In this episode, I have an in-depth conversation with Dr. Richard Boothby. We discuss his marvelous book, “Embracing the Void: Rethinking the Origin of the Sacred.” Rick is a professor of philosophy at Loyola University Maryland. He is the author of Death and Desire: Psychoanalytic Theory in Lacan’s Return to Freud; Freud as Philosopher: Metapsychology after Lacan; Sex on the Couch: What Freud Still Has to Teach Us about Sex; and Blown Away: Refinding Life After My Son's Suicide.
Dr. Todd McGowan has said this book is the best psychoanalytic take on religion. I have to agree. As we discuss in the episode, our conversation will likely frustrate the non-religious and religious alike.
Some of the key moments in the episode include:
- Freud’s approach to religion
- Romain Rolland and the “oceanic feeling”
- Jacques Lacan
- the imaginary, the symbolic and the Real
- Das ding and its relationship to the religious impulse
- Greek polytheism
- Judaism
- Christianity
- An ethics of unknowing
- Negative capability
- And so much more!
Book: https://www.amazon.com/Embracing-Void-Rethinking-Origin-Diaeresis/dp/0810145383
Blown Away Episode: https://www.quiqueautrey.com/podcast/episode/c483fdc2/dr-richard-boothby-finding-life-after-sons-suicide
