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Formally, one becomes a psychoanalyst when the graduation committee decides that the candidate is ready to start conducting analyses on his own. But in reality one is becoming an analyst for as long as one practices this, as I called it, exacting profession. The Talmud says: It is upon us to begin the work, it is not upon us to complete it.
Why does one want to become an analyst? I am going to quote Einstein (1934), an use what he said as a parable for us analysts:
“In the temple of Science are many mansions, and various indeed are they who dwell therein and the motives that led them thither. Many take to science out of a joyful sense of superior intellectual power; … many others are to be found in the temple … [for] purely utilitarian purposes. Were an angel of the Lord to come and drive all the people belonging to these two categories out of the temple, it would be noticeably emptier, but there would still be some men, of both present and past times left inside.
“I am aware,” Einstein continues, “that we just now lightheartedly expelled in imagination many excellent men, perhaps chiefly responsible for the building of the temple … but one thing I feel sure: if the types we have just expelled were the only types there were, the temple would never have existed, … for these people, any sphere of human activity will do … whether they become officers, tradesmen or scientists depends on circumstances. Now let us have another look at those who have found favor with the angel. Most of them are rather odd, uncommunicative, solitary fellows, really less like each other, in spite of these common characteristics, than the hosts of rejected ones. … What has brought them to the temple? That is a difficult question, and no single answer will cover it.”