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This volume presents a rationale for a spiritually animated psychoanalysis. Classic world religious literature is analyzed in depth showing how Ecclesiastes, St. Augustine's Confessions, The Koran, the Bhagavad Gita, and others can enhance psychoanalysis. Marcus argues that psychoanalysis is a theory and profession in crisis, partly due to its alienation from the spiritual and moral philosophies contained in ancient religious wisdom. This volume presents the spiritual as a core dimension of the psyche, and the quest for self-transcendence-meeting the glory of the Infinite-as a quest inherent in the human condition.
Of special interest to those studying psychoanalysis, psychology, and religious studies, this volume may also intrigue those studying the philosophy of religion.
List of contents
Acknowledgments
Introduction: Ancient Religious Wisdom, Spirituality and Psychoanalysis
South AsianHinduism: The Bhagavad Gita
Buddhism: Buddha
East AsianConfucianism: The Analects
Taoism: The Chuang Tzu
Greco-Roman InterludeStoicism: Marcus Aurelius's Meditations
WesternJudaism: Ecclesiastes
Christianity: St. Augustine's Confessions
Islam: The Koran
Conclusion: Towards a Spiritually Animated Psychoanalysis
Selected Bibliography
Index
About the author
PAUL MARCUS is a psychoanalyst and clinical psychologist in private practice. He is the co-editor of Healing their Wounds: Psychotherapy with Holocaust Survivors and Their Families (Praeger, 1989), Psychoanalytic Versions of the Human Condition, Philosophies of Life and Their Impact on Practice (1998), and Blacks and Jews on the Couch (Praeger, 1998).
