Wilfred Bion was an Indian-born British psychoanalyst and president of the British Psychoanalytical Society during the 1960s. A pioneer in group dynamics, he worked closely with traumatised soldiers during the Second World War and became well-known for his studies of patients in psychotic states.

WILFRED BION

“0" is perhaps Bion's most far-reaching conception.He refers to it by different terms:• "Absolute Truth,"•"Ultimate Reality," or•"reverence and awe."A transformation in "0" is attainable only by the disciplined abandonment of memory, desire, understanding, sense impressions -- and perhaps also the abandonment of ego itself.The concept of "O," beginning with "thoughts without a thinker," the "things-in-themselves," "beta elements," "memoirs of the future," and "inherent preconceptions" transcended both Freud's Unconscious and its constant conjunction with infantile sexuality.

“0" Concept

Bion revealed the ineffable matrix - the container transcending existence, undermining certainties with mocking doubts.
<ol> 
	<li>Uncountable Void</li>
	<li>Undeterminable certainty</li>
	<li>Endless Existence</li>
</ol>

Ineffable matrix

In simpler terms, epistemology is the study of how we gain knowledge and understanding. Bion observed that infants communicate their fears to their mothers, who "translate" them into meaning. This process starts the process of normal thinking and shapes our understanding.

The Field of Epistemology

The Importance of Truth in Mental Growth:
<ul>
<li>Bion believed that truth is essential for mental growth, just like food is for physical growth.</li>
<li>He described the lie as a negative validation of the truth that needs to be rejected.</li>
<li>In his view, truth does not require a thinker to be validated as it speaks for itself.</li>
<li>Bion also introduced the mystical concept of "O" in relation to the truth.</li>
</ul>

The Importance of Truth

Ultimate Reality is a concept beyond our senses and imagination, including Plato's Theory of Eternal Forms and Bion's "thoughts without a thinker."
<ul>
 <li>Thoughts without a thinker" derive from "O."</li>
 <li>They are the "unborns," the "intimations of immortality."</li>
 <li>These thoughts cannot be found because they can never be an object, only enhancing our sense of subjectivity.</li>
</ul>

Understanding Ultimate Reality

Bion's concept of "0" seems to be circular. It is within us, around us, and beyond us - as well as before us and after us; we temporally proceed from it, through it, and toward it.
"0" as our mystically directed trajectory fulfills Plato's conception, "That which is always becoming" - but never really attained.

The End is Where We Start From...

Bion believed that through a mystical realization, we become "0." This transformation is completely internal and meditative, urging us to let go of sensory objects such as memories, desires, and understanding.In order to reach this state, we must contemplate without an object to contemplate. This allows us to surrender to the vastness of the unknown and experience a profound, transformative awakening. Key concepts:<ul><li>"0" as a state of being</li><li>Importance of letting go of external objects</li><li>Contemplation without an object as a path to self-discovery.</li></ul>

The Power of Transubjective Mystical Realization

“Truth spoke for itself and therefore required no thinker.”

BIONS TRANSFORMATION IN O AND THE CONCEPT OF THE TRANSCENDENT POSITION by James S. GrotsteinINTRODUCTION Bion, who was to become the awesome explorer of the deep and formless infinite of t  威尔弗雷德·鲁普莱希特·比昂（（Wilfred Ruprecht Bion，1897年9月8日－1979年11月8日）/拜昂英国精神分析学家，群体动力学研究的先驱。曾经跟从梅兰妮·克莱因进行分析,曾经加入塔维斯托克小组。关键著作有“群体中的经验”。毕昂1897年生于印度，八岁始至英国接受学校教育。第一次世界大战期间，他于法国服役，担任战车指挥官，并获颁卓越服务勋章以及荣誉勋位。在牛津的皇后学院攻读历史之后，他转往伦敦的大学学院研习医学。因为对精神分析的兴趣日益增加，他开始接受瑞克曼的训练分析，之后则由克莱因接手。在1940-1950年期间，他专注于团体过程的研究。后来他放弃这个领域而转向精神分析的实务工作，之后担任伦敦精神分析诊所主任（1956-1962）以及英国精神分析学会会长（1962-1965）。1968年起，他到洛杉矶工作，1979年回到英国，两个月后过世。

Understand yourself and those around you.

psychology

Psychology

philosophy

Philosophy

religionandspirituality

Religion & Spirituality

meditation

Meditation

artsandculture

Society, Arts & Culture

BION'S EPISTEMOLOGICAL ODYSSEY INTO THE "DEEP AND FORMLESS INFINITE”

Born in Ohio in 1925, James S Grotstein was an American psychiatrist and psychoanalyst.He was a key figure in the introduction of Kleinian ideas to Californian psychoanalysis, and a passionate follower of Bion’s work. He possessed great enthusiasm for life, as well as a lively sense of humour, a keen habit of punning and playing with language, and a love of tennis.

James Grotstein

Grotstein’s defining characteristics was a passionate, sustained desire to link what, to others, might appear very different – even irreconcilable – conceptual strains.“I myself am basically Kleinian – with a Bionian accent. I speak Winnicott and Fairbairn fluently, and Lacan less fluently. But I would never want to undertake an analysis without Kohut looking over my shoulder – as one of my highly treasured guides.”

Psychoanalytic multilingualism

From his first encounter with Bion’s ideas, Grotstein was a committed advocate of his work. He went on to be both supervised and analysed by him for 6 years. Grotstein himself was sometimes perplexed, though always enthralled, by Bion’s extensions of Kleinian and Freudian concepts. He was fascinated by Bion’s quite philosophical – indeed, spiritual – concept of ‘O’.

Klein and Bion Influence

Wilfred Bion's concept of O is his most mysterious idea, representing absolute truth and the mind necessary to apprehend it. It is also his most controversial idea, for it reflects infinite, unknowable, ultimate reality – all ideas that, like O, cannot be defined in logical terms.In a way O is a more transcendent version of the Unconscious.

Bion’s Concept of “O”

In his book, “Who Is the Dreamer Who Dreams the Dream? A Study of Psychic Presences”, James Grotstein integrates some of his most important work of recent years in addressing fundamental questions of human psychology and spirituality. He explores two quintessential and interrelated psychoanalytic problems:〰️ the nature of the unconscious mind and 〰️ the meaning and inner structure of human subjectivity.

Who Is the Dreamer, Who Dreams the Dream?

James Grotstein truly had, and never lost, the beginner’s attitude: he felt fascinated by what he was privileged to hear, see and think in relation to others.

The Beginner’s Mindset

We shall not cease from exploration
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time.

history

History

mentalhealth

Mental Health

videos

Videos

James Grotstein – Psychoanalytic ‘multilingualism’

“Awaken from this illusion and understand that black implies white, self implies other, life implies death (or shall I say death implies life?), you can feel yourself – not as a stranger in the world, not as something here on probation, not as something that has arrived here by fluke – but you can begin to feel your own existence as absolutely fundamental.”

Let’s suppose that you were able every night to dream any dream you wanted to dream and that you could, for example, have the power within one night to dream 75 years of time or any length of time you wanted to have.As you began on this adventure of dreams, you would fulfill all your wishes. You would have every kind of pleasure during your sleep. And after several nights of 75 years of total pleasure each, you would say:“Well, that was pretty great. But now let’s have a surprise. “

“Let’s suppose” game

“Let’s have a dream which isn’t under control, where something is gonna happen to me that I don’t know what it’s gonna be”.

You would get more and more adventurous and you would make further- and further out gambles to what you would dream. Finally, you would dream where you are now. You would dream the dream of living the life that you are actually living today. That would be within the infinite multiplicity of choices you would have.Of playing that you weren’t God.

More and more adventurous dreams

Everybody is fundamentally the ultimate reality Not God in a politically kingly sense, but god in the sense of being the self, the deep-down basic whatever there is. And you are all that, only you are pretending you are not.

Alan Watts had a pretty inspiring philosophy on life.

motivationandinspiration

Motivation & Inspiration

creativity

Creativity

The Dream Of Life - Alan Watts (Speech) 

🚻 Women have a contra sexuality which is masculine in nature and this is called the Animus.🚻 Men have a contra sexuality which is feminine in nature and this is called the Anima.

The Contra Sexuality

The Animus is the woman’s rational function and the Anima is the man’s irrational function.

In a woman her contra sexuality is masculine and governs her rational thinking function and we call this the Animus.In a man his contra sexuality is feminine and governs his irrational feeling function and we call this the Anima.The archetype of the Anima/Animus forms a bridge between our personal unconscious and what Jung refers to as the Collective Unconscious.

How It Works

Under normal circumstances the masculine and feminine will be modelled on the first imprint in the child’s life of the masculine and feminine – the father and mother.

Archetypes: Father and Mother, King and Queen

One of the differentiating qualities which Jung identified between the animus and anima is that the animus has a multiplicity to it whereas the anima appears more in the singular.A good example of this is the fairytale of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs– who are all animus manifestations, psychologically speaking.

The Animus

>Tarzan , the unconscious primitive but physically vital masculine.>James Bond , suave man of the world.>Steve Jobs or Richard Branson , integrated masculine, strong, creative, attractive but more androgynous.>Barak Obama ,integrated evolved masculine epitomising secular values in their most evolved form.>Mahatma Ghandi or Nelson Mandela , the masculine which now brings the spiritual component into the world, transcending the mundane and secular but without denying it.>Christ , Mohammed , Buddha, the conscious spiritual incarnation of the masculine, the unconscious masculine.

Archetypal examples of Animus

The animus when it is integrated in a healthy female psyche would typically imbue the following qualities:🪄Good rational and logical ability.🪄Ability for clear non attached thought.🪄Ability to construct by sustained effort and application.🪄A strong centre.🪄Good external strength in the persona.🪄Bridge to knowledge and creative thought.🪄Problem solving.

The Integrated Animus

When the animus is displaced or overwhelms the female psyche it may exhibit some of the following symptoms:❌Know it all behaviour.❌Bullying.❌Sadism.❌Controlling.❌Loud.❌Inability to effectively and meaningfully relate.

The Displaced Animus

The Anima, naturally, is originally based on the boy’s image of his mother and this later evolves with his relatedness to more mature romantic relationships.

The Anima

A man will generally project his anima onto only a single woman at any one time, whereas a woman would frequently have more than one animus projection in her life.

>Brooke Shields in her original virginal role as a teenage star, pre sexual feminine>Marilyn Monroe, the fully developed sexual diva>Jackie Kennedy or Eleanor Roosevelt , the mature feminine supportive wife, mother, nurturer>Margret Thatcher , strong, intuitive leadership with some sacrifice of the feminine>Evita Pero, the feminine in a strong leadership role but still feminine on bearing and orientation>The Virgin Mary , the true transcendent iconic female, no longer of this world

Archetypal examples of the Anima

🪄Self soothing, self nurturing and self loving.🪄Access to creative inspiration.🪄Strong centre and contained inner life.🪄Capable of empathy.🪄Able to make value judgements beyond the realm of pure rationality.🪄Access to feeling life.🪄Good relatedness.🪄Happy.

The Integrated Anima

❌Uncontained, constantly seeking external affirmation.❌Lack of creativity.❌Moody.❌Bitchy.❌Poor relatedness, behaviour in relationships designed to isolate the person from others.❌Masochistic.❌Greedy, grasping.❌Self centred.

The Displaced Anima

The Archetypes of the Anima and Animus in Jungian Psychology.

loveandrelationships

Love & Relationships

The Archetypes of the Anima and Animus

“When was the last time you felt grateful because nothing happened?”You don’t live in a war zone, like many others. You are not starving and suffering from famine, like many others. You didn’t have a heart attack. Nobody shot at you or robbed your home while you were gone.

1. BE GRATEFUL FOR NOTHING.

“Every circumstance, no matter how complex, challenging, and frustrating, contains a positive seed that should be nurtured.”Practice simply to give thanks for what we have received.

2. MAKE GRATITUDE YOUR CENTRAL SPIRITUAL PRACTICE

Be especially grateful for having to deal with annoying people and difficult situations, because without them ... how could we practice patience, exertion, mindfulness, loving-kindness, or compassion? It is by dealing with such challenges that we grow and develop.

3. APPRECIATE IRRITATING PEOPLE.

“These two people are hard to find in the world. Which two? The one who is first to do a kindness, and the one who is grateful and thankful for a kindness done.”

4. BECOME HIGHLY RESPONSIVE TO KINDNESS RECEIVED.

Train yourself to see a positive in the presence of many negatives.Every circumstance, no matter how complex, challenging, and frustrating, contains a positive seed that should be nurtured.

5. LOOK FOR THE SILVER LINING.

Take a few minutes at the end of each day to mentally note the many people who have invisibly served you by providing medicine, shelter, safety, food, and education.”

6. EXPAND YOUR MINDFULNESS.

Many Buddhist monks begin each day with this chant of gratitude: “With gratitude I remember the people, animals, plants, insects, creatures of the sky and sea, air and water, fire and earth, all whose joyful exertion blesses my life every day. With gratitude I remember the care and labor of a thousand generations of elders and ancestors who came before me…..

7. Start each day like a Buddhist monk.

Building your sense of thankfulness the Buddhist way. Not because you have to be grateful.

Gratitude is powerful. Building your sense of thankfulness the Buddhist way.

mindfulness

Mindfulness

Seven Buddhist Lessons in Gratitude 

Spiritual awakening is often seen as a light and pleasant experience, but that is not always the case. There are phases of the awakening process that will feel like you are losing your mind, losing your friends and family, losing your sense of stability in the world or all three at once!

The “Dark Side”

The hermit phase could be seen as an in-between state after the dark night of the soul and before opening back up to the world. It’s a phase of deep solitude, introspection, and redirection.

The Hermit Phase

We feel lost, depressed, constantly tired – it’s a lot to deal with.The hermit phase can be extremely isolating and disorienting, however it can also be a beautiful period of self-discovery.

Common Feelings In The Hermit Phase

At the start of the spiritual awakening you had to come to grips with how your old life was in contradiction with your new awareness.You learn to let go and surrender, accepting what you experiencing rather than avoiding. You have to let go of the metaphysical chase and be with yourself (and all the emotions that arose) in the moment.

Why the hermit phase happens

“Enlightenment is a destructive process. It has nothing to do with becoming better or being more or less happy. Enlightenment is the crumbling away of untruth. It’s seeing through the facade of pretense. It’s the complete eradication of everything we imagined to be true—from ourselves to the world.”

<ul><li>You lose passion & motivation</li><li>You feel extra sensitive</li><li>You crave solitude</li><li>You’re looking for answers</li><li>You feel intuitively guided</li></ul>

5 signs you are in ‘hermit mode’

This phase can last for many months or years . The most important thing to remember when you are going through this phase is that you are not alone. Building community after this phase is so important.

Alone Vs Community

<ul><li>Acceptance of self</li><li>Deeper relationships</li><li>Integration</li><li>Finding purpose</li></ul>The hermit phase is extremely common when we are in a transitional phase of our lives, when we are moving homes or on a break from work. It’s during these times that we have the space to really examine who and what we are, and where we want to go.

What comes after the hermit phase?

Learn all about the hermit phase of spiritual awakening, what it entails and how to get through it practically.

health

Health

The Hermit Phase of Spiritual Awakening 

Winners triangle is the opposite of the Drama triangle (Karpman) It is a way to turn a negative situation into something positive and create a win-win for everyone involved.🔻The Drama Triangle is a negative cycle that causes conflicts.Introduced by Acey Choy in 1990, the Winners Triangle is a way to break that cycle and create a positive outcome for all.

Drama Vs Win-Win

The Drama Triangle is also known as a rescue triangle that is formed when people take up and switch roles in situations of conflict and stress: victim, persecutor, rescuer. It is exactly what it sounds like – creating stress, drama, and conflict and rescuing people from their responsibility.🔻Is a lose-lose situation for everybody taking part in it.

The Drama Triangle - The Rescue Triangle

<ol>
<li>As victims, people feel hopeless, ashamed, powerless, helpless, and unable to make decisions, enjoy work, solve problems, or achieve goals. They seem to attract bad people and situations</li>
<li>Rescuer are the enablers who always want to rescue others. They feel good about themselves by helping victims and ignoring their own issues.</li>
<li>Persecutor think they know better and have a right to tell other people what they should do. They are angry, oppressive, rigid, authoritarian, blaming, controlling, and critical.</li>
</ol>

The Victim. The Rescuer. The Persecutor.

The winners triangle, has three positive roles:▫️Victim becomes Vulnerable,▫️Persecutor becomes Assertive▫️Rescuer becomes Caring.

Switch Of Roles

They accept their vulnerability but also understand that they have the abilities to meet their needs and find their way. They ask for help and accept when offered to empower themselves. The most important skill they possess is problem-solving.

Vulnerable / Creator

In this role, people use their time and energy in resolving issues rather than blaming others. They are good problem solvers and always find ways to meet their needs without shaming others.

Assertive / Challenger

Rather than imposing the solutions, they show compassion by asking how to help. This empowers the vulnerable to decide what they want and the caring role can learn to listen and allow others to find their way.

Caring / Coach

This guide helps understand how winners triangle can be introduced in workplace environments for more positive and empowering interactions.

personaldevelopment

Personal Development

habits

Habits

humanresources

Human Resources

The Winners Triangle

Theory:
<ul>
<li>Eric Berne believes that humans naturally seek structure in their relationships with others.</li>
<li>Just as our brains organize sensory input, we have an innate drive to create order in relationships.</li>
</ul>
Reasoning:
<ul>
<li>Our desire for structure stems from our need to make sense of the chaos in our lives.</li>
<li>By creating structure, we can better understand and navigate our relationships.</li>
</ul>

Eric Berne's Theory of Relationship Structure

According to Eric Berne, people organize their time and relationships into 6 patterns:<ol><li>Withdrawal: disengaging from relationships and activities, avoiding confrontation and connection.</li><li>Rituals: structured events that happen regularly and have shared meanings.</li><li>Pastimes: enjoyable activities shared with others, but without much personal involvement.</li><li>Activities</li><li>Psychological Games: manipulative behaviors of power and control in relationships.</li><li>Intimacy: genuine, open and complete sharing of thoughts and feelings with another person.</li></ol>

Patterns in Time and Relationships

<ul>
<li>Withdrawal means taking a break or distancing oneself from communication or relationships. 
</li><li>It's important to take time to recharge and reflect. 
</li><li>It can be a sign of needing space and boundaries.</li></ul>

Withdrawal

Rituals can provide structure and comfort, and can help us connect with others on a deeper level.
However, they may lack emotional depth and can sometimes feel superficial, even when interacting with strangers.

Rituals

We make polite and easy conversation and there are culturally agreed topics we can talk about, knowing we won’t get into hairy situations with our partners in the exchanges.Both parties will avoid any controversial or painful topics.Most people will get quite bored with it rather sooner than later.

Pastimes (small talks)

It is time we spend doing things with others, rather than just being with them.
It's shared time, and may include having a lot of fun, but it may also mean we are avoiding really being with the other and meeting them fully.

Activity

Games are complex patterns of interactions where there is a hidden agenda and it can leave both parties with negative emotions.
Ultimately, games can be seen as a failed effort to connect with another person on a deeper level. With the nature of games being unclear and manipulative, it is important to be aware of these tendencies in relationships.

Psychological Games

This is an authentic encounter with another, a moment of shared openness, trust and honesty. Intimacy means emotionally intimate, not necessarily sexually intimate.It also doesn’t necessarily mean nice and peaceful.An intimate encounter may be an angry argument, but conducted from a place of respect and openness to one’s own feelings and those of the other(s). We are allowing the other person to impact us and change us.

Intimacy

Time structuring is piece of theory which allows us to think about how intensely we spend time with other people.

communication

Communication

timemanagement

Time Management

Time structuring theory 

Karpman’s Drama Triangle defines unhealthy relationships where individuals take on different roles: Persecutor, Rescuer, and Victim. These roles are fueled by guilt and blame.<ul><li>Persecutor: blames and criticizes others</li><li>Rescuer: enables and takes care of others</li><li>Victim: feels powerless and blames others</li></ul>

Karpman Drama Triangle

Learn to shift from being a victim to being self-aware and compassionate. Move away from being a rescuer to finding balance and taking care of yourself.
Key Lessons:
<ul>
 <li>Not being a victim but standing up for yourself</li>
 <li>Being vulnerable without being a victim</li>
 <li>Caring without being too involved</li>
</ul>
Living beyond the Drama Triangle means managing your boundaries, having self-agency, and valuing yourself. Find the sweet spot of being self-aware and acting from a mature mindset.

Shifting from Drama Triangle Roles

To be mentally free, recognize the patterns that keep you playing the victim, persecutor or rescuer.🧠 Awareness: Notice your common reactions to avoid being trapped in the drama triangle.<ul><li>Pause: Take a moment before impulsively responding to a situation. 🛑</li><li>Refuse: Don't let yourself be controlled by others. 👊</li><li>Avoid: Steer clear of losing battles and unreasonable arguments. 🚫</li></ul>

Step out of the Drama Triangle

We all have the power to stop the drama in our relationship and take control. Let's stop the cycle of superiority and inferiority. Stop being a victim by taking these actions:<ol><li>Stop acting like 'poor me': don't ignore your own needs and don't always take the blame.</li><li>Recognize your role in the relationship: accept that you need to change.</li><li>Face your fears: confront the issues that are causing the drama.</li><li>Take better actions: don't let the drama consume you and your relationships.</li></ol>Remember, taking control of the drama does not mean you care any less about people.

Stop The Drama

If you've ever found yourself trapped in a personal Drama Triangle, you will already know how detrimental it can be to relationships. But it also rears its ugly head in a business context, and it's something well worth watching out for.

About the Drama Triangle – And how to escape it

Synchronicity has several domain-based relationships with the concept of creativity: <ol><li>through psychology, </li><li>through biology, </li><li>through chaos theory mathematics, and </li><li>through the new physics.</li></ol>In psychology, synchronicity is defined as the occurrence of meaningful coincidences that seem to have no cause; that is, the coincidences are acausal. The underlying idea is that there is unity in diversity. In psychology, Carl Jung introduced the concept in his later works (1950s).

Synchronicity 

The idea of synchronicity appears for the first time in the 1970 when studies surfaced about the interpersonal synchronicity with the interaction of mothers and their infants.

Synchronicity Origine

The optimal feeling that interpersonal synchronicity creates has been explained as being in sync with another person or working together in the zone. It is a feeling often described by jazz musicians who are improvising music together and feel like it “jams”.

Synchronicity & Jazz

Jung created the term “synchronicity” to explain a relationship between two events which could not be explained by cause and effect.Somehow information is exchanged which is currently unexplainable by present known physical mechanismsClassical physicists disagree with quantum physics because there is no clear cause and effect in quantum physics; events are based on probabilities. Many psychologists may have difficulties with Jung’s theory because it is so far removed from rationality, and there is too much emphasis on the unknown and the collective unconscious.

Carl Jung: Synchronicity and Quantum Physics

Making the thing in the future happen to match the present decision.

Psychokinesis

Synchronicity has been associated with serendipitous occurrences such as Newton's apple and Archimedes's bathwater as well as a host of parapsychological phenomena including telepathy, precognition, remote viewing/healing or. psychokinesisSynchronistic events appear accidental or intrusive due to their acausal nature. Synchronicity, like serendipity, may be devoid of any apparent intentional element.

Serendipitous occurrences

Serendipity is characterized by the presence, or absence, of conscious intention. Both of them involve observation; an apparently acausal, yet synchronous, relationship between inner and outer events. Synchronicity reconnects the self in a meaningful way with the world via a mutual resonance that redefines the sense of self.Serendipity, alternatively, defies an observer's knowledge by disconnecting an existing articulation of self and world by the appearance of an anomaly or error, and then challenges the self to reconnect to the world in a new meaningful way.

Serendipity and Synchronicity Same Same? Or Different? 

Synchronicity is an ever present reality for those who have eyes to see.

BION'S EPISTEMOLOGICAL ODYSSEY INTO THE "DEEP AND FORMLESS INFINITE”

James Grotstein – Psychoanalytic ‘multilingualism’

The Dream Of Life - Alan Watts (Speech)

The Archetypes of the Anima and Animus

Seven Buddhist Lessons in Gratitude

Ade Oane