Editorial

Three independent-minded psychoanalysts are interviewed in this issue of International Forum of Psychoanalysis. Jan Stensson and Marco Bacciagaluppi started their psychoanalytical career within the neo-Freudian tradition; they are talking from the periphery of the psychoanalytical movement. Stefano Bolognini occupies another position since he has been working within the IPA from the start. During a long working life, all three have been active in full-time private practice, mostly treating patients within a psychoanalytical setting. All have their own voice—three lovable and persuasive voices in the psychoanalytic choir, all three writing their own songs to paraphrase Michael Eigen's homage to Jan Stensson, the founding editor of International Forum of Psychoanalysis.

Even if their starting points are different, their clinical experiences have developed a concern for specificity in the psychoanalytical mode of listening. Jan Stensson differentiates between meditation, meaning to think reflectively with connotations of measurement, and contemplation. The latter implies looking with attention and being concerned with the immeasurable. Active contemplation is very close to Freud's description of the analyst's evenly hovering attention and indicates a deliberate act of looking with attention, but without presumption, at each successive moment. Stefano Bolognini develops a similar mode of listening when he elaborates the concept of empathy and describes different dimensions in the interaction between the analyst and the patient: an interpsychic, an intersubjective and an interpersonal level of communication with a focus on preverbal communication. This form of communication is also in focus when Daniel Stern formulates his concepts “present moment” and “now moment”. In his discussion of Stern's contribution, Lennart Ramberg, taking existential psychoanalysis as his starting point, gives emphasis to the importance of the authentic presence of the analyst. His long interest