1st Edition

The Blind Man Sees Freud's Awakening and Other Essays

By Neville Symington Copyright 2004
    238 Pages
    by Routledge

    238 Pages
    by Routledge

    The papers in this book have been written over a period of fifteen years, and focus in the similarity between psychoanalysis and religion. The author argues that psychoanalysis can be seen as a scientific religion with Freud as the leader of the movement. He examines the various stages of the journey made by a religious leader from "blindness" to "founding an institution" and finds counterparts in the development of psychoanalysis while drawing examples from Buddhism, Christianity and Islam. He invites the reader on a journey with him - to examine the human mind, our society, the process of psychoanalysis, science and philosophy. He successfully uses examples from the consulting room to illuminate his arguments. The author's honest accounts of the search for answers relevant to all of us encourage the reader to think further and deeper than he or she had intended. 'The psychoanalyst examines scientifically the emotional pattern in himself and the other.

    Introduction , Freud's awakening , Was Freud influenced by Brentano? , An exegesis of conscience in the works of Freud , Freud's truth , The relation between the determinist and the religious model of the mind , The unconscious as an amoral construction , Religion and science in psychoanalysis , The nature of reality , Religion and consciousness , The true god and the false god , Natural spirituality , An enquiry into the concepts of soul and psyche , Religion and spirituality , Is psychoanalysis a religion? , The murder of Laius , Psychoanalysis and human freedom , Failure of internalization in modern culture , Anti-Semitism: another perspective

    Biography

    Neville Symington