Attention and Creation: Growth in the Vertices of W.R. Bion

The implicit background of this book consists of an optimistic approach to creating mind forms that improve the condition of humanity, deriving from the legends of Christ and the Buddha and the experiences of mystics in both Eastern and Western cultures, as well as from psychoanalytic thought. This book is divided into four parts. The first is a brief introduction to Bion himself - it assumes a certain degree of familiarity with his life and work and includes only what is essential to understanding the work on which this book is centred. The second part is an explication of the main thesis, demonstrating how Bion articulates his theory and system of the transformation of the immaterial elements which constitute the psyche. The third part elucidates views on therapeutic techniques - the author's own and those of Bion. Touching on the routes available to those wishing to become therapists it also discusses the demands this may place on those in a position to help, be they teachers, supervisors or more experienced fellow therapists. The last part has two sections: the first outlines Bion's conceptual framework for the constitution, capture and systematisation of psychic space; the second details a series of classic, mythical attempts at similar processes exemplified in the stories of Oedipus, Original Sin, Palinurus and the Tower of Babel.