'Where does the creative act come from? No one knows. All the rash of literature in recent times from artists, scientists and theologians on the subject of consciousness finds its origin in this puzzle. Creating what has happened to one into an art form has one effect: it dissolves the barrier between the present and the past. The past is constantly stimulated into life by present experiencesparticularly when listening to someone else relating their experiences. It brings me then into a close sharing of experience with the other. Analytic theories are substitutes for these personal experiences. So these poems are a few casual glimpses when the spirit has risen to the challenge. They are not a big offering but they mean a lot to me. The most important of these is the long poem IN-GRATITUDE which comes first. It is the creation of some enormously important conversations I had with my mother shortly before she died.' - Neville Symington, from The Introduction About the author: Neville Symington is a member of the British and Australian Psychoanalytic Societies. His books include Narcissism: A New Theory, The Making of a Psychotherapist, A Pattern of Madness and Becoming a Person Through Psychoanalysis (all published by Karnac Books); The Analytic Experience, and The Clinical Thinking of Wilfred Bion (written with Joan Symington). He has a private psychoanalytic practice in New South Wales, Australia | 
