A Bionian Hypothesis on the Origin of Thought

Bion's fundamental teaching is that in order to perceive an object, the mind must first free itself from the obstacles of memory and desire. In his Interpretation of Dreams, Freud indicated the need to continually liberate our system of perception in order to allow contact with the external and internal world. He further argued that the shifting of attention onto the mnemic systems creates a temporary suspension of this contact. These same concepts, which Bion further developed and applied to analysis, are also applicable to creativity and scientific discovery. Psychoanalytic thought still does not seem capable of forgetting Freud (or Melanie Klein or Bion) and to the extent that it libidinally invests or hates or identifies with or adheres to these objects, psychoanalysis cannot succed in producing revolutionary scientific thought. Such revolutions require that a detachment be made from previous psychoanalytic objects which have been internalized, have created identifications, and have been forgotten in the unconscious.

As in the dual psychoanalytic situation and in scientific discovery, the destiny of creativity depends upon this very internalization and detachment, which is the basis for independence and autonomy and for looking not through the object and its eyes, but with one's own eyes, which still conserve an unconscious mnestic trace of the beauty and richness of the object. Today psychoanalysis finds itself within the scientific paradigm created by Freud: its work consists of