The Good Life , livre ebook

142

pages

English

Ebooks

2012

Écrit par
Jeffrey B. Rubin

Publié par
State University of New York Press

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142

pages

English

Ebooks

2012

Lire un extrait

Obtenez un accès à la bibliothèque pour le consulter en ligne En savoir plus

Publié par

State University of New York Press

Date de parution

01 février 2012

Nombre de lectures

EAN13

9780791484494

Langue

English

Poids de l'ouvrage

1 Mo

Psychoanalysts have traditionally been expert at uncovering what afflicts and damages people, argues Jeffrey B. Rubin, but by focusing on narcissism and perversions, depression and sadism, psychoanalysis has all too often disregarded what nourishes and sustains us. In The Good Life, he demonstrates how psychoanalysis can make a profound contribution to the well-lived life by drawing on a neglected but potent aspect of psychoanalysis—its capacity to illuminate a psychology of health as well as illness. Rubin shows that, at its best, psychoanalysis can highlight both the ingredients of love, ethics, creativity, and spirituality, as well as the obstacles to experiencing them. Exploring the good life from this dual perspective provides an indispensable resource for helping us live with greater meaning and vitality.

Preface

Acknowledgments

Introduction

1. Psychoanalysis and Creative Living

2. Values and Ethics in Psychoanalysis

3. Psychoanalysis at Play in the Garden of Love

4. There's More Than Meets the I: Psychoanalytic Reflections on Spirituality

5. Psychoanalysis and the Good Life

Notes

Bibliography

Index

Voir

Publié par

State University of New York Press

Date de parution

01 février 2012

EAN13

9780791484494

Langue

English

Poids de l'ouvrage

1 Mo

psychoanalytic reflections on love, ethics, creativity, and spirituality

Jeffrey B. Rubin

THE GOOD LIFE

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Jeffrey B. Rubin

THE GOOD LIFE

psychoanalytic reflections on

love, ethics, creativity, and spirituality

STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK PRESS

Published by ST A T EUN I V E R S I T Y O FNE WYO R KPR E S S ALBANY

Printed in the United States of America

No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission. No part of this book may be stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means including electronic, electrostatic, magnetic tape, mechanical, photocopying, record-ing, or otherwise without the prior permission in writing of the publisher.

For information, address State University of New York Press, 90 State Street, Suite 700, Albany, NY 12207

Production, Laurie Searl Marketing, Anne M.Valentine

Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data

Rubin, Jeffrey B. The good life : psychoanalytic reflections on love, ethics, creativity, and spirituality / Jeffrey B. Rubin. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-7914-6215-3 (alk. paper) — ISBN 0-7914-6216-1 (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. Psychoanalysis. 2. Conduct of life. I. Title. BF175.R82 2004 150.19'5—dc22 2004008927

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

This book is dedicated to four teachers, whose wisdom, guidance, and support have immeasurably aided my efforts to understand myself and live a good life.

George Atwood

David Kastan

Joel Kramer

Monte Ullman

And to John Moody, best friend every step of the way.

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Preface

C o n t e n t s

Acknowledgments

Introduction

Psychoanalysis and Creative Living

Values and Ethics in Psychoanalysis

Psychoanalysis at Play in the Garden of Love

There’s More Than Meets the I: Psychoanalytic Reflections on Spirituality

Psychoanalysis and the Good Life

Notes

Bibliography

Index

v i i

111

123

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P r e f a c e

Since psychoanalysis is my home, I feel free not to treat it politely. It needs constant upkeep and can always use renewal. —Robert Stoller

PSYCHOANALYSIS HAS BEENan endless source of enlightenment and inspi-ration to me for the past twenty-four years. Encountering it in my twenties was undoubtedly one of the most auspicious and formative experiences of my life. Psychoanalysis has transformed my life by opening up vast and subtle vistas on human motivation and relationships that I doubt I would ever have discovered in any other way. Psychoanalysis is increasingly marginalized in our postmodern world, where everything is deconstructed and debunked from reason to revelation, and standards of ethics are leveled and homogenized. Egocentricity, hedonism, pop-ular psychospiritual quick fixes, and self-anesthetizing and addictive behavior serve for too many people in Western culture as misguided substitutes for the good life. These bleached-out versions of a life well-lived leave us spiritually hungry and cast adrift without any guiding direction for action, and desperate for solutions to address the malaise and alienation that plague us. I find it ironic that psychoanalysis is increasingly attacked, if not dismissed, at the very moment when it has a seminal and profound contribution to make to contemporary reflections on what afflicts us, and what might heal and sus-tain us. Articulating these contributions is crucial to the renewal of psycho-analysis in the twenty-first century. A central theme of one of my earlier booksTime:Psychoanalysis for Our , A Exploring the Blindness of the Seeing I,was that for psychoanalysis to actualize its emancipatory potential and illuminate how we could live with greater depth and intimacy, joy and meaning, it must draw on its hidden resources as well as confront its blind spots and omissions.To do this, I recommended that psycho-analysts examine topics that had been sorely neglected in the field, such as the i x

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