“Truth shall spring out of the earth…”: The analyst as gatherer of sense impressions

ABSTRACT

In this paper, the author reflects on the analyst's attempt to approach the unknowable, ultimate reality of the psychoanalytic experience, and the unrepressed unconscious. Drawing on both Freud's conception of 'attention' and Bion's emphasis on the power of observation, the paper explores the clinical implications of the notion of intuition as a primary tool in this endeavour. Intuition is often associated with Bion's thinking about the apprehension of psychic reality. At the same time, Bion's emphasis on the need to suspend sensuous aspects of reality on the way to encountering non-sensuous experience has given rise to much confusion. With the aid of detailed clinical material, the paper portrays intuition as a paradoxical, receptive state of mind oriented towards invariant, ultimate reality, and yet perpetually flickering between both sensuous and psychic aspects of reality. Moreover, since emotional truth is always in flux, intuition is seen as a capacity to apprehend reality in transience. In following the path of Bion's evolving thinking about the analyst's intuition, the author illustrates the continuity between the so-called 'early Bion' and the one referred to as 'late Bion'.

« La vérité jaillira de la terre » : l'analyste comme hôte des impressions sensorielles

L'auteur de cet article réfléchit à la tentative de l'analyste d'approcher la réalité inconnaissable et ultime de l'expérience analytique et de l'inconscient non refoulé. Tirant son inspiration de la conception de Freud relative à l' « attention » comme de l'importance que Bion accorde au pouvoir de l'observation, l'auteur explore les répercussions cliniques de la notion d'intuition en tant que principal outil de cette recherche chez l'analyste. L'intuition est souvent associée à la pensée de Bion sur l'appréhension de la réalité psychique. En même temps, l'accent mis par Bion sur la nécessité de suspendre les aspects sensoriels de la réalité pour pouvoir aller à la rencontre de l'expérience non sensorielle, a semé la plus grande confusion. Au moyen d'un matériel clinique détaillé, l'auteur décrit l'intuition comme étant un état d'esprit paradoxal et ouvert, orienté vers une réalité invariante et ultime, tout en oscillant perpétuellement entre les aspects à la fois sensoriels et psychiques de la réalité. De plus, dans la mesure où la vérité émotionnelle est toujours mouvante, l'intuition est considérée comme une capacité d'appréhender le caractère éphémère de la réalité. En suivant la voie tracée par les développements de la pensée de Bion sur l'intuition de l'analyste, l'auteur met en lumière la continuité existant entre ce qu'on appelle le « premier Bion » et le « Bion tardif ».

„Wahrheit wird sprossen aus der Erde“: Der Analytiker als Sammler von Sinneseindrücken

In diesem Beitrag denkt der Autor über den Versuch des Analytikers nach, sich der unfassbaren, ultimativen Realität der psychoanalytischen Erfahrung und dem nicht verdrängten Unbewussten anzunähern. In Anknüpfung an Freuds Begriff der ‚Aufmerksamkeit‘ und Bions Betonung der Kraft der Beobachtung untersucht der Beitrag die klinischen Implikationen des Konzepts von Intuition als einem primären Hilfsmittel bei dieser Aufgabe. Intuition wird oftmals mit Bions Denken über das Erfassen psychischer Realität in Verbindung gebracht. Gleichzeitig hat Bions Hervorhebung der Notwendigkeit, sinnliche Aspekte der Realität auf dem Weg nicht sinnlicher Erkenntnisfindung auszublenden, viel Verwirrung gestiftet. Mit Hilfe ausführlicher klinischer Materialien schildert der Beitrag Intuition als einen paradoxen, empfänglichen Geisteszustand, der auf eine unveränderliche ultimative Realität ausgerichtet ist und doch ständig sowohl zwischen sinnlichen als auch psychischen Aspekten der Realität hin und her flackert. Da emotionale Wahrheit stets im Fluss sind, gilt Intuition zudem als eine Fähigkeit, Realität in ihrer Vergänglichkeit zu erfassen. Indem er Bions Weg des sich entwickelnden Denkens über die Intuition des Analytikers folgt, veranschaulicht der Autor die Kontinuität zwischen dem sogenannten ‚frühen Bion‘ und dem als ‚späten Bion‘ Bezeichneten.

“La verità germoglia dalla terra”: L'analista come raccoglitore di impressioni sensoriali

L'autore riflette sul tentativo dell'analista di avvicinarsi alla realtà ultima e inconoscibile dell'esperienza psicoanalitica e all'inconscio non rimosso. Prendendo le mosse dalla concezione freudiana dell''attenzione' e dall'importanza accordata da Bion al potere dell'osservazione, l'articolo esplora le implicazioni cliniche derivanti dal concepire l'intuizione come strumento di primaria importanza in questo tipo di impresa. Spesso si associa l'intuizione al pensiero di Bion sulla comprensione della realtà psichica. Allo stesso tempo, l'accento che Bion pone sulla necessità di sospendere gli aspetti sensoriali della realtà per poter incontrare un altro tipo non sensoriale di esperienza ha dato luogo a non poca confusione. Avvalendosi di materiale clinico dettagliato, l'articolo presenta l'intuizione come uno stato mentale paradossale, recettivo, orientato alle invarianti della realtà ultima ma al contempo pure in perpetua oscillazione tra gli aspetti sensoriali e quelli psichici della realtà. Inoltre, poiché la verità emotiva è in continuo flusso, l'intuizione è vista come una capacità che consente di cogliere la realtà nel suo perenne mutare. Seguendo il percorso e l'evoluzione del pensiero di Bion riguardo all'intuizione dell'analista, l'autore mostra la continuità tra il cosiddetto “primo Bion” e il Bion comunemente chiamato “tardo ”.

La verdad brotará de la tierra”: el analista como recolector de impresiones sensoriales

En este artículo, el autor reflexiona sobre el intento del analista de aproximarse a la realidad última, incognoscible, de la experiencia psicoanalítica, y el inconsciente no reprimido. A partir de la concepción de “atención” de Freud y del énfasis de Bion en el poder de observación, explora las implicaciones clínicas de la noción de intuición como herramienta primordial en este esfuerzo. La intuición se asocia a menudo con las ideas de Bion acerca de la aprehensión de la realidad psíquica. Al mismo tiempo, el énfasis de Bion en la necesidad de suspender los aspectos sensoriales de la realidad camino del encuentro con la experiencia no sensorial ha generado mucha confusión. Con la ayuda de material clínico en detalle, se caracteriza a la intuición como un estado receptivo y paradójico de la mente, orientado hacia la realidad última invariante y, sin embargo, en perpetua oscilación entre los aspectos sensoriales y psíquicos de la realidad. Además, dado que la verdad emocional está siempre en flujo, se considera que la intuición es la capacidad para aprehender la realidad en su transitoriedad. Al seguir la evolución del pensamiento de Bion sobre la intuición del analista, el autor ilustra la continuidad entre los llamados “primer Bion” y “último Bion”.

KEYWORDS:

• Bion
• intuition
• unrepressed unconscious

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1 Psalms 85:11.

2 As Bion (1970) writes, truth exists, whether or not it has been discovered. The invariant essence of psychoanalysis too, he adds, existed before it was discovered by Freud. Yet it remained for Freud, through his intuitive genius, to reveal the formulation embedded in it. “Once formulated by Freud it remained for others (including Freud himself) to discover the meaning of the conjunction bound by his formulation” (117). Meltzer (2005), too, writes of invention and discovery and relates them directly to talent and genius, respectively.

3 The term “quantum leap” describes an abrupt transition (as of an electron, an atom or a molecule) from one discrete energy state to another (Merriam-Webster 2021).

4 Here Bion uses the term “countertransference” in the way he will later use “reverie”. After coining the term “reverie” for the analyst’s own emotional experience as an analytic instrument, Bion retained the term “countertransference” only for the manifestation of the analyst's infantile neurosis, which is always unconscious and therefore cannot be consciously used by the analyst.

5 Freud (1911) cites (a) “attention”, (b) “notation”, which he says is a part of that which we call memory, (c) “an impartial passing of judgment”, (d) a new function entrusted to motor discharge, which is now concerned with action, and (e) restraint of action “by means of the process of thought, which was developed from ideation” (221).

6 By “correct interpretation” Bion came to mean an interpretation that is free of lies, emotional discharge or acting out on the part of the analyst, approximating a truthful apprehension of the ultimate reality of the session, allowing the patient to transiently glimpse the unconscious.

7 In fact, I gather that Bion refused to re-edit his original early papers when he republished them in 1967 in Second Thoughts, because for him they had retained the kernel of truth that he was to elaborate in his later writings. To my mind, his book Second Thoughts, containing his early papers alongside his later “second thoughts”, epitomizes the continuity of his thinking.

8 I use the word “truth” here not in its enigmatic, philosophical sense, but rather to denote a psychic reality that feels truthful. Although using the word “truth”, Bion often refers to a sense of truth. He writes: “a sense of truth is experienced if the view of an object which is hated can be conjoined to a view of the same object when it is loved and the conjunction confirms that the object perceived by different emotions is the same object” (1962b, 119). I would take this view further, and say that a sense of truth is achieved when innumerable facets of the same object are momentarily conjoined. Even though the multitude of these facets cannot be consciously known, their momentary coalescence evokes a powerful emotional experience of encountering a reality that is felt, fleetingly, as truth. The word “truth”, albeit the reservations mentioned, is thus important in evoking the intensity of the emotional experience. See Levine (2022) for an extensive discussion of the concept of truth in psychoanalysis as well as its affinity with psychic reality.

9 As already noted by other writers (e.g. de Bianchedi 2005; O’Shaughnessy 2005), Bion’s unsaturated writings leave much space for differing views, and one must ultimately lean on one’s own clinical experience. I too, can only offer my understanding of his thinking, and how my thoughts about clinical work are inspired by this understanding.

10 Zwischenreich is a neologism coined by Freud (1914), combining "zwischen" (in-between) and "Reich" (realm).

11 I am reminded that “intuition”, from the Latin intueri, is defined as “to look at or into”.

12 The notion of non-dreams is described by Cassorla (2013) as phenomena in which although dream-like states may evolve, the analytic couple colludes unconsciously to evacuate a painful experience rather than tolerate and transform it in the service of psychic growth. Nonetheless, if the analyst can allow themselves to be invaded by these evacuations, they might experience the impact of the unrepresented fragments of experience projected into analytic space. Moreover, Cassorla stresses the analyst's simultaneous capacity to implicitly use their alpha-function in channels running parallel to this so-called obstruction (which echoes Bion's insistence on the coexistence and dialectic interplay between the psychotic and non-psychotic parts of the personality). Thus, what at first seems to be a potentially destructive occurrence may become a transformative experience consequent to the abrupt contact with reality.

13 I am reminded that "intuition", from the Latin intueri, is defined as "to look at or into".