The Enigma of the Oceanic Feeling Revisioning the Psychoanalytic Theory of Mysticism,9780195115086

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

by
ISBN13: 9780195115086
ISBN10: 0195115082
Format: Hardcover
Pub. Date: 1999-06-17
Publisher(s): Oxford University Press
List Price: $223.99

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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

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