The enigma of the oceanic feeling
Subtitle: revisioning the psychoanalytic theory of mysticism
By: William B. Parsons.
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Published: 1999
Place of publication: New York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 252
Subjects: Freud, Sigmund, 1856-1939.; Psychoanalysis and religion.
Description: "This book examines the history of the psychoanalytic theory of mysticism, starting with the seminal correspondence between Sigmund Freud and Romain Rolland concerning the concept of the "oceanic feeling." Providing a corrective to current views that frame psychoanalysis as pathologizing mysticism, Parsons reveals the existence of three models entertained by Freud and Rolland: the classical-reductive, ego-adaptive, and transformational (which allows for a transcendent dimension to mysticism).

Then, reconstructing Rolland's personal mysticism (the "oceanic feeling") through texts and letters unavailable to Freud, Parsons argues that Freud misinterpreted the oceanic feeling."--BOOK JACKET.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. 225-237) and index.