Invited into the Dance: The Sacred and the Courage to be Embodied

Abstract

This hermeneutic phenomenological study explores the role of the sacred in engendering the courage to be embodied in adult survivors of severe sexual abuse. It adopts an interdisciplinary approach to depth psychology and mystical theology that utilizes the theories of D. W. Winnicott, C. G. Jung, and T. Merton to illuminate the dynamics of embodiment in clinical practice, focusing primarily on the clinical dyad. Through exploring the similarities and differences between potential space and creativity (Winnicott), the Self and Psyche (Jung), and the Trinity and the Holy Spirit (Merton), this study establishes that the spirit and the body is a false dichotomy; therefore, the sacred should enhance the courage to connect more deeply with the body, not less. This study further demonstrates that the body is critical to the development of healthy subjectivity, and that the sacred should never be used as a means to dissociate from the body. This study concludes that hope, faith, and love fuel the capacity for courage in both patient and clinician, and in the third area that is co-created between them. The sacred participates through nurturing hope, faith, and love by appearing as images, affects, and synchronicities, which thereby presents the clinician with a delicate task: How best to bring such manifestations to the patient’s awareness in order to nurture healthy embodied subjectivity in the survivor of severe sexual abuse.