ABSTRACT
This chapter addresses the differences among spiritual, secular, and non-theistic conceptions of the mind/spirit. The enlightenment of humanity promised by the natural and social sciences sought not only the elimination of religion but also a more authentic form of spirituality. The chapter proposes four possible ways of conceiving the relationship between psychoanalysis and spirituality under the influence of the rational Enlightenment. First, there is the secular version of spirituality that objectifies and demystifies religious illusions under the guidance and purview of reason and the scientific process. A second trend of Enlightenment spirituality kept the baby of what is specific and true to the spiritual field, but threw out the bath water of religion by absorbing the secular critique of its field. Third, it is within the context of the struggle between the secular and the sacred that Buddhism was introduced into the West. Finally, a fourth category becomes plausible wherein the spiritual remains implicitly active within the secular paradigm.
