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The Martin Buber‐Carl Jung disputations: protecting the sacred in the battle for the boundaries of analytical psychology
Author(s) -
Stephens Barbara D.
Publication year - 2001
Publication title -
journal of analytical psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.285
H-Index - 23
eISSN - 1468-5922
pISSN - 0021-8774
DOI - 10.1111/1465-5922.00257
Subject(s) - analytical psychology , dialogical self , psychoanalysis , psychology , battle , countertransference , neutrality , philosophy , epistemology , social psychology , history , archaeology
The Martin Buber‐C.G.Jung disputations rather than the Freud‐Jung split or Samuels's post‐Jungian categories is considered the more significant paradigm for understanding the conflicts erupting within the Jungian community surrounding clinical practice and candidate training. Looking through the lens of the Freud‐Jung split keeps the conflicts focused on the theoretical and technical differences concerning such concepts as object‐relations, transference‐countertransference, neutrality, clinical boundaries. The Buber‐Jung disputations move the discussion into a different and more foundational arena, namely the vertical and horizontal psychological considerations of the experience of the Sacred and how that dimension is supported or thwarted in clinical practice and candidate training by the respective allegiances of the ‘warriors’ in the ‘Holy Wars’. Experiencing the texture of the Buber‐Jung disputations as well as grappling with their content suggests that a more dialogical approach to actual clinical material may be a more fruitful way to understand the work of analysis and the business of candidate training.