Sources and Genesis of the Need to Believe

Abstract

It is the affect and not the representation of God that constitutes the impact point of psychoanalytic approach to religion. Therefore, psychoanalysis does not enter directly in dialogue with philosophy or with theology. But, far from disregarding the presence and power of the religious dimension in the human mind and in societies, Freud proposed a specific approach based on two main elements: oceanic feeling and nostalgia.