MYSTICISM

Mysticism is a set of beliefs and practices evoking an intimate union of man and the principle of being (god or divinity). The term mystic (mystisch ) appears in The Interpretation of Dreams (1900a). In its March 20, 1907, session, the Vienna Psychoanalytic Society listened to a talk by Adolf Häutler on "Mysticism and the Comprehension of Nature," with critical comments by Adler, Rank, and Freud.

Mysticism was understood at that time in a pantheistic sense, as a union of man and nature and of nature with God. In a related sense, Freud "reserved for mysticism a consciousness of the inanimate," that is of matter and the mineral world (1915e).

The discussions between Freud and Romain Roll-and on the "oceanic feeling" and "Universal river" partook of the same pantheistic atmosphere that the French writer was fond of attributing to the "Germanic soul," and that he had borrowed from Indian thought. The feeling for nature and the idea of God were combined in a communion that drew equally on art and religion. For his part, however, Freud wrote to Rolland, on July 20, 1929, "I have as little appreciation for mysticism as I do for music."

Unlike Carl Jung, Freud was distinctly reticent about mysticism, which he felt had more to do with nature than with culture, more to do with intuition (if not drives) than with reason. Near the very end of his life, on August 22, 1938, he wrote in his notes: "Mysticism, the obscure self-perception of a kingdom outside the ego, or id." This obscurity, according to Freud, is not unrelated to the "dark continent" of the female psyche.

But although he seemed to reject mysticism, Freud acknowledged an irrational element in himself: the residue of his self-analysis, which he called "the specifically Jewish nature of [his] mysticism." Moreover, he loved mystery and wrote to Fliess (June 12, 1900) that he had dreamt of a marble plaque on his house that read:

In this house,

on July 24, 1895,

the mystery of the dream was revealed

to Dr. Sigmund Freud.

Odon Vallet

See also: Disturbance of Memory on the Acropolis, A ; Jung, Carl Gustav; Oceanic feeling; Rolland, Romain Edme Paul-Emile.

Bibliography

Freud, Sigmund. (1915e). The Unconscious. SE,14:159-204.

——. (1970). Letters of Sigmund Freud, 1873-1939. (Ernst L. Freud, Ed.; Tania and James Stern, Trans.). London: Hogarth.

Häutler, Adolf. (1962-75). Scientific meeting, March 20, 1907: Mysticism and the comprehension of nature. In Herman Nunberg and Ernst Federn (Eds.), Minutes of the Vienna Psychoanalytic Society (M. Nunberg, Trans., Vol. 2, 1906-08). New York: International Universities Press.

Jung, Carl Gustav. (1980). The psychology of the transference. Coll. Works, Vol. 16. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul.

Vermorel, Henri, and Vermorel, Madeleine. (1993). Sigmund Freud et Romain Rolland. Correspondance 1923-1936.(Alain de Mijolla, Ed.). Paris: Presses Universitaires de France.