Violence at the Caesura

Abstract

Bion’s concept of caesura offers transformation via differentiation from an unknowable undifferentiated reality: within bounded mental space attentiveness, receptivity, tolerance, and patience give shape and depth to our human experience while holding the paradox of bridging these differing realities. But these generative capacities and their transformations arethemselves subject to violence from the constant pull toward undifferentiation, the pull from the animate to the inanimate, whether it be the allure of “knowing it all,” the spectre of “infinite humiliation,” or the intolerance of the pain and effort of maintaining reflective thought. At vulnerable times we experience violence at the caesura, which may lead to our plunging back into the undifferentiated realm in order to escape the uncertainty and frustrationthat accompany the awareness of our fragile humanity and to avoid the tensions that accompany our openness to ambiguity and paradox.