The Blind Man Sees

The papers in this book have been written over a period of fifteen years, and focus in the similarity between psychoanalysis and religion. Symington argues that psychoanalysis can be seen as a scientific religion with Freud as the leader of the movement. He examines the various stages of the journey made by a religious leader from "blindness" to "founding an institution" and finds counterparts in the development of psychoanalysis while drawing examples from Buddhism, Christianity and Islam. He invites the reader on a journey with him - to examine the human mind, our society, the process of psychoanalysis, science and philosophy. He successfully uses examples from the consulting room to illuminate his arguments. Symington's honest accounts of the search for answers relevant to all of us encourage the reader to think further and deeper than he or she had intended. 'The psychoanalyst examines scientifically the emotional pattern in himself and the other. He can only do this to the extent to which he is self-aware. As what is he is exercising is the inner pattern of his and the other's relationship, then, according to my definition, what he is engaged in is a religious activity. As he is doing it in an orderly way about a determinate subject-matter, he is acting as a scientist. Hence my claim that psychoanalysis is a scientific religion.' - Neville Symington, from the Introduction