Zen meditation, reverie, and psychoanalytic listening.

Buddhist meditation and psychoanalytic listening share common ground, but the literature overlooks how the dynamic unconscious affects attention, leading to an overvaluation of focused attention and a devaluation of the analyst's inattentive experiences. Contemporary psychoanalytic theories align with basic Buddhist principles and shape recommendations for listening. The role of intention in psychoanalytic listening is examined through Zen Buddhist and contemporary psychoanalytic views of fluctuating mind states like reverie.

Study at a glance

Abstract

The author reviews the literature on the relation between Buddhist meditation and psychoanalytic listening and argues that the influence of the dynamic unconscious is not addressed in this literature, which engenders a pragmatic overvaluation of attention and an accompanying unexamined devaluation of the analyst's experiences of inattention. The article emphasizes contemporary psychoanalytic theories that are consistent with basic Buddhist principles and their influences on recommendations for psychoanalytic listening. The author also examines the role of intention as a guiding principle in psychoanalytic listening by elaborating the issues at hand in terms of both Zen Buddhist and contemporary psychoanalytic conceptualizations of various fluctuating mind states, such as reverie.