Transcending religion: Reflections on spirituality and psychoanalysis

Abstract

In this essay, I evaluate psychoanalytic process and spirituality that is rooted in what is known as negative theology. A “natural spirituality”, as I name it, has nothing in common with formalistic rituals, dogmas or with postulating transcendent other-reality. Such a spirituality has no need for ascetic practices but rather fosters experience of mystery and awe. A natural spirituality grounds the personally meaningful as that which ties one to the world through the care, compassion and concern one evidences. I wish to show in the article that in psychoanalysis deep natural spirituality that promotes transcendence, focused on the here and now, is implied. Psychoanalysis offers metaphors of integration, of personal awareness, of working through, of selfhonesty, of sustained relational caring. These metaphors are in harmony with the most universal of religious values. I see aspects of quantum physics that emphasise mutual interconnectedness and open-endedness as metaphors of natural spirituality. I conclude my thoughts with the idea that separation and individuation are not the final goal of psychological integration, but rather a developmental stage leading to a capacity to appreciate and experience human interconnection.