This Other Love and its Revelations in Psychoanalysis

This paper explores the concept of "absolute love" as described by Wilfred Bion, a form of bond extending beyond ordinary sensuous experience and language. The author contrasts this revealed-as opposed to disclosed-love with Freud's emphasis on transference and infantile sexuality, arguing that focusing solely on these aspects can neglect other critical dimensions. Following a clinical reverie of Vermeer's painting, "Girl Reading a Letter at an Open Window," the text examines how Bion's "other love" can operate in the therapeutic setting. The painting is displayed both before and after its controversial restoration revealing a hidden Eros figure that now stands as a solemn reminder of both our need for love's obscure nature and its revelations. The author suggests that Bion uses a term to designate a bond functioning in the unconscious emotional dark places in common between the analytic couple as a small group, acting to facilitate one's search of existing and process of becoming. Clinical vignettes are used to try to illustrate this process of revelation and how a hidden, eternally unfolding love can have the power to summon both patient and analyst toward a more profound existence.