| Rivista | La Rivista di Psicoanalisi |
| Fascicolo | The Italian Psychoanalytic Annual 2025/19 |
| Titolo | Freud and mysticism beginning with the oceanic feeling |
| Autori | Lucia Fattori, Gabriella Vandi |
| Editore | Raffaello Cortina Editore |
| Formato |
 Articolo |
Pdf
|
| Pagine | |
| Lingua | inglese |
| Online da | 10-2026 |
The current paper examines the complex attitude, through successive movements of approach and distancing, that Freud developed over the years towards the concept of mysticism up to his mysterious piece Fragment 22, which was probably the last paper written by his own hand. Freud’s relationship with mysticism also passes through the confrontation with Romain Rolland and his concept about the Oceanic Feeling, a perception of the eternal and the unlimited, which can disregard religious experience and nevertheless take the form of an ecstatic moment. Beginning with Fachinelli’s thought, which supports the mystical dimension of the human being as such, the reflection focuses on ecstatic situations as experiences of intense well-being in front of the immensely beautiful and great or in the experience of being in unison with the Other. The pleasure can, however, veer towards a nostalgic sadness or a real terror for a frightening excess. The deep emotional sharing between patient and analyst can take the form, in certain special moments, as an ecstatic experience.
KEY WORDS: Ecstatic situations, negated mysticism, oceanic feeling, secular mysticism.
ita
Eng
