Love, Open Awareness, and Authenticity: A Conversation with William Blake and D. W. Winnicott

Abstract

In being loved, we become more open. In being open, we become more authentic. In being authentic, we become more loving and creative. Love, open awareness, and authentic existence are intimately interrelated. They co-arise interdependently and together comprise a coherent structure of well-being, allowing one to be most fully human and most fully and uniquely oneself. Psychology and literature are complementary approaches to understanding the meaning of human existence in our shared life-world. In this spirit, a hermeneutical conversation with William Blake and D. W. Winnicott is presented. Blake’s work and life are read in light of Winnicott’s theory of development and psychotherapy, and Winnicott’s theory is read in light of Blake, thereby illuminating the significant interpermeation of love, openness, and authenticity.