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My deep engrossment in the Bible story (almost as soon as I had learnt the art of reading) had, as I reeognized much later, an enduring effect upon the direction of my interest.
In the correspondence with Max Eitingon (letter of April 3, 1928), as Freud dwells upon the difficulties he encountered in his efforts to write The Question of Lay Analysis (1926), to «stimulate a common analytic awareness» (Freud & Eitingon 1906-1939, 566, my translation), he remarks how the recently published The Future of an Illusion (1927a) gave rise to a general regret even among his followers; «I perceive» - he writes - «some grumble around me that arises from tacit and multiple allusions». And, as if to confirm this, he adds that he has just received Ludwig Binswanger's latest book, Dream and Existence (1928): «It is a compelling book, listing all the well-known qualities of the author - i.e. his cold accuracy, his homage paid to official psychology and philosophy etc. According to Freud, the author's ultimate word (to be understood in the proper sense) is God».
Binswanger's God - by which the Swiss psychiatrist wanted to emphasize the centrality of an intentional quest for meaning (both in dreaming and during wake) carried out by the spiritual dimension of man - is «distilled from philosophy», the sublimated outcome of a thought that goes beyond the limits of scientific progress.