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01-12-2016 | Psychological Exploration

Ramakrishna and the Clinic of Paradox

Authors: Paulo H. C. Dias, Gilberto Safra

Published in: Journal of Religion and Health | Issue 6/2016

Abstract

This study presents a clinical conception of the human being as the paradox between immanence and transcendence. Through an exposition of the clinical conceptions of Brazilian author Gilberto Safra, we search for an integral manner in which to understand mystical experience as a way to rethink the ontological conceptions inherent to clinical practice. In such perspective, we elaborate a critique of both the psychological-only approach to mystical experience as well as the spiritual-only approach. We present it through the life of Indian mystic Ramakrishna, by comparing the interpretation different authors make of his experiences and placing our own perspective.

Safra bases such distinction on Heidegger’s (1927/2001) theory. The ontic refers to the realm of the concrete, immanent and factual aspects of existence, while the ontological refers to the deep underlying structures that transcend it, the realm of Being. The psychological realm, in Safra’s (2006) view, is essentially ontic, while the spiritual is ontological.

The icon, in Christian Orthodox practice, is the painted depiction of a saint, generally made in a flat panel.

Parsons (1997) also divides Ramakrishna’s interpreters along with his three categories exposed above. In our study, however, we approach such distinctions in a different manner.

Winnicott (1971) understands the feminine and the masculine as pure elements of the constitution of the self. The feminine, in his perspective, is related to the realm of being, and with the passive identification with the object, while the masculine is related to the gesture towards the world, the realm of action.

Vedanta is one of the main schools within Hindu philosophy, concerned specifically at attaining the impersonal, ineffable aspect of the absolute without differentiation.

Psychoanalytic concept developed by Hanna Segal, in which there is equivalence between the symbol and the object symbolized.

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Parsons, W. (1999). The enigma of the oceanic feeling: revisioning the psychoanalytic theory of mysticism. New York: Oxford University Press.

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Safra, G. (2006). Hermenêutica na situação clínica: o desvelar da singularidade pelo idioma pessoal. São Paulo: Sobornost.

Safra, G. (2007). Perspectivas do manejo clinico da experiência religiosa. In I. G. Arcuri & M. Ancona-Lopez (Orgs.), Temas em psicologia da religião (pp. 77–90). São Paulo: Vetor.

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Title: Ramakrishna and the Clinic of Paradox
Authors: Paulo H. C. Dias
Gilberto Safra
Publication date: 01-12-2016
Publisher: Springer US
Published in: Journal of Religion and Health / Issue 6/2016
Print ISSN: 0022-4197
Electronic ISSN: 1573-6571
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10943-015-0131-5

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Ramakrishna and the Clinic of Paradox

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