What makes time fly?

Abstract

The author considers the concept of vitality in psychoanalysis according to Winnicott and Alvarez, and then uses Loewald’s concept of time, namely the two opposite poles of time—fragmentation and eternity—in discussing the concept of vitality and the interconnectedness among the temporal modes of psychic activity. Included in this discussion will be the idea that building the capacity for vitality means developing the capacity to “play” in the transference such that it connects the past and the present, as well as conscious and unconscious life; transference is the vehicle through which the past is kept alive and made available to the analytic dyad for exploration, revision, and symbolization. If time is primarily fragmented, wherein the past has been amputated from the present, time moves glacially, disabling symbolic functioning and bringing forth a concrete mode of thinking. I will use case material to illustrate the process of threading the various dimensions of time with vitality, resting on the tension between eternity (including what Loewald refers to as the “abiding instant”) and fragmentation so as to establish a sense of continuity through time.