Contemplation
Kathryn Rickard
Routledge eBooks September 16, 2026 DOI: 10.4324/9781003795803-25 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Key points | Argues that contemplation, within the surrender model's Level B, is a shift in how attention is held rather than a reflective state, allowing experience to register before it is organized or symbolized. Clinical cases of Gabriella and Jerome illustrate contemplation as experience held at the threshold of contact and as unresolved tension between observing and organizing. The authors also contend that therapists must manage countertransference pressures to respond or clarify while maintaining presence without prematurely shaping experience. |
Abstract
This chapter examines Contemplation within Releasement Level B of the psychoanalytic model of surrender, describing a shift in the manner in which attention is held rather than the establishment of a reflective or stabilized state. Following the disruptions of Ecstasy and Doubt , what becomes possible is the capacity to remain with unfolding experience without immediately organizing, interpreting, or withdrawing from it. Thought, affect, and unconscious processes begin to register within the analytic field without being taken up, secured, or converted into meaning. Drawing on Winnicott’s concept of transitional space alongside psychoanalytic and mystical accounts of contemplation, the chapter explores how experience may come into view prior to symbolization and conceptual organization. Through the contrasting clinical cases of Gabriella and Jerome, contemplation appears in distinct forms: as a partial emergence of experience that remains held at the threshold of contact, and as a tension between observing and organizing that does not resolve. The chapter also considers the therapist’s countertransference, including pressures to respond, clarify, or deepen what is appearing, alongside the task of maintaining presence without prematurely shaping experience.