Sacred Psychoanalysis - etheses Repository - University of ...

transitional concepts in the pursuit of wholeness and truth. 132 Having trained with NPAP,
Eigen became editor of the Association’s journal, Psychoanalytic Review and became
involved in other innovative psychoanalytic trainings. 133 This journal has regularly
published articles and reviewed books that speak to issues of religious and spiritual
engagement within psychoanalysis. Since the 1980s, Eigen has become a central figure
advocating an intersubjective form of psychoanalysis that acknowledges spiritual and
mystical dimensions (Eigen 2009). 134
Paralleling Eigen’s developing spiritual interest that was in part shaped by a re-engagement
with his Jewish faith background, there evolved in New York a growing engagement
between Judaism and psychoanalysis represented by Mortimer Ostow (Ostow 1982/1997).
Ostow recalls ‘When I was a student at the New York Psychoanalytic Institute soon after
World War II, expression of interest in religion, and especially participation in any religious
observance, was taken as a sign of either weakmindedness or less than full commitment to
the discipline of psychoanalysis’ (Ostow 2007: x). He worked to change this, avoiding
Bakan’s approach seeing psychoanalysis as a derivative of mystical Judaism (Bakan 1958),
by rehabilitating the distinctiveness of Freud’s Jewish origins and the importance of this for
psychoanalysis (Yerushalmi 1991). Writing as an Orthodox Jew and psychoanalytic
132 Eigen did his doctoral studies on depth psychologies, Gestalt psychology and phenomenology. Joyce
describes how working with Eigen made a significant difference to her work based on faith in her ability to not
know (Joyce 2005).
133 Eigen was an original member and a director of Education and Training in the Institute for Expressive
Analysis, and has taught at the New Hope Guild - a psychoanalytic training institute and clinic, as well as the
New York Centre for Psychoanalytic training. He is currently Associate Clinical Professor of Psychology in
the Post Doctoral Program in Psychotherapy and Psychoanalysis at New York University.
134 See appendix seven. This 2009 paper is a representative example of Eigen’s style that combines Winnicott,
Bion, Milner, Buddhist and Hindu thought, and the Kabbalah. Cooper writes of the influence of Eigen on his
personal development and his desire to integrate Buddhist and psychoanalytic insights. ‘Eigen perhaps more
than any other contemporary psychoanalyst, speaks of the mystical aspects of the therapeutic relationship in a
clear, concise, heartfelt, and personal way. His writings, teachings and ongoing conversations with me
continually serve as a wellspring of strength, courage, and insight’ (Cooper 2005: 39).
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