to believe or not to believe

Sabina Spielrein

Sigmund Freud

Sabina Spielrein: Are you completely opposed to any kind of religious dimension in our field?

Freud: In general I don't care if a man believes in Rama, Marx or Afrodite. As long as he keeps it out of the consulting room.

Sabina Spielrein: Is that what's at the bottom of your dispute with Dr. Jung?

Freud: I have no dispute with Dr. Jung. I was simply mistaken about him. I thought he was going to be able to carry our work forward after I was gone. I didn't bargain for all that second rate mysticism and self-aggrandizing shamanism. Nor did I realize this could be so brutal and sanctimonious.

Sabina Spielrein: But he's trying to find some way forward so that we don't just have to tell our patients, this is why the way you are. He wants to be able to say, we can show you what it is you might want to become!

Freud: Playing God, in other words? We have no right to do that. The world is as it is. Understanding and accepting. That is the way to psychic health. What good can we do if our aim is simply to replace one delusion with another?

Sabina Spielrein: Well, I agree with you.