Psychoanalysis and Religion PDF

psychoanalysis and religion
by Steven Vlaeyen
psychoanalysis and religion
In my writings I have always tried to be scientific, in as far as the social sciences can
be called that. Especially psychoanalysis has been criticized for lacking verifiability and
merely being an obscure philosophy that has passed its time.
To make matters even worse, after the writings of Freud came a certain Jacques
Lacan, who has made things not really clearer and easier to grasp. He is very dense,
and without a definitive vision.
As if it’s not bad enough, he has tried to do, in all of his scientific endeavor, what most
of science has sought to do and what we in the west tend to call the Enlightenment of
the world, that is to take God out of the picture and manage with reason instead of
magic.
This has brought us far, but even in the most recent of sciences, which have to do with
the nature of the cosmos and the roots of matter, it is sometimes suggested that the
universe is in fact a creation of consciousness, a weaving of awareness, a kind of
dream even.
Some scientists suggest that consciousness is at the base of all creation, and is not
something that is, as was once believed, a characteristic that is unique to the privileged
and ultimate human race.
In my book, I begin and end my elaboration of Freudo-Lacanian psychoanalysis with

a thought on religion. I try to strengthen the vision of psychoanalysis that what we
usually understand as God is in fact merely a projection of our super-ego, the
mechanism that instructs our egos as to how to behave. It is a prescription for the habit
of self-repression, it is the rule and law of how we should ‘act’.
However, it remains a given that we cannot exclude the fact that there is a certain
magic to the mere observation that the universe exists, that we exist, and that the world
is full of beauty and wonder. That is why I have tried to reason that it might be a different
thing to revere our Mother Earth as the source and cradle of our existence and creation.
So can we find nature in the human psychodynamic, and can we assert that there is a
divine trait to her emerging in the core of our being. Is there sanctity in the soul?
If you have read my book, you will have noticed that I have time and again come back
to the triple organization of the human psyche, twice divided and estranged, alienated.
And I believe, although Lacanian psychoanalysis is not a religion, and is even

countering religion and the adherence to some kind of (paternal) god, it does give us
some insight into the mystic and the essence of most religions.
You see, in psychoanalysis, narcissism is regarded as the root of resistance, that which
keeps us from healing and getting well. The ego is seen as the agent of obstruction
and repression, and I even called this mechanism the devil, the dark one that keeps
our light from shining.
I found it inspiring that diverse religions speak of a temptation by the devil, not only the
Christ, but the Buddha as well had to overcome the demons tempting him. Even Adam
and Eve were tempted, and exorcism is often practiced in the Islamic religion too.
So what can psychoanalysis say about all this?
Well, in my analysis, which is very much inspired by the teachings of the Buddha, it is
the ego which is keeping us from the Garden, the devil that obscures experiencing the
nature of the soul, which is one and omnipresent. The Buddha said that heaven is a
place on earth, that samsara, the sphere of suffering, is in fact nirvana, the realm of
englightenment.
So the question would be merely a matter of transcending the ego, and we are in
heaven, right here!
This is the mystic of the shamanic people, who claim we are all one, we are all brothers
and sisters and everything has a soul and can be talked with and asked for help and
healing.
Is this crazy, is this pre-scientific mumbo jumbo? Is this naïve?
We see, in psychoanalysis, that the original soul, that-which-is, becomes dominated

by a collection of reflections upon it, through, as it were, a mirror we carry inside
ourselves. This is the primary narcissism, and it is a creation of the ego, which can be
called the need to know and unify the source of our being, truly a kind of self-
knowledge.
So this ego, this imaginary self-image, collects knowledge of the soul to stand over it
and cast its suppressing shadow upon it. And this is where we initially become
estranged from our original and true self. It is a collection of reflections, images,
illusions, and Lacan calls the creation of the ego the imaginary. A tree of self-
knowledge, darkening the innocence of mere being and taking us away from the
garden.
Perhaps this is what the Islam is trying to prevent, when warning that we should never
try to depict god. There should not be ego, narcissism is the devil, it is where we bite
in the apple and lose our eternal home to the growing of the self-knowledge, illusion.
It is a pity, and it breaks my heart, that there are such fierce wars around the world.
Wars because of religion.
Because the prophet Mohammed could not have been JHWH.
I think he may have been.

I don’t know much about Islam, but I guess Mohammed may have been a mystic, a
Buddha that had arisen to enlightenment and found the love of creation, the truth of
the mother.
So what religion should we choose, if they are all the same thing? If the story of Adam
and Eve is in fact about not making pictures of the divine, about not falling for illusion,
as the Buddha advocated? If the message of Judaism, Buddhism, Christianity and the
Islam is in fact the same, and can be approached and united through understanding
human narcissism.
Is it not a shame that all of our religions started off with a warning against the ego, and
all we can be, as religious people, is just full of it?
So, psychoanalysis is not a religion, and it need not be. But it can enlighten us as to
the core message of all religions, and it can become a center for viewing the essential
message that the Old Testament, the Buddha, Jesus Christ and the Koran are trying
to bring. That existence is all about love, and about not falling for narcissism and the
illusions of the self.
I have tried to argue time and again for the simple logic that we cannot be what we
see. We see an image of ourselves in our mind, but we who are seeing it are at a
certain distance from the image. That is the original problem, that we create that
distance in the first place, and then start living from the opposite side, as if we were
our self-image, and we try to master our souls from there, our bodies, our truth, which
is original and naturally healing.
So if the devil is all what is making us sick and he is merely an illusion, if the ego is all
that is keeping us from Eden, as psychoanalysis proclaims, is there not hope? Is this
not a joyful message? We are home, we are forever home in the garden of earth, and
we are all divine as a given. In fact. It is not something we need to try to become. All
we need to do is lose our illusions and drop our ego.
I do not say this is simple. The way can be demanding, but let there be hope, and let
there be joy in the message that all that is wrong is not real, and that we are one and
divine by nature.
So in this age where it sometimes seems that the universe is in essence

consciousness, and where the old teachings of the eternal shamans come into the
picture once again, would we be willing to believe that everything, every rock, every
plant, every animal, has a soul, and that they are in essence not different from us? Or
will we stick to our belief that we are superior, will we keep ourselves estranged from
our paradise?
It is a question we must ask, and I believe psychoanalysis can be an enlightening and

most helpful guide in getting us to a better place. A better place inside and outside.
Considering its insights has the power to transcend the differences and wars between
religions and see the unity behind them.
Why can there only have been one mystic, one saint to have ever roamed the earth?
Why can it only have been Moses, or Mohammed, or Jesus or the Buddha? Why can
there not have been different enlightened masters who found the soul inside, which we
can all experience, as it is what we forever are and never will be not. It is our most
eternal nature. We never are something else, even though we may come to think we
are.
In the Garden, we are all one, and we are all equal. But somehow, the ego-devil
seduces us into illusion and that is where all the wars start.
I hope there is a way home, and a place where they all stop as well.
Let us set out on that journey, and choose love, nature and the magic of creation.
_____________________________________

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psychoanalysis and religion

In my book, I begin and end my elaboration of Freudo-Lacanian psychoanalysis with

And I believe, although Lacanian psychoanalysis is not a religion, and is even

So what can psychoanalysis say about all this?

Is this crazy, is this pre-scientific mumbo jumbo? Is this naïve?

We see, in psychoanalysis, that the original soul, that-which-is, becomes dominated

I think he may have been.

So in this age where it sometimes seems that the universe is in essence

It is a question we must ask, and I believe psychoanalysis can be an enlightening and

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