The Oceanic Feeling: Origin of the Term

Abstract

In a paper on narcissism (Masson and Hanly, 1976), we indicated that the term ‘oceanic feeling’ or ‘oceanic experience’ (ozeanisches Gefühl or Ewigkeitsgefühl) used in Civilization and its Discontents (Freud, 1930) was taken from Romain Rolland and that it derived, ultimately, from Sanskrit sources. Further and more careful research has allowed me to be more precise in tracking this term back to its origins. An investigation of the surrounding imagery and related ideas suggested certain key features in such experiences (feelings of sadness, of the awareness of transience, feelings of world-weariness and of the dream-like nature of existence), and this in turn provided certain clues as to Freud’s interest in these experiences. Following a hint of Kanzer (1969), I was able to link more closely than has hitherto been attempted the Acropolis experience and oceanic feelings. Finally, I was led to take a closer look both at the image of the sea and the experience to which it points in an effort to provide a psychoanalytic explanation for both the form and the content of the oceanic feeling.