1st Edition

The Spirit of Sanity

By Neville Symington Copyright 2001
    216 Pages
    by Routledge

    216 Pages
    by Routledge

    A rare and unusual consideration of the spiritual dimensions of sanity from a psychoanalytic perspective, this transcription of a series of seven lectures delivered at the Tavistock Clinic capture the spontaneity and immediacy of the interplay between one of the world's most eminent psychoanalysts and an audience of his peers. The author of the established psychoanalytic classics Emotion and Spirit, Narcissism: A New Theory; and The Analytic Experience here brings his characteristic insight and innovation to the question of how the traditional Freudian view of religious belief as neurotic or illusory can be reconciled with a way of taking up psychoanalytic work without abandoning the spiritual dimension to life.

    Preface -- Introductory remarks -- An ontology for sanity -- Freedom and survival -- A pattern of madness -- Emotional action and strengthening of the ego -- God and the worm -- Trauma and attachment -- How our technique is affected by this outlook -- The spirit of sanity: discussion of central issues -- Closing remarks -- The true god and the false god -- An exegesis of conscience in the works of Freud -- Envy: a psychological analysis -- "I feel a fraud"

    Biography

    Symington, Neville