There Comes a Mystic from the Desert (Meditations from the Book of Winnicott)
Myriam Sauer
Psychoanalytic Inquiry April 20, 2026 DOI: 10.1080/07351690.2026.2658390 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Topics | Meditation |
| Key points | Argues that Winnicott's work is shaped by a transfeminine yearning expressed as mysticist discourse, and that analyzing this discourse reveals how the feminine and secrecy operated in her thought. The author also questions the historiographical assumptions behind claiming transness for a writer who did not avow it, framing such searches within queer studies' pursuit of a stable past. |
Abstract
In this article, I am pursuing a speculative hypothesis: the work of D.W. Winnicott is shaped by a deep transfeminine yearning that is revealed as mysticist discourse. The analysis of this transfeminine discourse offers insights into the inner workings of Winnicott’s thought, and the ways in which the feminine operated in her work, both in relationship to her adamant investment in the maternal, as well as secrecy’s role in the formation of subjectivity. In a second step, I investigate into the historiographical assumptions that inform the undertaking to establish transness in a writer who had not herself avowed to such an identification. The search for queer or trans ancestors is placed within the larger context of queer studies’ search for a stable past. Throughout the text, an interplay of prose and theory elements is utilized to delve deeper into the aesthetic underside of the conflict surrounding transfeminine identification and mysticism.
Comparable studies
Other theoretical and historical papers on meditation, most cited first.
| Study | Year | Design | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mindfulness: A proposed operational definition. | 2004 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| Mechanisms of mindfulness | 2005 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| How Does Mindfulness Meditation Work? Proposing Mechanisms of Action From a Conceptual and Neural Perspective | 2011 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy for depression | 2006 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| Self-awareness, self-regulation, and self-transcendence (S-ART): a framework for understanding the neurobiological mechanisms of mindfulness | 2012 | Theoretical or philosophical paper |