Cite this article as:
Shugurov M. V., Mozzhilin S. I. Religious-mystical experience and the psychoanalytic tradition. Izvestiya of Saratov University. Philosophy. Psychology. Pedagogy, 2023, vol. 23, iss. 1, pp. 45-49. DOI: https://doi.org/10.18500/1819-7671-2023-23-1-45-49
Religious-mystical experience and the psychoanalytic tradition
Introduction. The purpose of the article is to consider the specifics of the approach to religious and mystical experience in the psychoanalytic tradition from the point of view of revealing the degree of its interdisciplinarity. Theoretical analysis. Using the methods of critical philosophical reflection and dialectical logic, as well as relying on the principle of development, the authors analyze the emergence of the figure of a “psychoanalytic mystic”, going in the direction of overcoming the antithesis of the scientific nature of psychoanalytic theory and the non-scientific nature of religious and mystical phenomena. At the same time, special attention is focused on the factors of interdisciplinary interaction that contributed to the meaningful renewal of psychoanalysis. Conclusion. The logic of the study led to the conclusion that interdisciplinarity manifested itself not simply in borrowing, but in the germination of religious and mystical, and along with them, esoteric elements of spiritual practice within the framework of theory and practice of psychoanalysis.
- Frejd Z. Budushchee odnoj illyuzii [The Future of One Illusion]. Moscow, Ast Publ., 2011. 256 p. (in Russian).
- Frejd Z. Dissatisfaction with culture. In: Freud Z. Izbrannoe [Selected Works: in 2 books]. Moscow, Moskovskij rabochij Publ., 1990, book 2. 176 p. (in Russian).
- Ostow M., Scharfenstein B.-A. The need to believe. The psychology of religion. New York, International Universities Press, 1954. 162 р.
- Burchard E. M. L. Mystical and scientific aspects of the psychoanalytic theories of Freud, Adler, and Jung. Psychotherapy, 1960, vol. 14, iss. 2, pp. 289–307.
- Masson J. F. (translator & editor). The complete letters of Sigmund Freud to Wilhelm Fliess, 1887–1904. Cambridge (Mass.), Harvard University Press, 1985. 544 р.
- Eigen M. The psychoanalytic mystic. London, New York, Free Association Books, 1998. 220 p.
- Bakan D. Sigmund Freud and the Jewish mystical tradition. New York, Dover Publications, 2004. 352 p.
- Drob S. L. “This is gold”: Freud, Psychotherapy and the Lurianic Kabbalah (20 p.). Available at: http://www.newkabbalah.com/kabpsy.pdf (accessed 2 December 2022).
- Downing C. Sigmund Freud and Jewish mysticism: An exploration. In: Cattoi T., Odorisio D., eds. Depth psychology and mysticism. Interdisciplinary approaches to the study of mysticism. London, Palgrave Macmillan, 2018. pp. 151–166.
- Boyle J. Esoteric traces in contemporary psychoanalysis. American Imago, 2016, vol. 73, no. 1, pp. 95–119.
- Meissner W. W. Psychoanalysis and religious experience. New Haven, London, Yale University Press, 2009. 276 р.
- Meissner W. W. Ignatius of Loyola. The psychology of a saint. New Haven, London, Yale University Press, 1992. 510 p.
- Nes А. B. Psychoanalysis, mysticism and the problem of epistemology. Defining the indefinable. London, Routledge, 2021. 352 p.
