The American Journal of Psychoanalysis, Vol. 62, No. 4, December 2002 ( 2002)

Book Review

Edited by Jeannine Zoppi, Ph.D.

Ecstasy, by Michael Eigen, Wesleyan University Press, 2001, 104 pp.

In the preface to Ecstasy, Michael Eigen expresses the hope that the book will be“a kind of dance, perhaps a kind of psychoanalytic poetry.” He succeeds in thisendeavour and also in having offered us a book of great clinical value that can helpguide us in our encounters with patients who have lost touch with their own vitalityor, alternatively, are hopelessly gripped by the gratifications of ecstatic pain.Eigen invites us into the very heart of the ecstatic moment, which he defines in

terms of an intensity of experience that at once brings us closer to the core of ourbeing and to the edge of the Absolute. He is inclusive in his vision of ecstasy, whileaffirming our desire to be exclusive: to have the pleasure of it without the pain. Thisis a desire that creates its opposite through a disjunctive wishful splitting of reality.In the yearning toward ecstasy, we inevitably encounter the whole of it, rather thanthe wished for demi-self, demi-reality. As we desperately try to define our ways outof and into existence, we inevitably encounter both the presence of whatever wewould rather omit from reality and the lack of whatever we feel we need.We seek transcendence, in part, as a wish to move beyond the pain to some

realm of pure pleasure: an impossible illusion. In our inability to attain the transcen-dent moment with any duration and still survive, we encounter the inevitability oflocating ourselves in space and time. As we define ourselves as “body” and there-fore as finite in space and time, we tend to lose our moorings from those moreephemeral aspects of self that are beyond space and time.We are plunged deeper and deeper into paradox, as Eigen teases us, with our

inability to rest at one extreme or another. Ultimately we must find a way to beboth finite and infinite, in pleasure and in pain. In vignettes from his own life andhis encounters with patients, Eigen illustrates how we attempt to short-circuit theseessential dilemmas and avoid their immediacy. However, these evasive attemptsmerely become entry points into the dilemma itself: of how we might be filled withGod by cutting everything away; of how seeking can keep truth further away; ofhow event he intent to move toward the Good implies a denial of essential aspectsof being. In seeking solutions, and encountering the inevitable obstructions to these,Eigen pushes us beyond the ostensible solution into the dilemma of out dilemma.In this journey, we are guided through many evocative twists and turns along the

way: Plotinus’s love for the Higher; Psychoanalysis’s love of Reason. Whatever thedemon that taunts us—the trickster that lures us—our fates call and beckon, from

4170002-9548/02/1200-0417/1 2002 Association for the Advancement of Psychoanalysis

418 BOOK REVIEW

the inside, from the outside. We struggle valiantly, only to find ourselves waiting inour own paths.Pieces of stories from his own life, from his patients’ lives, from philosophy, and

from history are all woven together to become a tapestry of dilemma: the dilemmaof being human and wanting more; being human and fearing more. In bringing usup against our yearnings and the limits of these, Eigen invites us into a rather ex-traordinary space in which we engage with him in his encounters with self, withother—with walls, edges, boundaries, and limitless space—we are continually of-fered the choice of skimming the surface or entering into the dance.In this extraordinary prose poem, Eigen has created a contemplative piece that

invites us into a celebration of the moment of being, in all its majesty and finitude.There are gems at every turn: profound pieces of elusive truths to taste, savor, mullover at our leisure. There are also harsh, asynchronic bits that startle us out of ourreverie, inviting us to cast a new glance at some detail we might profitably envisionanew.Toward the end, Eigen builds metaphors that ground us in the universe he is

creating/describing: life as opening; the light that gives way to darkness; the joy thatgives way to pain; the agony that becomes ecstasy that illuminates with its ownglow; the monstrous; the murderous; the good in evil; the evil in good; the blessingsin light (but also the grief); oblivion as the other side of rapture; the pain that opensinto joy. “We are attracted to what glows,” says Eigen, quite simply. “We likewatching light.”Eigen notes how we are drawn to the mystery; drawn to the light. We are always

in the process of trying to find some ultimate negotiation with the difficulties inher-ent in being: “a portion of reconciliation is always premature, a rest before anotherrunning start. Soon enough, tectonic plates shift and one is shaking, falling throughunimaginable openings,” experiences one hoped to never encounter.Each of Eigen’s metaphors comes to accrue meanings that enable us to reflect

with him, from our own experience, on notions vital and true. Through these meta-phors and their essential juxtaposition, Eigen captures the vitality of the work ofanalysis, which is also the vitality of the work of living: always in the moment,always out of reach.Perhaps what is most unique about this slim, densely packed volume is this very

invitation to enter in and to experience these truths in a way that invites growth,transformation. Eigen’s willingness to sit in these difficult spaces helps us to betternavigate with our own patients who lead us into these difficult spaces of painfulecstasy and ecstatic pain. He provides us not only a rewarding experience the firsttime around, but also a resource that grows along with us on successive returns.

Marilyn Charles, Ph.D.325 Wildwood Drive

East Lansing, MI 48823