REVIEW
OF JANUARY MEETING
Passion: Wellspring of
the Mind
Myrna Little, Ph.D.
By Robert Aberg, Ph.D.
On January 12, 2000, Dr. Myrna
Little presented her paper "Passion, Wellspring of the Mind." Dr. Little began
by noting fundamental similarities between current controversies within the psychoanalytic
community and the historical dialectic involving the birth of Romanticism out of the
Enlightenment. For example, the current intersubjectivist emphasis on experiential aspects
of psychotherapy (for both therapist and patient) and the social deconstruction of the
notion of "objective" truth seems to reprise the Romanticist focus on personal
experience versus the Enlightenment’s embrace of abstract reason and logic.
Drawing upon the
scholarship of Isaiah Berlin (English philosopher, 1911-1997), Dr. Little stated that the
Romantic period (1770—1820) heralded as radical a shift in Western values and
consciousness as the industrial revolution in England, the political revolution in France,
or the socio-economic revolution in Russia; and had, similarly, left its mark on virtually
all forms of human thought thereafter.
The Romantic Period was
preceded by the Enlightenment. During the Enlightenment, old forms of religion and
superstition gave way to the forces of rationalism and the scientific method. According to
Berlin, the rationalism of the Enlightenment rested on three assumptions:
1) There is one (and only
one) right answer to all human questions.
2) Truth is the same to all
human beings. It can be taught, as can its methods of discovery. Truth, here, includes
moral truths and values as well as physical and logical truth.
3) Human values cannot
contradict each other without ensuing chaos. Moral, ethical, and political philosophy were
believed to be as orderly and as internally consistent (at least, ideally) as
Newton’s physical laws.
Rationalism was the basis
for progress in science, the arts, and moral and political philosophy. In this orderly,
potentially Utopian worldview, virtue consisted in progress along these fronts, i.e., an
ever-increasing fund of knowledge and human improvement through the use of reason.
Ignorance, cruelty, superstition would eventually cede their hold on humankind if we could
maintain our faith in, and commitment to, rationalism. Happiness, virtue, and social
justice were viewed as not only compatible, but also dependent upon each other.
Unsurprisingly, the
irrational aspects of human nature soon began to well up and manifest themselves in the
shadows cast by the bright and shining ideals of reason and rationality. Initially rooted
in an inward-looking and darkly moody German Pietism, Romanticism's distrust of reason was
presaged by Martin Luther (1483-1546) who had maintained that, "Reason was a whore to
be avoided." Dr. Little focused on Johann Georg Hamann, a contemporary and neighbor
of Immanuel Kant (1724-1804), as a key German thinker who helped pave the way for the
Romantic movement. Hamann’s doctrine can be seen as having remarkable parallels with
much of the intersubjectivist critique of classical psychoanalytic theory. His doctrine
asserted that:
1) One knows the universe
by faith, not by intellect.
2) To discover what other
human beings are like, one must physically meet with them and talk to them and attend to
their gestures, tone of voice, and all other nonverbal aspects of communication. One
cannot simply derive a theory of human nature from abstract principles and logical
deductions.
3) When confronted with an
intellectual or artistic work, we respond directly to the immediate experience of the work
itself rather than to the principles by which the work was created (e.g., symmetry, or the
"golden mean").
4) Life is, by nature,
flowing and holistic. Artificially cutting it up into segments kills it.
5) People are motivated not
by happiness or wealth (cf. Voltaire) but by the opportunity to use their faculties to the
fullest and to live in the most intense manner possible
Dr. Little characterized
Hamann as believing that, "(T)he whole Enlightenment doctrine appears to kill what is
alive in human beings, without which it is impossible to live, eat, drink, be merry, meet
people, have relationships, indulge in a thousand and one acts without which we wither and
die." Hamann also believed that, "(T)o classify, to type, to apply categories,
is to miss all knowledge, to kill the unique, asymmetrical, unclassifiable flesh of living
human experience. And to abolish caprice in the arts is to be an assassin. Passion is what
possesses."
Berlin identified Johann
Herder and Immanuel Kant as the "true" fathers of Romanticism. Herder is
identified with the doctrine of expressionism, according to which any work of art
must always be viewed as an act of communication involving the artist’s whole
personality, biography, and often-contradictory motives. Expressionism’s emphasis on
the personal and historical context of a work of art stands in stark contrast to the
ideals of the Enlightenment. Expressionism asserts the necessity of a pluralistic
aesthetic and denies the more abstract, unitary, and ultimately perfectionistic aesthetic
posited by the rationalistic ideals of the Enlightenment.
Kant, though he hated the
irrationality, vagueness, and confusion associated with romanticism, is considered a
father of romanticism by virtue of the central importance he placed upon human freedom and
choice. His moral philosophy was concerned with the ability to distinguish between emotion
and passion on the one hand and duty and right on the other. Kant’s emphasis on
choice and individual moral responsibility presaged existentialism’s defiant stand
against the impersonal forces of history or unconscious determinism of any kind.
Other German thinkers
associated with the Romantic Movement included two disciples of Kant, Frederich Schiller
and Johann Fichte. Schiller elevated the individual’s capacity and responsibility for
self-definition and value commitment to a good in itself, regardless of the moral
conventionality of the individual’s commitment. An individual’s redemption
depended upon his ability to overcome the impersonal forces of human or historical
"nature." To be "saved," we must invent for ourselves our own
life’s values and then commit ourselves fully to their realization. Human freedom
resided in this capacity for self-invention. Anything less was considered a kind of de
facto submission to external forces, i.e., and slavery.
Fichte generalized this
notion of individual freedom to nation states. Implicit in these ideas was the
quasi-religious view of a nation (in this case, the German nation) as a collective of
peoples laying claim to their freedom to act and define themselves upon the world stage as
a moral/existential imperative. Conversely, collective acceptance of constraints upon
national self-definition was tantamount to submitting to slavery. This mystical and highly
intoxicating notion of an "inspired" nation can be seen as a precursor to the
mythology underpinning the doctrines and actions of the German Nazis.
Frederich Schelling
(1775-1854) further expanded these ideas by postulating that God was a kind of progressive
phenomenon moving from unconsciousness to consciousness. According to Schelling, God is
manifest to those attuned to the symbolic aspects of life and who have the will to follow
and explore these symbols where they find them (e.g., poets and artists). These people are
accordingly identified as God’s most self-conscious representatives. This
"sanctification" of both symbol and artist and of the endless struggle to make
the unconscious conscious was of central importance to romantic thought.
Aspects of a Romantic
"Theory of Knowledge" were identified as follows:
1) There is no abiding
self. There are sensations, emotions, and memories.
2) The sense of self,
according to Kant, emerges only when one is confronted with resistance from a not-self
obstacle.
3) Science, like art, is an
artificial construction and has no justifiable claim to be dealing with primary
("objective") data.
4) "Nature" is
identified with Unconscious will and is in contrast to "Human," which is
identified with self-conscious will.
5) The artist’s
function is to explore and delve into the symbolic surround and to represent "the
pulsations of some infinite spirit."
6) Symbols are in some
sense irreducible and inexhaustible. They are the language of the unconscious and, though
they arouse emotion, are never fully knowable.
7) Authenticity is the
greatest virtue.
Results and consequences of
"Romantic Knowing" include the theater of the absurd, a dramatic attempt to
break down accepted ways of categorizing our experience (e.g., dream/waking, night/day) so
that we might have a transforming experience out of which something new can be created.
Dr. Little noted that, "This is the central doctrine of the Romantic Movement."
Another consequence was the elevation of myth and symbol as, "The only way to
understand reality…because they embody the unarticulable, encapsulate the irrational,
in images which carry you further to some infinite direction." Romantic knowing thus
undermines the idea of objectively verifiable "truth" when dealing in matters
such as values, politics, morals, or aesthetics.
Dr. Little stated that we
owe to Romanticism…"(the) freedom to not be overexplained, oversimplified; that
there are many values, and they are incompatible; (and) that plurality, imperfection are
inexhaustible."
Dr. Little identified
Romanticism and its offshoots (e.g., existentialism, the European Youth Movement) as the
"matrix" or culture within which the first generation of psychoanalysts would
naturally focus much of their attention on the unconscious. From this historical
perspective, the unconscious appears less a "discovery" of Freud’s
than…"a reaction to one-sidedness, to the domination of reason over passion, and
to hubris." She cited Jacoby as describing the first generation of analysts as
embodying a "reforming zeal" and a "utopian, revolutionary spirit."
Dr. Little cited Jacoby as lamenting the initial excitement and creative fervor of
pre-World war I European psychoanalysis was "…now lost to conformist American
psychoanalysis."
The contemporary
intersubjective psychoanalyst Jessica Benjamin was described by Dr. Little as someone who
is attempting a deconstruction of "…the norms and foundations of knowledge as a
way to subvert power relations." Benjamin’s viewpoint may be viewed as a legacy
of the Romantic Movement’s emphasis on subjective experience (as opposed to objective
reality). She has redefined the analyst from "the one who knows" to "the
one who knows me, whose knowledge is mediated through subjectivity, hermeneutic rather
than objective."
Dr. Little then focused on
Bion as "a bridge between reason and passion." Bion, one of the first analysts
to detail the use of countertransference in the treatment of schizophrenia, viewed passion
as present in love, hate, and knowledge--the "elements by which we connect and/or
disconnect from ourselves and from one another." Dr. Little noted that Bion’s
"cryptic advice that we enter the session without memory or desire" (has)
invited much misunderstanding." She interpreted Bion as emphasizing here the
importance of emotional presence and psychological openness during psychotherapy.
Dr. Little distinguished
this type of psychological openness from the concept of reverie. Once the analyst is open
to the impressions and images that the patient provokes (cf. Bion’s admonition to
enter the session without memory or desire), the reverie of the analyst allows these
images to grow and develop within the psyche of the analyst and finally become present in
his or her own consciousness. In this sense, Dr. Little noted, reverie is more akin to
labor in child birth than to the "evenly suspended attention" to which Bion was
referring. She stated her belief that, "preservation of the patient’s autonomy
lies in just this, the willingness to enter a session allowing them to experience
themselves, and myself to be impacted by them."
Dr. Little identified the
French scientist, philosopher, and poet, Gaston Bachelard, as having usefully described
the process of using reverie. Bachelard describes this as a two step process. The first
step is resonance, in which the poetic image appears according to its own dynamic,
not subject to conscious intent or will, having, in effect, its own ontology. It is as if
the soul (not the mind) were inaugurating a form. The individual’s mind, in
responding, associating to, and creatively grappling with, this soul-image (or
inspiration) signifies the second stage of this process, reverberation.
Returning to the process of
psychotherapy, Dr. Little noted that the significance of Bachelard’s analysis of
poetic reverie is that, "(T)he image has touched the depths before it stirs the
surface...the image offered us now becomes our own, it takes root in us. It has been given
us by another, but we begin to have the impression that we could have created it…It
becomes a new being in our language, expressing us by making us what it expresses."
Dr. Little summed up what she felt regarding the transforming qualities of this sort of
"lived" knowledge by quoting from Mary Oliver’s poem, "When Death
Comes:"
When it’s over, I want
to be able to say
All my life I was a bride, married to amazement.
DSPP on the Web
By Cheryl Martin RN, LPC
DSPP members with e-mail
and Internet access now have the opportunity to receive announcements through our private
group e-mail list. Messages are delivered directly to members' own mailboxes in addition
to being archived and available on the web. Members may post requests for information,
share anecdotes, exchange files, and add to the events calendar. You may subscribe by
going to the private DSPP Members Area at www.dspp.com or send e-mail to editor@dspp.com.
DSPP's March speaker, Beth
Newman, Ph.D., has requested that Monique Wittig's paper "Mark of Gender" be
added to our reading list. The paper is available in the Members
Area of the DSPP web site with publisher permission. |
