Discussion

Dr. Apolito's excellent paper is an example of the difficulties which confront anyone who tries to tackle this very complex subject of psychoanalysis and religion. Psychoanalysis means different things to different psychoanalysts, and certainly to different patients. When we turn to the subject of religion, the variations are infinite.

It is an accomplishment for Dr. Apolito to have been able to tackle so many aspects of his subject with such clarity and feeling. Obviously, this can come only from the depth of his own religious convictions, and the conscientious analysis of his own countertransference in his dealings with his patients. No doubt they have all benefited from this process, as have we, from the experiences which he has described in his paper.

My remarks will touch upon three of the topics which Dr. Apolito has covered: 1) Freud's attitude toward religion; 2) Is there such a thing as a “mature” religion, and what are its characteristics? and 3) The analyst's own religious orientation as a factor in his work with his patients.

Why do men believe in God? Does it matter in their lives? Belief in God is as old as man. It has been a kaleidoscopic process, ever-changing, ever-advancing as man's knowledge of himself and his universe increased. Scores of Gods have lived and inspired man, in their time. They died when man fossilized them in fixed creeds, ending his quest for truth.

As Dr. Apolito stated, Freud was intrigued by the question of how men came to believe in God. (He wrote three books on the subject, Totem and Taboo, The Future of an Illusion, and Moses and Monotheism.¹) He gave three main reasons which I would summarize as: 1) Nature is cruel and capricious, showing man no favor, hence he makes gods out of the forces he encounters, and flatters the beneficent ones and propitiates the malevolent ones, hoping thus to assure his survival. 2) As far as man knows, death is the inescapable end of life, which he cannot bring himself to accept, so he appoints god