ABSTRACT
The two quotes from Gross (1913: 384) and Reich (1994: 6) which precede this introduction hint at the particular other tradition of Andrew Samuels’ original, innovative and creative thinking and working – the main tradition being, of course, Jungian (this is represented by the interview with Jung that follows this introduction, published here for the first time). Already some 100 years ago, the psychoanalyst Otto Gross took the first steps towards an integration of the personal and the political, the analytical with both radical politics and the sacral, and a generation later Wilhelm Reich continued this work. What distinguishes Andrew from both of them is the fact that in both instances their work was so radically new for their times that they became outcasts in the analytical world: to this day, neither is really being quoted in conventionally serious texts. By contrast, Andrew has managed to walk the tightrope path to the peak of the profession without betraying any of his humane, innovative and radical ideas: in the mercurial manner of a messenger of the Gods he has achieved a worldwide dissemination of and engagement with his ideas: hardly any texts that deserve to be taken seriously in the field can be said not to be directly or indirectly influenced by his work. From the four corners of the world, Jungian and psychoanalytic, academic and clinical, the authors of the present volume are testimony to this fact. My heartfelt thanks to all of them for their contributions!
