The Enigma of the Oceanic Feeling Revisioning the Psychoanalytic Theory of Mysticism

by Parsons, William B.

• ISBN13: 9780195115086
• ISBN10: 0195115082
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1999-06-17
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

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.

Author Biography

William B. Parsons is Associate Professor of Religious Studies at Rice University.

Table of Contents

Introduction Psychoanalysis and Mysticism	3	(16)
PART I: THE FREUD--ROLLAND CORRESPONDENCE
Across all Boundaries: The Atheistic Jew and The Apostle of Love	19	(16)
The Enigma of the Oceanic Feeling	35	(18)
Rolland and the Emerging Psychology and Religion Movement	53	(21)
The Debate Continued	74	(15)
PART II: THE OCEANIC FEELING REVISITED
A Congregation of One	89	(20)
Mysticism East and West	109	(31)
The Oceanic Feeling Interpreted	140	(30)
Conclusion	166	(4)
Appendix The Letters of Sigmund Freud and Romain Rolland	170	(11)
Notes	181	(44)
Bibliography	225	(14)
Index	239