Sacred Psychoanalysis - etheses Repository - University of ...

Meissner’s distinctive contribution was a psychoanalytically and theologically informed
critique of Freud, religion and psychoanalytic practice that established substantial
foundations for subsequent religious, spiritual and analytic engagements. 198 He offered a
new appreciation of Winnicott who,
spawned a revolution in psychoanalytic thinking … One of the most important areas
in which Winnicott's ideas have taken root and undergone significant evolution is in
the psychoanalytic understanding of religious phenomena. In that particular area of
applied psychoanalysis, his ideas regarding transitional experience and the area of
illusion have found their most meaningful extension (Meissner 1995: 319). 199
Meissner uses Winnicott’s transitional and illusory concepts,
to construct a conceptual bridge over this chasm between religious and
psychoanalytic thinking … toward a useful and potential conceptual space that
provided a medium for a dialectical resolution of these tensions between the
subjective and objective ... open simultaneously to both subjective and objective
poles of meaning without violation or exclusion of either (Meissner 1995: 326).
Meissner’s thinking has evolved since his first explorations in 1984, offering a transitional
space that allows the intersubjective to account for religious and spiritual experiences, in a
‘space’ existing between the parallel systems of theology and psychoanalysis. 200 Meissner
focuses on ‘the interaction and integration of psychoanalytic perspectives with religious
forms’ (Meissner 2001: 78), engaging in a dialogue, 201 where psychoanalysis takes
seriously ‘belief in God’s presence and actions in human affairs - including doctrines
198 ‘Psychoanalytic method has nothing in its conceptual toolkit to enable it to render judgement on the truthvalue
of religious beliefs ... In its extreme forms, the psychoanalytic perspective has led many analysts to go
beyond the limited purview of the intrapsychic to assert on the basis of psychoanalytic arguments that the
existence of a God and, indeed, with him all the panoply of religious processes, entities and realities must be
cast into doubt, or at least left in the realm of agnostic obscurity. In this perspective, then, the entire spectrum
of religiously endorsed and theologically elaborated conceptualizations is put under attack ... this was Freud's
error, which has become part of the heritage of psychoanalytic thinking in this area’ (Meissner 1995: 326).
199 Meissner also acknowledges that Pruyser’s work has been important in developing Winnicott’s concepts in
religious spheres beyond the psychoanalytic (Pruyser 1974, 1983, 1991a, 1991b).
200 Meissner also recognizes the pioneering role of Rizzuto’s ‘groundbreaking study’ (Meissner 2001: 78)
focusing in detail on god-representations in the psychoanalytic process.
201 He recognized the problem of ‘an inherent and pervasive difficulty that continues to haunt that dialogue: the
participants attach different connotations to many of the same terms’ (Meissner 2001: 81)
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