The Devil Underneath the Couch

5/19/2018 The Devil Underneath the Couch

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The Devil Underneath the Couch:

The Secret Story of Jungs Twin Brother.

Gottfried Heuer

Ihave only mixed with anarchists and declare myself to be an anarchist, Otto Gross said in1913 I am a !sychoanalyst and from my ex!erience I have "ained the insi"ht that the existin"

order is a bad one #$%nd since I want everythin" chan"ed, I am an anarchist&'er(e)*tel(er 1999)+, ! +-. He was the first !sychoanalyst to lin/ analysis with radical

!olitics and wrote0 he !sycholo"y of the unconscious is the !hiloso!hy of the revolution

&Gross 1913c, col 32. *o, when 4oline 4ovin"ton recently wrote, $nalysis is essentially atool for revolution &4ovin"ton +1, !331., she was 5ust echoin" somethin" that Gross said

nearly 9 years before He was not 5ust a !sycho6analyst 6 he was a !sycho6anarchist and thus

stands for the subversive !otential of analysis 6 which earned him the e!ithet of the devil

underneath the couch &7aulff 1993.

$lthou"h Gross !layed a !ivotal role in the birth of what today we are callin" modernity, with

wide6ran"in" influences in !sychoanalysis, !sychiatry, !hiloso!hy, radical !olitics, sociolo"y,

literature, and ethics, he has remained virtually un/nown to this day $lready in 19+1, less than a

year after Gross8 death, the $ustrian writer $nton uh wrote of him as, :a man /nown only tovery few by name 6 a!art from a handful of !sychiatrists and secret !olicemen 6 and amon" those

few only to those who !luc/ed his feathers to adorn their own !osteriors8 &uh 19+1, !! 1; 6

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contributionE exce!t !erha!s O Gross &?reud)Cun" 19mil *(ittya &122; 6 19;-. evenwent as far as callin" Gross a friend of Fr ?reud and the intellectual father of Arofessor Cun"

&*(ittya nd, ! +11. $s late as 192; the eminent scholar of !sychoanalysis Cohannes 4remerius

wrote about the 4G Cun" of 199, :He is still com!letely and entirely the !u!il of Otto Gross8&4remerius 192;, ! +. *o we mi"ht as well call Cun" an early Grossian In 191 ?erenc(i

wrote to ?reud about Gross, here is no doubt that amon" those who have followed you u! to

now he is the most si"nificant &?reud)?erenc(i 1993, ! 1-. >rnest Cones in his autobio"ra!hy

wrote0 Gross was my first instructor in the techniue of !sychoanalysis &Cones, 199, ! 1


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by 4G Cun" 6 and, in turn, analysed Cun" Gross bro/e off the analysis and Cun" 6 a!!arently in

reven"e 6 dia"nosed him as schi(o!hrenic his was in contradiction to both ?reud8s and Cun"8s

ori"inal dia"nosis of an obsessional neurosis &?reud)Cun" 19astern >uro!e o"ether with ?ran( Cun" and others, Gross!ublished a 5ournal called RFie freie *trasse &he ?ree 7oad. as a R!re!aratory wor/ for therevolutionR and influenced 7aoul Hausman, Hannah HJch and the other artists who created

'erlin Fada He had be"un a relationshi! with Darianne uh, and in 191; they had a dau"hter,

*o!hie Gross died of !neumonia on 13 ?ebruary 19+ in 'erlin after havin" been found in thestreet near6starved and fro(en ?ran( Cun" wrote, :he star of a "reat fi"hter a"ainst the social

order 6 the star has ex!loded, is extin"uished, has "one down he time has not been ri!e

&?Cun" 1991, ! 91. Otto aus, another friend, commented, RGermanyNs best revolutionarys!irits have been educated and directly ins!ired by himR &19+, ! . In the !sychoanalytic

world only Bilhelm *te/el 6 by that time an outcast himself 6 wrote a brief eulo"y &*te/el,

19+. ?our years later >rnest Cones made a mere announcement of Gross8 death at the 2th

International Asycho6$nalytical 4on"ress in *al(bur" &Cones 19+-, ! -3.

Contributions to nalytic Theory and Clinical !ractice

Gross saw ?reud8s !sychoanalysis as a continuation of Siet(sche8s !hiloso!hy ?or exam!le, he

credited Siet(sche with the reali(ation of society8s !atho"enic influence on the individual 6 what

Gross termed the conflict between that which is one8s own and that which is the other8s InGross8 view, ?reud then develo!ed Siet(sche8s insi"ht further by discoverin" the !atho"enic


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influence of re!ressed affects &Gross 19


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&Gross 191-, ! +9. In 1919, Gross !ublished Arotest and Dorality in the Qnconscious

&Gross 1919a. Cun" only !ublished on that sub5ect towards the end of his life in the late 8s

&Cun" 192E 199. Gross was ex!licitly referrin" to ro!ot/in and his discovery of the !rinci!leof mutual aid in the field of biolo"y Dutuality is a core conce!t of anarchist thou"ht 1 years

!reviously Aroudhon had used the term mutualism for the free relationshi! of "rou!s of euals

that exist throu"h mutual exchan"e ro!ot/in elaborated this conce!t in his boo/ Dutual $id,a ?actor of >volution &ro!ot/in 19-., first !ublished in >n"land in 19+ 4ontem!orary

researchers in biolo"y, anthro!olo"y and "enetics seem to confirm this theory, accordin" to a

recent article in the Guardian, where Satalie $n"ier writes about Bhy we can8t hel! hel!in"each other0 It8s not sim!ly noble to be nice to our fellow man 6 it8s hardwired into our "enes

&$n"ier +1. Gross was the first analyst to introduce this ethical conce!t into !sychoanalytic

theory and !ractice

#I%nnate amon" man8s most !owerful strivin"s towards his fellow men, be"innin" in the earliestyears and even months of life, is an essentially !sychothera!eutic strivin" he tiny !ercenta"e of

human bein"s who devote their !rofessional careers to the !ractice of !sychoanalysis are

only "ivin" ex!licit ex!ression to a thera!eutic devotion which all human bein"s share

his is neither ro!ot/in nor Gross, but Harold *earles &19


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nature, so that he often seemed li/e a twin brother &?reud)Cun" 19


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between those who constitute the relationshi! Given the influence Gross had on 'uber, it is

interestin" to note that *amuels refers to 'uber, too, in this context &ibid. i/e 'uber after him,

Gross made no distinction between inter!ersonal relatin" and relatin" in the reli"ious realm Infact, he s!o/e of relatin" as constitutin" the numinous In 1913 Gross wrote of relationshi! as a

third, ta/en as reli"ion &Gross 1913b, col 112. He continues to say that, understood in this

way, relationshi! contains the obli"ation #almost0 com!ulsion% towards individualisin" hisobli"ation is an automatic showin" u! of all !ossibilities of ex!erience, the ca!acities to maintain

all !sychical warmth that strives towards "eneral, all6embracin" !sychical warmth &ibid.

Gross concludes this short text with0

he obli"ation to this relatin" that results from the !urity of ex!erience is both or"anically and!sychically the basis of a new form of livin", of faith, of desire and a life6community

&ebens"emeinschaft. that is "oin" to fill out the future &ibid, col 1121E my em!hasis, GH.

In the same year, Gross had stated that sexuality was not identical with the individual, but the

!ure "reat third &Gross 1913a, col 11-+.

7elated to Cun"8s conce!t of the unus mundus are two further /ey !rinci!les of analytical!sycholo"y that we can also find !reformulated in Gross8 thou"hts he first of these is the

identity of the !ersonally !rivate and the collectively !olitical, as it is for exam!le ex!ressed in

the term sexual revolution itself, coined by Gross some fifty years before this thou"ht re6emer"ed in the feminism of the


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and soul are the ex!ressions of one and the same !rocess, and therefore a human bein" can only

be seen holistically and as a wholeR &Hurwit( 19rich6DLhsamPP6Gesellschaft, we co6hosted an international conference in Dalente, northern Germany, under the

title, $narchism and Asychoanalysis at the *tart of the +th 4entury hese "atherin"s attracted

!artici!ants from ten >uro!ean countries, five Q* *tates and Ca!an and the !roceedin"s havebeen !ublished in boo/ form &Fehmlow T Heuer +E >rich6DLhsam6Gesellschaft +E

Heuer ++E Fehmlow T Heuer +3. Are!arations for the -th International Otto Gross

4on"ress from +- 6 +; October +3 for which we have been invited to Gra( are under wayPPP

his will coincide with a lar"e exhibition on Gross and his father in the *tadtDQ*>QD, and thelocal B>77$QDtheater will sta"e its own !lay of he Feath of an $narchist0 he 4ase of

Otto Gross

Conclusion

$s a contribution towards the return of the re!ressed, I have !resented a brief introduction to thelife and wor/ of Otto Gross and his influence on analytic theory and clinical !ractice 4G Cun"

has mostly been excluded from the history of !sychoanalytic ideas and their contem!orary

discourse Otto Gross, in turn, does not fi"ure in either !sychoanalysis nor analytical !sycholo"ySearly forty years a"o, when Cun"8s so6called autobio"ra!hy was !ublished, Binnicott wrote in

his review that it :!rovides !sychoanalysts with a chance, !erha!s the last chance they will have,to come to terms with Cun" If we fail to come to terms with Cun" we are self6!roclaimed!artisans, !artisans in a false cause8 &Binnicott, 19;-, ! -. Asychoanalysis has yet to come to

terms with Cun" Bhen will both ?reudians as well as Cun"ians ta/e the chance at last to come to

terms with Otto Gross=

ondon, Cune +3


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&tde"3u&ge& 'u ?oha&&es *ohl (1< - 19C+): Debe& u&d er3.(er3er'ei"h&is u&d

e3u&dHrliteratur. 4&: ?u&i. Zeits"hrit %r Diteratur u&d 6oliti3, *o.+C+ (i& !ress).8euer, G. (ra&sa"tio&.?u&g, 2.G. (1909 199). >he ig&ii"a&"e o the Eather i& the @esti& o the4&diidual. 2 .

Do&do&: outledge a&d Kega& 6aul, 191.?u&g, 2.G. (19!es. 2 C. Do&do&: outledge ; Kega& 6aul,191.?u&g, 2. G. (19+).A eFoi&der to @r. Ball. 2 10. *e= Jor3: Bolli&ge&Eou&datio&, 19C.?u&g, 2.G. (19+5). >he >aisto"3 De"tures. 2 1. Do&do&: outledge ; Kega&6aul, 19C.?u&g, 2.G. (19C). >he 6s"holog o the >ra&sere&"e. 2 1C. Do&do&:outledge a&d Kega&

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@euts"hes Diteraturar"hi, $arba"h.


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erel, E. (1990). Barbara oder @ie Ermmig3eit. Era&3urt: Eis"her (1st ed.19

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The Devil Underneath the Couch