In Search of the Empty Moment in Psychoanalysis

In this article I wish to examine the psychological significance of a phenomena that I have termed “an empty moment”, and its possible contribution to psychological healing in analysis, in the presence of a selfobject. I’ll start by defining three characteristics of empty moments. Then, I’ll show that designating this moment “empty” invokes the Buddhist notion of “emptiness.” It thus points to the potential of such moments to liberate from suffering, in keeping with Buddhist thought, or—in psychological language—to lessen a patient’s distress. I’ll demonstrate the characteristics of the empty moment using the analysis of Israeli poet Natan Alterman’s poem; I’ll go on claiming that although the experience of emptiness supposedly takes place outside of the ones psyche, separate from our emergent existence, history, pain, relationships and transference, this is nonetheless an encounter with the psychological existence and hints at the possibility that suffering is not an unavoidable fate, potentially generating deep psychological change. The article ends with a rumination on the responsibility of the analyst to identify such empty moments, and to give them their appropriate weight in psychoanalysis.