The Enigma of the Oceanic Feeling
Revisioning the Psychoanalytic Theory of Mysticism
1st Edition
Published on 17. June 1999
265 pages
978-0-19-535408-9 (ISBN)
Description
This study examines the history of the psychoanalytic theory of mysticism, starting with the seminal correspondence between Freud and Romain Rolland concerning the concept of "oceanic feeling." Providing a corrective to current views which frame psychoanalysis as pathologizing mysticism, Parsons reveals the existence of three models entertained by Freud and Rolland: the classical reductive, ego-adaptive, and transformational (which allows for a transcendent dimension to mysticism). Then, reconstructing Rolland's personal mysticism (the "oceanic feeling") through texts and letters unavailable to Freud, Parsons argues that Freud misinterpreted the oceanic feeling. In offering a fresh interpretation of Rolland's mysticism, Parsons constructs a new dialogical approach for psychoanalytic theory of mysticism which integrates culture studies, developmental perspectives, and the deep epistemological and transcendent claims of the mystics.
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William B. Parsons
The Enigma of the Oceanic Feeling
Revisioning the Psychoanalytic Theory of Mysticism
Book
05/1999
Oxford University Press Inc
€225.80
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Content
- Intro
- Contents
- Introduction
- PART I: THE FREUD-ROLLAND CORRESPONDENCE
- 1. Across all Boundaries: The Atheistic Jew and The Apostle of Love
- 2. The Enigma of the Oceanic Feeling
- 3. Rolland and the Emerging Psychology and Religion Movement
- 4. The Debate Continued
- PART II: THE OCEANIC FEELING REVISITED
- 5. A Congregation of One
- 6. Mysticism East and West
- 7. The Oceanic Feeling Interpreted
- Conclusion
- Appendix: The Letters of Sigmund Freud and Romain Rolland
- Notes
- Bibliography
- Index
- A
- B
- C
- D
- E
- F
- G
- H
- I
- J
- K
- L
- M
- N
- O
- P
- R
- S
- T
- U
- V
- W
- Y
- Z
