Las cuatro paradojas del descubrimiento

Abstract

In this paper, a fundamental question which has long intrigued the author is presented in relation to psychotherapeutic work: What does it mean to discover something about oneself within this context? How can we speak about these experiences of discovery both in our patients and in ourselves? These questions do not have an easy answer or true in any one way; rather, they implicate a diffuse and amorphous situation which is indispensable for us to tolerate. Remembering Winnicott, who insists on the need to accept the “paradox of the transitional space”, it is argued that the experience of discovery includes several paradoxes that also call for our acceptance, because if we proceed in this way we will remain very close to the heart of that space which constitutes the fountain of play and creativity. A condition for psychic change is the ability to learn to respect paradoxes, knowing how to stay with them and in the uncertainty they generate, conditions that are also characteristic of discovery. Four paradoxes that the author thinks form an essential part of the experience of discovery are here described.