ABSTRACT
William James’ lectures were breathtaking in perspective and erudition. James had made a distinction between institutional and personal religion. In this chapter, the author two assertions. Firstly, that the face—more specifically, the infant’s relation to the mother’s face—lies at the root of the spiritual in human beings. Secondly, that because the face is left out of psychoanalytic theory, the spiritual is hard pressed to find a place there. These are broad claims, but more recently there have been developments in which the face, implicitly or explicitly, begins to have greater importance. Psychoanalytic theory developed in a nineteenth century scientific and materialistic culture and Sigmund Freud was at pains to make his theories scientifically respectable. He had a jaundiced view of religion and would have been devastated to find that his theories had an affinity with it.
