al. ‘A Theologian's Brief: On the Place
of the Human Embryo Within the Christian Tradition and the Theological Principles for Evaluating Its Moral
Status’ (Jones and al. 2001) http://ethicsandmedicine.com/17/3/17-3-jones.htm accessed 25/1/2007.
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