Three Classes: Saturdays: Sept 11th, Oct. 9th, Nov. 13th from 9 - 10:30 am

Wilfred Bion’s concept of O is his most mysterious idea, representing absolute truth and the mind necessary to apprehend it. Not surprisingly, it is also his most controversial idea, for it reflects infinite, unknowable, ultimate reality – all ideas that, like O, cannot be defined in logical terms. However, Bion views this esoteric O as central to clinical work, calling it “the central psychoanalytic perspective”. In a way O is a more transcendent version of the Unconscious, and Dr. Reiner will examine similarities and differences from Freud’s view of the Unconscious as a receptacle for repressed and unwanted feelings and thoughts.

Bion associates O with mysticism, and skepticism about O is often based on the idea of mysticism as traditionally religious and so antithetical to science. It is therefore important to examine Bion’s particular use of the word, “mystical”, for as he states quite clearly, “Mystics appear in any religion, science, time, or place”. The mystic, for Bion, is a “genius” or “exceptional person” in any field, who is capable of creative vision and new ideas.

Dr. Reiner will present and discuss several papers from her book, Bion and Being: Passion and the Creative Mind, using poetry, art, literature, and religion to help provide different perspectives on what Bion means by O. She will also present a clinical chapter from her book, Of Things Invisible To Mortal Sight: Celebrating the Work of James S. Grotstein (Karnac, 2016), that reveals how early emotional trauma sometimes leads to profoundly intuitive states in patients. and how to deal with these clinically. While these early traumatic states may give access to creative intuitive states reflective of O, we will look at how these differ from the evolved states of mind described by Bion.

Fees
COR Member: $250, Non-member: $325

CEUs: 1.5 for each attended class, 4.5 total

Scholarships are Available for COR Members Only