Lethe’s Balms: The Importance of Forgetting with Ann Shearer

In Plato’s vision of the afterlife, souls must drink from the rivers of both Mnemosyne and Lethe, Memory and Forgetfulness, before they can be reborn. Many myths from different cultures echo this vital duality. Yet today’s psychological theories, forgetting is often pathologised, and clinical practice may often be based in the assumption that to remember is in itself healing.

This seminar explores this bias, and the vital role of forgetting in psychic life.