This is an astonishing and gripping psychoanalytic meditation on the collective psyche and the experiences of the recent traumatic past. As always, Michael Eigen has an extraordinary ability to use language in a way that opens and deepens psychic reality. His form evokes what his theory proposes, the constant ebbing and flowing, opening and closing of our ability to stay in contact with that reality. He is a master of psychoanalytic theory who nonetheless brings us up constantly short in the face of what is shockingly raw and untheorizable in life. A master of the dialectic between theory and practice, of holding opposites in tension, Eigen is no less a poet of psychoanalysis, who weaves between metaphor and theoretical analysis as if they were always meant to be the warp and woof of our apprehension—and while doing so tries to keep our minds equally focused on what is warped in our social body as well as our personal psyches without denying the surges of hope and inspiration that make it meaningful. --- from the publisher Reviews and Endorsements: “Michael Eigen’s Flames from the Unconscious aligns us with his consciousness and opens up our experience of the world. We are led into the heart of a deeply caring individual: a restless, demanding, probing, sensitive, tender and inspiring therapist who knows our fears but is no longer afraid himself.” - Mark Epstein, MD, author of Thoughts without a Thinker and Going to Pieces Without Falling Apart ”An astonishing and gripping psychoanalytic meditation on the collective psyche and the experiences of the recent traumatic past. As always, Michael Eigen has an extraordinary ability to use language in a way that opens and deepens psychic reality. His form evokes what his theory proposes, the constant ebbing and flowing, opening and closing of our ability to stay in contact with that reality. He is a master of psychoanalytic theory who nonetheless brings us up constantly short in the face of what is shockingly raw and untheorizable in life.” - Jessica Benjamin, author of The Bonds of Love, Like Subjects, Love Objects and Shadow of the Other ”Eigen finds in psychoanalysis—especially in the work of Winnicott—the language of commitment to his patients and to his own unique rewording of psychoanalysis. Time after time as paragraphs open with powerful assertions one is conscripted into Eigen’s quotidian psychoanalytic and spiritual depth. Who else can find in the ordinary “grace” of lived experience so many challenging reflections? No one else thinks like this, writes like this, or puts psychoanalysis into a separate realm. Like the writings of Adam Phillips, this is literature for the ages.” - Christopher Bollas, author of Shadow of the Object, Forces of Destiny, and The Freudian Moment ”This beautifully written book emphasizes the dilemma of how we deal with the ‘Flame of Life’ within us. [Eigen] emphasizes the importance of ‘Primary Aloneness’ both with and without the presence of the other. He urges us to reconcile with the competing oppositions within us: love/joy, madness/creativity, and so many other conflicts. Ultimately, this book constitutes an urgent and moving appeal for us to accept our inner diversities, to live with them, and to reap the benefit of their reconciliation. This contribution represents an integration of psychoanalysis (both theoretical and clinical), religion, mysticism, and philosophy.” - James S. Grotstein, MD, author of A Beam of Intense Darkness and Who is the Dreamer Who Dreams the Dream? Contents: Acknowledgements; About the Author; 1) Introduction; 2) Primary Aloneness; 3) Incommunicado Core and Boundless: Supporting Unknown; 4) Guilt in an Age of Psychopathy; 5) I Killed Socrates; 6) Revenge Ethics; 7) Something Wrong; 8) Emily and M.E.; 9) Faith and Destructiveness; Appendix: Something Wrong: Grace; References; Index. About the Author: Michael Eigen is a psychologist and psychoanalyst as well as a senior member and training analyst with the National Psychological Association for Psychoanalysis. He is also Associate Clinical Professor of Psychology and supervisor for the New York University Postdoctoral Program in Psychotherapy and Psychoanalysis. His other books include Damaged Bonds (Karnac 2001), Rage (2002), The Electrified Tightrope (Karnac 2004) and Feeling Matters (Karnac, 2007).
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