Learning at the Edges between Knowing
and Not-knowing: Translating
7Bion
1^
Robert French* and Peter Simpson
To come to what you know not
you must go by a way where you know not.
St John of the Cross (The Ascent of Mount Carmel, I; 13: 11.) In order to arrive at what you do not know
You must go by a way which is the way of ignorance. T.S. Eliot (East Coker, p. 201)
And this gray spirit yearning in desire To follow knowledge like a sinking star, Beyond the utmost bound of human thought.
Alfred, Lord Tennyson (Ulysses, in Albery 1994, p. 306) better discuss no further, since we are in the dark
Job
* * *
L e a r n i n g arises from w o r k i n g at the edges between k n o w i n g a n d not k n o w i n g .
This idea is a direct 'translation' from Wilfred Bion's t h i n k i n g about psychoanalytic method into the context of our o w n w o r k as teachers, consultants, researchers a n d writers. In their book o n Bion's clinical thinking, S y m i n g t o n a n d S y m i n g t o n (1996, p. 3) summarise the point very succinctly. They write that the 'only assumption' u n d e r l y i n g Bion's t h i n k i n g was that 'the m i n d grows through exposure to truth' (their
* Address for correspondence: Bristol Business School, University of the West of England, Frenchay C a m p u s , Coldharbour Lane, Bristol BS16 1QY.
+This article is due to appear i n a volume entitled 'Building on Bion', ed. M . Pines and R.
Lipgar, Jessica Kingsley Publishers. It was first presented as a paper at the Symposium of the International Society for the Psychoanalytic Study of Organizations, Toronto, June 1999.
TRANSLATING' BION 55
italics). B y g r o w t h of m i n d , he meant the ability to act more consistently and rigorously i n relation to truth.
W h i l e 'learning' equates w e l l to Bion's ' g r o w t h of m i n d ' , our translation of 'exposure to truth' as ' w o r k i n g at the edges between k n o w i n g and n o t - k n o w i n g ' requires more careful explanation.
B i o n used the s y m b o l ' K ' to represent ' k n o w i n g ' and the s y m b o l ' O ' to represent his notion of 'truth' w h i c h , i n direct contrast to K , he defined as both u n k n o w n a n d unknowable. O is often rather grand iosely described — f o l l o w i n g B i o n himself, it must be said — as ultimate reality, ultimate truth, the godhead or, i n Bion's b o r r o w i n g from M i l t o n , as the 'formless infinite' (1984a, p. 31). A s Eigen (1998) writes: ' O can be the ultimate reality of a session, emotional truth of a session, g r o w t h of the experience of an analysis, the ultimate reality of the personality. It can be creatively explosive, traumatically w o u n d i n g , crushingly uplifting' (p. 78).
Bion's notion of O becomes more accessible, however, — and more usable — w h e n another aspect is brought into play: that the truth of O is also ' i m m i n e n t ' (1984b, p. 147); that is, O is truth or reality in the present. O is the reality of the here and n o w , what w e refer to as 'truth in-the-moment'. Hence his description of the encounter between analyst and patient as 'the intersection of an e v o l v i n g O w i t h another e v o l v i n g O ' (1984a, p. 118).
By definition, it is not possible intellectually to k n o w the full reality of each passing instant: ' O does not fall i n the d o m a i n of k n o w l e d g e or learning save incidentally; it can be "become", but it cannot be " k n o w n " ' (Bion 1984a, p. 26). H o w e v e r , it is Bion's assumption that exposure to truth-in-the-moment can lead to g r o w t h of m i n d . Such truth is, therefore, w o r t h p u r s u i n g because it has an impact u p o n us and can inspire learning, even though it remains unknowable and u n k n o w n .
O u r assumption is that w o r k i n g at the edges between k n o w i n g a n d n o t - k n o w i n g offers the possibility for exposure to truth-in-the-moment, hence opening u p the potential for learning. The edge is important because w h i l s t the truth-of-the-moment never enters the d o m a i n of k n o w i n g , it is through encounters at the edge that w e may be subject to its influence.
T R A D I T I O N S O F T H I S I D E A
O u r understanding of the nature of n o t - k n o w i n g a n d of its positive value for our w o r k has been formed i n e x p l o r i n g the interaction between ancient tradition a n d B i o n ' s t h i n k i n g . This exploration has been enhanced b y the fact that B i o n himself explicitly w o r k e d w i t h some of these same traditions, as represented b y Meister Eckhart, St John of the Cross, the B h a g a v a d G i t a , poetry, p h i l o s o p h y a n d the Bible. Bion's use of ' O ' to denote present but u n k n o w a b l e truth, for example, echoes the use of the circle i n the Z e n d i s c i p l i n e of p a i n t i n g (see figure 1), i n w h i c h O is regarded as ' a n expression of enlight enment — a n experience of completeness — at each m o m e n t ' (Tanahashi, 1994, p . ix; also Schneider, 1994, p . x v i i i .1
)
The truth-in-the-moment of the Z e n master's brushstroke (Herrigel, 1988) is also the ' n o t h i n g ' of Meister Eckhart (Smith, 1987, p p . 68-9) a n d the nada (nothing) of St. John of the Cross w h i c h is the beginning a n d e n d of k n o w l e d g e . In Bion's v i e w the very capacity to think develops from the infant's experience of absence, of 'no-thing' w h i c h , w e l l e n o u g h contained, can become a thought (Bion, 1962, p . 31-7; S y m i n g t o n a n d S y m i n g t o n , 1996, p. 102-3).
57
TRANSLATING' BION
The centrality to h u m a n development of the u n k n o w a b l e truth of O is w e l l illustrated i n the icon paintings of the Eastern O r t h o d o x tradition (Ouspensky a n d L o s s k y , 1982; Temple, 1990).
Icon images are quite familiar outside the East, from book cover illustrations or from C h r i s t m a s cards. W h a t is probably less familiar, however, is that these images can be read as an early example of 'organizational role analysis' ( A r m s t r o n g , 1997; Reed, 1976). In the case of the icon, the organization is the cosmos, a n d the role being depicted is the cosmic role of the h u m a n agent: that is, our role i n relation to O , to the u n k n o w a b l e a n d u n k n o w n .
The m o d e r n eye tends to focus o n story or o n the historical accuracy of events, also o n colour as decoration a n d o n the authenticity of the emotional impact. In a sense, however, none of these matters i n icons — even the story, at least as history: 'The icon never strives to stir the emotions of the faithful. Its task is not to p r o v o k e i n them one or another natural h u m a n emotion, but to guide every emotion as w e l l as the reason a n d all the other faculties of h u m a n nature o n the w a y towards transformation' (Ouspensky, 1982, p . 39). E v e r y t h i n g has its impact a n d gains its m e a n i n g from the symbolic sense: T n the art of icons, it is content that is the criterion of f o r m ' (Burckhardt, 1982, p . 7). W h a t is represented i n figure 2, for example, symbolically represents a ladder similar to the ladder of Jacob's dream.
L i k e the ladder i n Jacob's dream, this is a ladder between heaven a n d earth, stretching from the h a n d of G o d i n the top corner to the rocky earth at the bottom, a n d right d o w n to the cave i n the corner, representing the lowest place of existence, 'the dark place i n ourselves where G o d has not yet entered' (Temple, 1990 p . 132).
A double movement is portrayed, therefore: starting w i t h G o d w e can see his power, i n the form of the D i v i n e Ray, being transmitted through the h u m a n to the earth. Here, b y submitting himself to G o d ' s power, the saint is able to master the p o w e r a n d strength represented i n different forms b o t h b y the w h i t e horse a n d b y the dragon. The d r a g o n is not k i l l e d but mastered — a n d i n m a n y such icons almost seems to look l o v i n g l y at the saint as t h o u g h g l a d l y a c k n o w l e d g i n g his superiority.
Figure 2 (St George Kilting the Dragon, in Weitzmann, et al. 1982, p. 328).
can w e begin the transitional or transformational w o r k , w h i c h is required at the edge between the k n o w n earthly realm and the u n k n o w n spiritual realm.
TRANSLATING' BION
59
between the i n d i v i d u a l a n d the h u m a n c o m m u n i t y , or h u m a n i t y and the rest of the natural w o r l d . The very formalised style of icons, w h i c h can seem so static and foreign to the m o d e r n eye, s h o u l d not b l i n d us to the fact that the experience or reality they depict is far from static. The edge is not reached once and for a l l , but must instead be the object of constant attention i n each and every present moment.
In a w a y that is very similar to psychoanalysis, the practice of the mystical traditions to w h i c h icon painting belongs, depends on a training w h i c h involves particular forms of 'spiritual exercise' (Hadot, 1995). The purpose of these exercises, whether for the contemplative or, i n Bion's v i e w at least, for the psychoanalyst, is to develop a level of awareness a n d attention that can make possible moments of insight into or from the u n k n o w a b l e u n k n o w n . Access to truth-in-the-moment depends o n the development of this state of awareness a n d attention.
PARALLELS T O BION
The h a n d of G o d , w h i c h appears i n the centre or one of the top quadrants of m a n y icons, is accompanied b y a segment of a circle, rather like a section from a halo. In diagrammatic form, the energy of development i n the i c o n of St George (figure 2) moves from the h a n d of
Figure 4.
God through the saintly figure — represented in figure 3 below by the
saint's halo — to the earth.
If one were to finish this diagrammatic representation of the icon
image, therefore, by filling out the circle — always left incomplete by
the painter — the symbolic truth would be made explicit (see figure
4).
The movement of the 'Divine Ray' is from the 'completeness-at-each
moment' of O, the divine realm, the unknowable unknown, to the
misshapen 'O' of the primal cave. To work at this movement leads to
growth of mind through exposure to truth, and each movement of
development inevitably exposes another edge, where the encounter
with our not-knowing or ignorance and limitation, may block us or free
us to further growth.
The very incompleteness of the circle at the top of the icon is clearly
significant: it indicates the impossibility of finding any adequate way of
representing 'heaven', the divine realm, the 'formless infinite' of Bion's
O. The darkness of the cave, on the other hand, suggests the
incomprehensibility of infantile emotional experience, that is, Bion's
'beta elements': 'initial catastrophic globs of experience', 'raw material,
primal thoughts, nonthoughts, mindless hallucinatory globs' (Eigen,
1993, p. 216 & 217).
TRANSLATING' BION
61
Defini Nota Atten Inquiry Action
tory tion tion
hypo theses
1 2 3 4 5 6 ...n.
A
tl-elements
A1
A2
A6
B
a-elements
B1
B2
B3
B4
B5
B6
...Bn
C
Oream thoughts,
dreams, myths
C1
C2
C3
C4
C5
C6
...Cn
0
Pre-conception
D1
D2
D3
D4
D5
D6
...Dn
E
Conception
E1
E2
E3
E4
E5
E6
...En
F
Concept
F1
F2
F3
F4
F5
. F6
...Fn
G
Scientific
G2
deductive system H
Algebraic calculus
Figure 5.
about problems that arise i n the course of psycho-analytic practice' (Bion, 1963, p . 6) — c o u l d be thought of as a v i s u a l representation of the movement from the 'cave' of b l i n d ignorance to ' O ' , the u n k n o w a b l e truth.
Figure 6,
also a reverse movement, it is stimulated b y the impact of any encounter w i t h the truth: the truth is a l w a y s available, a n d the m i n d inevitably g r o w s w h e n exposed to it.
This reading of Bion's G r i d highlights the importance of 'edges' a n d of movement; for example the movement across the edge between 'conception' a n d 'concept', or between inquiry a n d action. A s develop ment a l w a y s i n v o l v e s movement u p the 'ladder', the boxes themselves can become a distraction or a seduction, if w e become preoccupied w i t h h o w things are to the exclusion of what they are becoming.
The focus of our w o r k has to be o n the intersection of e v o l v i n g O s , that is, o n the edges where k n o w n meets u n k n o w n i n our shared experience. A s i n Goethe's Faust2,
' T R A N S L A T I N G ' B I O N 6 3
THE EMOTIONAL EXPERIENCE OF THE EDGE
It is important to emphasise that the experience of reaching the edge of our k n o w i n g can be unsettling as w e l l as stimulating a n d fruitful. It can, as a result set i n m o t i o n w e l l - w o r n defensive routines.
The edge is not a comfortable place to be.
The image (see Figure 7) from an etching b y P a u l Klee s h o w s v i v i d l y the tensions a n d defences that the experience of the edge of not k n o w i n g can evoke. It is entitled: T w o m e n meet, each s u p p o s i n g the other to be of higher rank', a n d clearly the t w o m e n have a real p r o b l e m . A l l the u s u a l marks of recognition that w o u l d help them to k n o w — to k n o w w h o the other is a n d therefore h o w to behave — a l l these signals have been r e m o v e d w i t h the r e m o v a l of their clothes: 'It is an interesting question h o w far m e n w o u l d retain their relative rank if they were divested of their clothes. C o u l d y o u , i n such a case, tell surely of any c o m p a n y of civilised men, w h i c h belonged to the most respected class?' (Thoreau, 1910, p . 18.)
In the v i s u a l language of icons — a n d Klee's entirely non-specific, rocky b a c k g r o u n d is very reminiscent of an icon — clothing is used to depict the inner state of a person. The r e m o v a l of clothes or outer garments can therefore signify a p s y c h o l o g i c a l change of state, a transition from w h a t is outer a n d seen to w h a t is covered a n d w i t h i n . The p r o b l e m for Klee's t w o m e n , h o w e v e r , is that they cannot g i v e u p
Figure 7 (Klee: 'Zwei Manner einander in hdherer Stellung vermutend, begegnen sich.' in Jaffe,
their h o l d o n k n o w i n g . Their transition to w h a t is w i t h i n s i m p l y uncovers their state of inner dependency o n k n o w i n g . C o m p l e t e l y t h r o w n , therefore, b y not k n o w i n g a n d b y the resulting anxiety, each tries to o u t d o the other i n the depth of their b o w i n g .
The emphasis i n Klee's title o n 'higher rank' clearly directs us to the picture's social critique. H o w e v e r , this s h o u l d not obscure the fact that at every level w e clothe ourselves w i t h our k n o w i n g . So although w e m a y feel somewhat superior to these r i d i c u l o u s l o o k i n g elderly men, their anxiety a n d deep b o w i n g is precisely what can h a p p e n to us every time w e b u m p unexpectedly against the edge of our ignorance. N o t to k n o w even the littlest thing can make one question one's competence — a n d even identity. Just at the moment w h e n w o r k i n g at the edges between k n o w i n g a n d n o t - k n o w i n g can a l l o w space for a new thought, it can also let i n the anxiety of one's nakedness.
O R D I N A R Y W O R K A T T H E E D G E
In o u r experience, the remarkable thing about w o r k i n g at the edges between k n o w i n g a n d n o t - k n o w i n g is that w h i l s t at times it can appear esoteric or m y s t i c a l — that is, exfra-ordinary — it is also, at times, v e r y o r d i n a r y a n d practical.
For example, d u r i n g a recent role analysis consultation, m y [RF's] client said: "I w a n t to ask y o u a question. D o y o u think I ' m n a i v e ? " T w o people h a d t o l d h i m that he w a s naive a n d he h a d clearly experienced this as an accusation. H e was n o w seeking some k i n d of reassurance. I w a s hesitant but said a few things, feeling as I d i d so that I w a s just stalling till I c o u l d find something useful to say. For the first time, however, — a n d as a direct result of being engaged i n t h i n k i n g a n d w r i t i n g about the ideas i n this article — I became consciously aware b o t h that I d i d not k n o w w h a t w a s g o i n g o n a n d that I c o u l d actually choose to w o r k as t h o u g h m y ignorance m i g h t be the indicator of a potentially creative edge. So I assumed for a moment not that I k n e w — k n e w the client, his presenting p r o b l e m (that is, naivety) or the solution (reassurance) — but, instead, that I d i d not k n o w a n d nor d i d he.
TRANSLATING' BION 65
rather than, say, a high compliment? The shift away from our naive assumption that we knew what we meant, opened u p the possibility for learning in several areas: his o w n personal and professional history, his expectations of me, of his father, and of his o w n manager and colleagues, and, as a result, in relation to the leadership and manage ment dimensions of his o w n role.
NAIVE VERSUS POLITICAL:
WORKING WITH PARALLEL TRUTHS
The attempt to work at the edge of uncertainty demands what might be called a 'sophisticated naivety'. This state of m i n d is reminiscent of the comment attributed to Picasso to the effect that he had learned by the age of 16 to paint as well as an old master but it took h i m another 30 years to learn to paint like a child.
The naivety our work demands is the ability to be alive to the impact of each new moment, as though 'born again' in each instant: 'naive' being derived from the Latin verb 'to be born'. Bion's view of analytic work with patients was that 'The only point of importance in any session is the u n k n o w n ' (Bion, 1967, p. 272). This is a radical expression of sophisticated naivety.
If 'naivety' involves openness to truth-in-the-moment, the 'sophisti cation' required is the ability at the same time to remain in touch with context and, as a result, to maintain the ability to differentiate between 'truths'. Even in individual work, 'an analyst can not cover all possible meanings of any moment' (Eigen, 1998, p. 66). W o r k i n g with groups and organizations, or even with an individual in an organizational role, involves many additional layers of complexity. 'Sophisticated' naivety therefore requires us to recognise that there are indeed many truths in every moment: 'To a certain extent, one can select what O to focus on when' (ibid., p. 78).
truth. In both films, the ultimate death of a p u p i l symbolises most graphically the dangers inherent i n the exclusion of other 'truths'.
O u r suggestion that naivety m a y be opposed to politics is an attempt to capture the complexity of a l l g r o u p a n d organisational w o r k that incorporates a psychoanalytic understanding of h u m a n relations. The ability to select a m o n g available truths-in-the-moment depends o n the ability to w o r k at the edges between k n o w i n g a n d n o t - k n o w i n g ; that is, to recognise a variety of edges, one's o w n a n d the client's, a n d to recognise limitations as w e l l as possibilities. For example, an edge w e see as important, m a y be a step too far for the client. Resistance from a client m a y be a defensive attempt to a v o i d facing u p to a difficult truth, but it m a y also indicate that w e have reached an edge of insight into a p r e v i o u s l y u n k n o w n area w h i c h interests us w h i l e the client is, as it were, h e a d i n g a different w a y a n d has a different agenda. Entry to the u n k n o w n or not-yet k n o w n m a y , o n the one h a n d , release an i n d i v i d u a l or g r o u p into n e w areas of creativity or, o n the other, make any further w o r k i n g relationship w i t h the client impossible.
A recent case example m a y illustrate some of these layers of tension between the naivety w h i c h can open u p a fuller v i e w of the b r o a d emotional, practical, intellectual a n d political truth-of-the-moment, a n d the parallel, contingent political truth w h i c h m a y exclude further exploration.
Recently I [PS] w a s approached b y a manager w h o k n e w he h a d a p r o b l e m — a team w h i c h w a s not functioning p r o p e r l y — a n d was motivated b y a desire — to remove the p r o b l e m b y getting the team to w o r k the w a y he wanted. H o w e v e r , he d i d not k n o w h o w to achieve his a i m : he h a d come to the edge of his k n o w i n g . H e therefore d i d w h a t m a n y w i l l d o i n such a situation: he l o o k e d for someone, a n expert, w h o w o u l d k n o w h o w to get w h a t he wanted. Some members of his team h a d w o r k e d p r e v i o u s l y w i t h Bristol Business School a n d so he approached me for some T e a m B u i l d i n g consultancy. The p r o b l e m w a s that I d i d not k n o w h o w his a i m m i g h t be achieved either, nor whether his analysis of the situation w a s accurate — whether w h a t he wanted w o u l d be w h a t he needed.
67
' T R A N S L A T I N G ' B I O N
sentence, spoken b y P h i l , the manager, w h i c h I h a d w r i t t e n at the top of one page: " M a r t i n is a p r o b l e m . " It w a s so clearly right, partly because of M a r t i n ' s stance a n d personality, but partly also because he w a s being scapegoated. That m u c h w a s obvious, a n d it seemed to me important that M a r t i n w a s offered some i n d i v i d u a l consultancy — role analysis, perhaps — as a w a y of h e l p i n g h i m to understand a n d to come to terms w i t h the situation. H o w e v e r , I also could not shake the d a r k m o o d that h a d settled u p o n me, nor c o u l d I get a w a y from the feeling that I w a s missing the point.
W h e n I met w i t h R F o n the M o n d a y afternoon f o l l o w i n g m y troubled w e e k e n d , I talked h i m through the project. The more w e talked the greater was our sense of confusion a n d despair at ever finding an effective w a y of intervening. The sense of incompetence a n d m i l d panic that arises w h e n w e don't k n o w w a s palpable. After about an h o u r a n d a half, apparently out of nowhere, R F started to say again w h a t c o u l d be done, but this time i n terms of w h a t he w o u l d like to be able to do, if o n l y it were possible. I felt m y dark m o o d shift. B y the time he h a d finished, w e h a d both realised that w e h a d become completely caught u p i n the process of the g r o u p , the splitting into positive a n d negative, the scapegoating of M a r t i n , a n d the despair about ever changing h i m . W h a t I k n e w w a s the historical fact that " M a r t i n is a p r o b l e m " . This k n o w l e d g e stopped me from m a k i n g the necessary transformation of the truth-in-the-moment that w a s presenting itself to me: that the d o m i n a t i n g pattern w i t h i n this team w a s of splitting a n d projection.
W h a t helped us most was that w e managed to continue w o r k i n g explicitly w i t h the awareness that w e d i d not k n o w w h a t to d o — even to the point that not o n l y d i d w e not k n o w w h a t to d o , w e h a d even lost o u r sense of h o w to deal w i t h n o t - k n o w i n g . This d o u b l e pit, as it were, actually forced us to w a i t for something to happen.
self-managing team seemed to end at the point where the team might want to do something of which he disapproved. Put bluntly, he wanted them — collaboratively and independently — to reach the decisions he favoured. If they did not, he w o u l d almost certainly resort to telling them what to do.
STAYING AT THE EDGE: A NECESSARY DISPOSITION
We have come to realise that in the all too rare moments when we are able not only to recognise that we have come to an edge but also to stay with the experience of not-knowing, we really do not know whether we are doing something or whether something is being done to us. D o we reach for the truth-in-the-moment, or does the truth reach for us? In the same way that Bion wrote of ' "thoughts" in search of a thinker' (Bion, 1984c, final words), might we think in terms of ' " t r u t h " in search of a seeker'?
Reaching the edge of not-knowing and recognising it as such is one thing; staying there is quite another. If knowing does not keep us there, what does? Although the word may not be the best one, we think of this element, to use an ancient term, as a 'disposition' — that is, a state of m i n d , a way of being, a way of attending to experience. It is this disposition that allows one to bear the experience of encountering an edge.
In writing about his o w n personal and intellectual development, for example, Paul Tillich chose the image of the 'boundary' to symbolise this experience of living at the edge between knowing and not-knowing:
The boundary is the best place for acquiring knowledge. ... Since thinking presupposes receptiveness to new possibilities, this position [between alternative possibilities for existence] is fruitful for thought; but it is difficult and dangerous in life, which again and again demands decisions and thus the exclusion of alternatives. This disposition and its tension have determined both my destiny and my work. (Tillich, 1967, p. 13.)
TRANSLATING' BION 69
them against the recognition of the limits to their k n o w l e d g e . Defensive habits can then become b u i l t into patterns of o r g a n i z i n g , both into organizational roles a n d structures a n d into w a y s of relating. This is one w a y of understanding the development of 'social defences against anxiety' (Jaques, 1955; M e n z i e s , 1960) or, from the perspective of systems theory, of systems archetypes (Senge, 1990).
One of the difficulties of even talking about the disposition required to stay at the edge of one's k n o w l e d g e — a n d it is a difficulty w e have faced throughout the process of w r i t i n g this article — is that it is so easy to slip into m a k i n g the experience of being at the edge s o u n d acceptable. The uncertainties aroused b y the encounter w i t h not k n o w i n g can indeed be exciting and can p r o v o k e significant learning. H o w e v e r , as P a u l Klee's image illustrated, they are often unsettling a n d anxiety-provoking, confusing a n d even terrifying. They can inspire a sense of incompetence a n d loss of control, a n d can obliterate a l l sense of role a n d identity a n d of the task i n h a n d .
The practical, political a n d emotional pressures o n us to know are constant a n d almost irresistible. It is h a r d to be called 'ignorant' a n d to take it as a compliment, despite the fact that there is a long tradition, w h i c h asserts the opposite: ' H o w can he remember w e l l his ignorance — w h i c h his g r o w t h requires — w h o has so often to use his k n o w l e d g e ? ' (Thoreau, 1910, p . 4). The disposition w h i c h equates g r o w t h of m i n d w i t h ignorance has taken m a n y forms, from Freud's 'evenly suspended attention' a n d Keats' 'Negative C a p a b i l i t y ' to the 'yoga of k n o w l e d g e ' i n the Bhagavad Gita. A l l of these appear i n Bion's w o r k .
It is not b y chance that one metaphor to describe the emotional experience of n o t - k n o w i n g is of a c l o u d — not as v i e w e d from a comfortable distance, but w i t h the disorientation a n d panic one can experience w h e n lost i n the fog — the ' c l o u d of u n k n o w i n g ' (Walsh, 1981). A n o t h e r image is of a dark night — the 'dark night of the s o u l '3
(Bion, 1984b, p p . 158-159). This is not, however, a night as w e k n o w the night i n o u r electrified a n d urbanised experience. It is a t r u l y b e w i l d e r i n g a n d terrifying night, where n o t h i n g can be seen, where there are no clear roads as w e k n o w them, a n d where there are, b y contrast, real dangers to safety a n d even to life. This is the basis for Bion's comment that 'In every consulting r o o m there ought to be t w o rather frightened people: the patient a n d the psychoanalyst. If they are not one wonders w h y they are bothering to find out w h a t everyone k n o w s . ' (Bion, 1990, p . 5.)
manifests as a flight from the anxiety of the meeting w i t h the u n k n o w n into explanation, emotion or p h y s i c a l action. The method of w o r k i n g at the edges of our n o t - k n o w i n g therefore depends o n d e v e l o p i n g an awareness of one's o w n particular valency for dispersal, as w e l l as of the strategies of others. Such w o r k requires a training and awareness equivalent to, though not the same as, that of the analyst.
To put it most s i m p l y , the disposition required to stay at the edge of uncertainty is one of w a i t i n g : 'such " w a i t i n g , " however, is not dead or inert but intensely alive and accurate i n its shifting sense of where the patient [client, student] is m o v i n g . ' (Eigen, 1983, p. 12.) It is 'an attitude of pure receptiveness . . . an alert readiness, an alive w a i t i n g ' (ibid., p. 326). It is a state of openness almost identical to 'the prayer of faith', St John of the Cross's first step i n contemplation: ' m y counsel is — learn to abide w i t h attention i n l o v i n g w a i t i n g u p o n G o d in the state of quiet.' (The Ascent of Mount Carmel II, Chapter 12: 11; see also Butler, 1926, p . 14.)
T R A D I T I O N S O F T H I S S T A T E O F M I N D
B i o n a n d Winnicott both learned to wait: 'to w a i t and wait for the natural e v o l u t i o n of the transference arising out of the patient's g r o w i n g trust i n the psychoanalytic technique a n d setting' (Winnicott, 1980, p. 101). A s the Symingtons put it: ' T o the question " H o w is the analyst to penetrate through the sensuous to the psychic reality?", Bion's answer is that he waits u n t i l a pattern begins to emerge a n d then he intuits the psychic reality.' (Symington and S y m i n g t o n , 1996, p. 178; italics i n original.) T o describe this 'alive w a i t i n g ' , B i o n used the everyday term 'patience', intending it to 'retain its association w i t h suffering a n d tolerance of frustration'. W i t h it he described the ability of the analyst 'to be aware of the aspects of the material that, however familiar they m a y seem to be, relate to what is u n k n o w n both to h i m and to the analysand. . . . A n y attempt to cling to w h a t he k n o w s must be resisted . . . ' (Bion, 1984a, p. 124.)
To w a i t can, however, be the hardest thing to do. Consultant, manager, teacher — and even, ironically, researcher — are a l l roles where one is inevitably perceived as 'the subject w h o is supposed to k n o w ' (Lacan, 1979, p. 232). The fear induced b y the sense of not k n o w i n g what one is d o i n g really is of catastrophe — possibly as a nameless disaster, but probably as a very obvious one: of one's incompetence revealed, accompanied b y a loss of self-esteem, the potential loss of the client — a n d hence a loss of income.
71 ' T R A N S L A T I N G ' B I O N
is the only effective counter to the fear of catastrophe: 'Faith is openness to truth, to reality, whatever it m a y turn out to be.' (Watts, 1983, p . 40; see also S i m p s o n , 1997.)
Bion's o w n description of the disposition necessary for staying at the edge between k n o w i n g a n d n o t - k n o w i n g is w e l l k n o w n : 'Discard y o u r memory; discard the future tense of y o u r desire; forget them both, both what y o u k n e w a n d w h a t y o u want, to leave space for a n e w idea.' (1980, p. 11.) In his v i e w , exposure to the u n k n o w n truth-in-the moment demands that the analyst bracket out not only m e m o r y and desire, but also understanding a n d sense perception (1984a, p. 43) — even the desire for understanding or the desire for 'cure' (1967, p . 273). This is w h y B i o n was attracted to Keats' notion of 'Negative C a p a b i l i t y ' (for example, 1978, p. 8; 1984a, p. 125). Keats was describing the poet's capacity to wait — a n d to tolerate the emotional experience of w a i t i n g i n a state of n o t - k n o w i n g . To have this capacity, he wrote, is to be 'capable of being i n uncertainties, Mysteries, doubts, w i t h o u t any irritable reaching after fact & reason.' (Keats, 1970, p . 43; see also Bate, 1964, chapter 10.).
Faith i n the pursuit of truth — openness to the rich seam of learning that can be m i n e d from the pit of ignorance — can help to get one to the edge, or to recognise those moments w h e n one has, unexpectedly or more or less deliberately, reached the edge of one's k n o w i n g . In its turn, the disposition of 'alive w a i t i n g ' , means being able at that edge to attend to the experience of that unique moment, a n d to s u r v i v e the encounter w i t h the limits of one's k n o w l e d g e , i n order to let something new emerge, a n e w thought perhaps, but w i t h o u t any sense of certainty that it w i l l :
'be still, and wait without hope For hope would be hope for the wrong thing; wait without love For love would be love of the wrong thing; there is yet faith But the faith and the love and the hope are all in the waiting. Wait without thought, for you are not ready for thought;'
T.S. Eliot (East Coker), 1963, p. 200
therefore, g l a d l y hears a l l , reads a l l , and looks d o w n u p o n no w r i t i n g , n o person, no teaching. F r o m a l l indifferently he seeks w h a t he lacks, a n d he considers not h o w m u c h he k n o w s , but of h o w m u c h he is ignorant' ( H u g h of St Victor i n Illich, 1993, p. 16).
In this sense, as w e have suggested above, psychoanalysis can be seen as a m o d e r n form of the tradition of training w h i c h existed i n ancient Greece and Rome, and has re-emerged i n every age i n response to the needs and philosophies of the day: the tradition of ' p h i l o s o p h y as a w a y of life' (Hadot, 1995), learned through the discipline of 'spiritual exercises'.
E N D I N G
In her book ' D r a w i n g o n the right side of the b r a i n ' , the author, Betty E d w a r d s , captures the artist's p r o b l e m very precisely i n terms of the d i l e m m a of k n o w i n g and n o t - k n o w i n g . She writes: 'The p r o b l e m w i t h d r a w i n g chairs a n d tables, as w i t h m a n y other things w e might w a n t to d r a w , is that we know too much about them/ (Edwards, 1982, p. 106; italics i n original.)
H e r w o r d s are strongly reminiscent of Bion's comment about the w a y i n w h i c h , from the very first contact w i t h a patient, the interaction between k n o w i n g a n d n o t - k n o w i n g is of central importance. In one of his lectures he said: ' A n i n d i v i d u a l comes to see me; he thinks I a m a psycho-analyst; I think he is a patient. In fact I don't k n o w . ' (Bion, 1978, p . 14.)
In this article, w e have struggled w i t h t w o questions.
Firstly, h o w can w e use psychoanalytic theories to b r i n g us to the edge of a n e w thought?
But also, secondly, h o w can w e let go of a l l of our theories, psychoanalytic or other, w h e n an experience of truth-in-the-moment makes us face u p to our ignorance?
W e w o u l d like to end w i t h a story b y the Sufi poet, Idries Shah, (in N e e d l e m a n and A p p e l b a u m , 1990, p. 50) w h i c h captures the heart of the emotional problems of this approach — indeed of any attempt really to a p p l y psychoanalytic theories i n our w o r k , whether i n the consulting r o o m , i n the classroom or i n organizations. The story is called ' N o b o d y really k n o w s ' :
Suddenly realising that he did not know who he was, Mulla Nasrudin rushed into the street, looking for someone who might recognise him.
The crowds were thick, but he was in a strange town, and he found no familiar face.
Suddenly he found himself in a carpenter's shop.
TRANSLATING' BION
73
Nasrudin said nothing.
"Perhaps you mould like something made from wood?"
"First thingsfirst/'said the Mulla. "Now, did you see me come into your shop?" "Yes, I did."
"Good. Now, have you ever seen me in your life before?" "Never in my life."
"Then how do you know it is me?"
Notes
1. The circle has held some very similar meanings in Western art a n d architecture. See, for example, Burckhardt, 1995, p p . 102-4; Campbell, 1988, p p . 214-8; Jaffe, A . , 1964; Moore, 1982, p. 128. 2. In Goethe's version ofFaust, the pact with Mephistopheles is very
Bion-like. Goethe's Faust does not 'sell his soul to the devil' unconditionally, in exchange for being provided with everything he might desire. Instead, Faust's soul will only be relinquished if Mephistopheles can offer Faust an experience which satisfies him:
If I be quieted with a bed of ease, Then let that moment be the end of me!
If to the fleeting hour I say
"Remain, so fair thou art, remain!"
Then bind me with that fatal chain,
For I w i l l perish in that day.
Faust I, Faust's Study (iii)
Werd' ich beruhigt je mich aufein Faulbett legen, So sei es gleich um mich getanl
Werd' ich zum Augenblicke sagen:
Verweile dochl Du bist so schon!
Dann magst du mich in Fesseln schlagen
Dann will ich gem zugrunde gehnt
(lines 1699-1702)
itself as a respectably scientific pursuit i n an exoteric age, this dimension of psychoanalysis has remained perhaps necessarily under-explored, although more recently there does appear to be, alongside B i o n , a revival of interest. (See, for example, A r d e n , 1985; Bettelheim, 1983; Coltart, 1985, p p . 164-175; Eigen, 1993, 1998; M i l n e r , 1973). It has been argued b y Bakan (1990) that F r e u d himself w a s directly influenced b y the Jewish mystical tradition. H e m a y also have been indirectly influenced through the impact of his great master, Goethe, w h o w a s similarly inspired b y these traditions a n d whose v i e w of science was i n radical contrast to N e w t o n i a n , reductionist approaches. (See, for example, A r d e n , 1997; Prokhoris, 1995; Stephenson, 1995.)
Acknowledgemen ts
For figure 2. We are grateful to the Hellenic Institute of Byzantine and Post-Byzantine Studies, Venice, for permission to reproduce the icon of St George Killing the Dragon.
Forfigure 5. © 1970 by W. R. Bion, reproduced by permission of Mark Paterson on behalf of Francesca Bion.
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