Tidal rockpools: how amazing are they? Miniature universes cyclically uncovered. The depths become the surface, and we are temporarily permitted to look through these windows into another world, full of treasures and secrets, bursting with life.
Now here is a bumper crop of things I have found almost as captivating as rockpools recently.
Adam Phillips interview in Interview
For anyone who does not know Adam Phillips, he is a psychoanalyst, writer and literary critic with a truly original, always thought-provoking view of the world. This short interview conducted by the biographer Hermione Lee gives a good flavour of his pithy and provocative style.
“Psychoanalysis is not better than aromatherapy or worse than neurology, it’s simply something for people who find it intriguing, fascinating, amusing, consoling, comforting, healthful, useful. That’s it. But it’s not everybody’s cup of tea, nor should it be.”
Going Sane is a great place to start with his books. On Kissing, Tickling and Being Bored is a little more clinical (as in he discusses some cases). Unforbidden Pleasures is highly enjoyable. In fact, I would recommend anything by him.
… but particularly Sheila Heti’s piece where she experiments with the therapeutic use of a variety of psychedelics. Also a fairly horrifying story of a New York therapist who breached multiple boundaries which felt like a bit like rubber-necking but is also complex and illustrative of how good intentions can slide into something harmful.
3. Wild Analysis: Heated Rivalry
Last but not least, my favourite psychoanalysis podcast Ordinary Unhappiness devoted an episode in their Wild Analysis series (deep psychoanalytic dives into pop culture) to the TV series Heated Rivalry (Patreon subscription required, at least at the time of posting). Sex, psychoanalysis and ice hockey. What more could you want?
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