Whole and/or in bits: Bohm, Matte Blanco, and (un)consciousness

Int J Psychoanal. 2019 Jun;100(3):438-446. doi: 10.1080/00207578.2019.1570215.

Abstract

Psychoanalysis can be conceptualized as a process of shifting unconscious knowing into consciously graspable forms. Theoretical physicist and author David Bohm considers the order of the individual psyche and links it to the order of the universe, conceptualizing both as an unbroken and unified system. Matte Blanco focuses on the unfolding function of the symmetrical position, and Kristeva highlights the poetic language of psychoanalysis, drawing us closer to the flow of experience of the indivisible symmetrical mode. Thus, the aim of the psychoanalytic enterprise is not merely to "understand" unconscious contents in conscious forms, but to promote symbolic processes which lead to discovery and creativity, and which allow greater access to the unconscious or indivisible mode.

Keywords: Bohm; Kristeva; Matte Blanco; symbolic processes; symmetry and asymmetry.