ABSTRACT
Damasio's recent observations about feeling and thinking have far-reaching implications for the enrichment of psychoanalysis. Consistent with the Buddhist notion of non-duality, the sharp distinction between mind and body, thinking and feeling, is dissolving and disappearing. Herein lies a fundamental difference between the analytic approach to the unconscious mind and the Buddhist approach to the mind as outlined by Andrew Olendzki. There is a conflict regarding the use of words between psychoanalysis and Buddhism. A fatal limitation of all forms of talking therapy, from the Buddhist perspective, is that it must be cast into language in order to be both created and understood, which ensures that it is passing through interpretive filters. In Buddhism, the primary interest in emotions is understanding the extent to which they manifest along a continuum of healthy and unhealthy, which in many ways amounts to plotting emotions along an ethical scale.
