Slouching Towards Bethlehem

Respected British psychoanalyst, teacher, writer Coltart would seem to be the best kind of practitioner: brilliant, kind, and utterly humane. She's been practicing since 1972. I love these essays because she is hopeful, helpful, and very wise. Her references are her clinical practice, art, philosophy, and literature. She reads, listens, and describes -- widely and well in these essays. Rarely, she lapses into jargon (rocky reading for the lay person), but usually avoids it. Some of her topics: wordlessness and the unthinkable;the silent patient and the meanings of silence (she isn't at all afraid of it); sin and conscience; the squaring of the practice of psychoanalysis with her chosen practice of Buddhism. Coltart reveals herself to be thoughtful and remarkably humane; open to the world, and at the same time disciplined and clear in her beliefs and goals. Wonderful reading and rereading.